Comment 9 for bug 727637

Can I weigh in on this?

Part 1: I have been using gnome-do for the last year or so to do most program launching. One of the features I liked best was that it combined file/app search with a command prompt... if it didn't recognize a phrase, it gave me the option to run it as a shell command. This very nicely combined what Unity has divided into two key shortcuts: Super for search, and Alt+F2 for run command. However minor a thing it is, having one less key combination to pay attention to really does help workflow.

Part 2: currently, running file/app search with Super brings up a list of results but does not automatically highlight the first result. This means an additional keypress or mouse movement is needed before being able to launch something, even if I've typed the file name exactly. Gnome-do, Spotlight, and the Windows 7 start menu all have the top result selected by default. Again, a relatively minor thing but it really does make a difference in productivity.

Summary: Combine the run/search dialogs into a single shortcut, probably Super. Highlight the top search result while searching. Add "Run as shell command" as the last result, which will be available anytime by selecting it directly, or will be the only option left when all other results have been weeded out.