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Idea #21891: The window list can become cluttered by "background" tasks

bug This idea was marked as being in development the 8 November 09.
Written by tharris the 17 Oct 09 at 12:09. Category: Look and Feel. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: In development
Rationale
Currently many applications use the notification area as a dumping ground for icons that don't notify at all. This is a problem. However, equally it is not convenient to have every running application displayed in the window list (on the bottom panel), since you lose the distinction between a task currently being worked on by the user, and a task that requires no user interaction. A perfect example is a bittorrent client. While it is running I want to know it is still open, however I am unlikely to need that window again until the download has completed. Previously this app would minimise to the notification area.

3
votes
inprogress
Selected solution (#1): Add a new "pin" function to the window manager
Written by tharris the 17 Oct 09 at 12:09.
Add a new way to minimise windows. "Pinning" an application will minimise the window, but the item on the window list will only display the window icon and not the title. It will also be offset the the right of the panel/window list, as opposed to minimised windows which are on the left.

The advantage of this solution is that once implemented all applications instantly gain this functionality, whereas currently each application has to implement a "notification area" icon itself (which is a poor solution to begin with).

Example with screenshots:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/319924/open-window.png
Here I have Transmission open. I want to keep seeding my files while I get on with my TPS report. If I leave the window open or minimize it it will clutter up the window list and get in the way of my work, so I pin it by clicking the circle on the top left of the window title.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/319924/pinned-window.png
Now, the window has been pinned to the bottom right of the panel. Clicking it would unpin it and restore the window.

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Comments
Shane Fagan (Idea reviewer) wrote on the 18 Oct 09 at 17:04
This is being fixed in GNOME-Shell. They are trying to come up with ideas for what to do one idea is a sidebar. So its in development.


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