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Idea #29867: a few things about spread mode bug me

Written by tertian the 20 Jun 12 at 00:36. Related project: Unity. Status: New
Rationale
1) You cannot recognize windows if you have many open because they become small

2) You cannot see windows that are in other workspaces - really annoying, since the purpose of spreading windows is to
get a good overview and navigate through your open apps

3) You cannot interact in any way with the windows in spread mode - which also seems counterintuitive, since spread mode seems best suited for a bit of fast window management
Tags: spread windows

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Solution #1: 1) Mouse wheel zooming
Written by tertian the 20 Jun 12 at 00:36.
Be able to zoom in/out using mouse wheel on a window while in spread mode (like in gnome DE)
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Solution #2: 2) A. New spread windows feature
Written by tertian the 20 Jun 12 at 00:42.
Make an additional keyboard shortcut to spread windows from ALL workspaces at once, so as to have two options: either to use spread window for current workspace or to use spread window for all workspaces, depending on what you need. (I think this was a feature in previous unity versions)
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Solution #3: 2) B. Switch workspaces while in spread mode
Written by tertian the 20 Jun 12 at 00:47.
Be able to move between workspaces WHILE in spread mode so as to check out windows in different workspaces; either through ctrl+alt+arrow keys and/or clicking and dragging to the opposite direction like in a touch screen
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Solution #4: 3) A. Close window
Written by tertian the 20 Jun 12 at 00:53.
Be able to close a window when midde-clicking on it and/or through a "Close" button in the respective corner (left or right) where the user has specified his close-minimize-maximize button(s) to be
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Solution #5: 3) B. Move a window by dragging and dropping it to screen edge
Written by tertian the 20 Jun 12 at 00:58.
Be able to drag a window and depending on the screen border you drag and drop it into, you move it to the respective adjacent workspace
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Solution #6: Switch between spread workspaces and spread windows
Written by PaddyLandau the 20 Jun 12 at 13:06.
Super+W shows windows in the current workspace.
Super+S shows all windows in all workspaces.

If you press Super+W then Super+S, it switches from the former to the latter.

But if you press Super+W, Super+S does not switch back.

Solution: Let Super+S work when in Super+W mode.

This will allow quick switching between the two modes.
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Solution #7: 1) Show titles on/under windows
Written by Cybolic the 27 Jun 12 at 05:08.
Activate the "Scale Addons" and "Text" Compiz plugin and toggle on the Window Title Display by default.

I wouldn't mind also having the option of having all windows show the title underneath instead of only on top of the window as is now.
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Solution #8: Extension of #5 and #6
Written by pascalio the 30 Jun 12 at 09:42.
More generally, window spread (scale) and workspace spread (expo) should cooperate more. Remaining two separate options, the scale mode would eventually only be a "zooming in the current workspace" from the expo mode: This means
1) you can drag windows to adjacent workspaces in expo mode but in scale mode as well since it's just a zooming view of the expo;
2) you can zoom in or out from expo to scale and vice versa as you need if you're looking for a window in some workspace;
2') if you scaled in workspace 1, then zoom out to expo, you can then zoom in to workspace 2 for example, getting the scale mode there as well, and so on navigating between workspaces and respective windows.

Propose your solution

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PaddyLandau wrote on the 20 Jun 12 at 13:04
Some nice ideas.

Solution #2: Already exists. Super+W shows just the current workspace, and Super+S shows all workspaces.

Solution #5: Already exists in Super+S.

tertian wrote on the 20 Jun 12 at 17:41
Hrm, i think you are kind of wrong about Super+S.

You see, Super+S just does what it says, it's a workspace switcher. That is, it shows you an overview of the workspaces. BUT -not- an overview of your open windows/apps. For example it doesn't show you the minimized windows. So you need solution 2 and 5 if you want a full overview and management of ALL your open windows, in my opinion

PaddyLandau wrote on the 21 Jun 12 at 15:54
@tertian: In that case, you need to make it explicit in Solution #2 that you mean to include minimised windows. Perhaps if a new option is provided to choose whether or not to include minimised windows in Expo (Super+S), that will solve Solution #2.

Hippiesstolemycar wrote on the 17 Jul 12 at 02:15
Hey Guys,

Using 'Scale Addons' in the compiz-fusion-plugins-extra pack of features I can zoom in on windows in spread mode by right clicking on them (and then right click again to go back to the overview) and I have set a keyboard shortcut to close what ever window my pointer is hovering over. It works really well for some fast windows management.

There are also options to label the windows with their application title, and some other things. However, it only shows windows in current workspace, this does need to be changed.



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