Alt-tab - When alt-tab is open, the user should be able to left click with the pointer on a specific app/window in order to select it

Bug #824965 reported by Jeremy Bícha
166
This bug affects 38 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Ayatana Design
Fix Committed
Critical
John Lea
Unity
Fix Released
High
Brandon Schaefer
unity (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Unassigned

Bug Description

1. Open up several apps (for instance, a web browser, a game, a file manager and a terminal). Don't have the apps maximized.
2. Press Alt+Tab. Hold down the Alt key and click the tab selector so that the game is active.
3. While continuing to hold down Alt, use your mouse to click the terminal tile
Expected behavior: Unity should switch to the terminal since the mouse click overrides where the tab happened to end up.

Alternate example:
3. While continuing to hold down Alt, change your mind and click to the actual file manager in the background.
Expected behavior: Unity should switch to the file manager since the mouse click overrides the Alt+Tab behavior.

Other notes:
Gnome Shell works the way I expect; it would be nice for Unity to do the Right Thing also.

User testing notes:
In user testing we found that several users tried to use the pointer to select applications/windows when alt-tab was open.

----------------------------------
Desired solution:

- The requested change is to enable the use of the pointer and left click to select a specific app/window. Left clicking on a app/window should close the alt-tab and bring the selected item into focus.
- Additionally the mouse scroll wheel should be active and allow the user to change focus in either direction

Related branches

Revision history for this message
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha) wrote :
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)
summary: - Alt-Tab switcher should switch to an app tile that is clicked
+ [alt-tab] switcher should switch to an app tile that is clicked
Omer Akram (om26er)
Changed in unity:
status: New → Incomplete
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
John Lea (johnlea) wrote : Re: [alt-tab] switcher should switch to an app tile that is clicked

Thanks Jeremy, well spotted!

Changed in ayatana-design:
assignee: nobody → John Lea (johnlea)
importance: Undecided → Low
status: New → Fix Committed
tags: added: udo
Omer Akram (om26er)
Changed in unity:
status: Incomplete → Confirmed
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Confirmed
Omer Akram (om26er)
Changed in unity:
importance: Undecided → Low
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Low
description: updated
Changed in unity:
assignee: nobody → Jason Smith (jassmith)
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Jason Smith (jassmith)
Revision history for this message
Omer Akram (om26er) wrote :

given the current situation where screen is grabbed as soon as the switcher is invoke so I guess this would involve changing how the switcher currently works

John Lea (johnlea)
Changed in ayatana-design:
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
John Lea (johnlea)
tags: added: udp
Changed in ayatana-design:
status: Fix Released → Fix Committed
Changed in unity:
milestone: none → backlog
Revision history for this message
Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0) wrote :

Using the scrolling wheel for switching the apps while pressing the Alt key could be a nice addition too.

John Lea (johnlea)
summary: - [alt-tab] switcher should switch to an app tile that is clicked
+ Alt-tab - When alt-tab is open, the user should be able to left click
+ with the pointer on a specific app/window in order to select it
description: updated
Changed in ayatana-design:
importance: Low → Medium
Andrea Cimitan (cimi)
tags: added: top5p
John Lea (johnlea)
Changed in ayatana-design:
importance: Medium → Critical
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in unity-2d (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Omer Akram (om26er)
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
assignee: Jason Smith (jassmith) → nobody
Changed in unity:
assignee: Jason Smith (jassmith) → nobody
John Lea (johnlea)
Changed in unity:
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
John Lea (johnlea)
Changed in unity:
importance: Low → High
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
importance: Low → High
no longer affects: unity-2d (Ubuntu)
John Lea (johnlea)
no longer affects: unity-2d (Ubuntu)
John Lea (johnlea)
no longer affects: unity-2d (Ubuntu)
no longer affects: unity-2d
Changed in unity:
assignee: nobody → Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0)
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0)
Stephen M. Webb (bregma)
Changed in unity:
assignee: Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0) → Unity Maintainers (unity-maintainers-team)
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
assignee: Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0) → Unity Maintainers (unity-maintainers-team)
Stephen M. Webb (bregma)
Changed in unity:
assignee: Unity Maintainers (unity-maintainers-team) → Stephen M. Webb (bregma)
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
assignee: Unity Maintainers (unity-maintainers-team) → Stephen M. Webb (bregma)
Stephen M. Webb (bregma)
Changed in unity:
status: Triaged → In Progress
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → In Progress
Stephen M. Webb (bregma)
Changed in unity:
milestone: backlog → 7.1.0
Revision history for this message
Adam Niedling (krychek) wrote :

The situation is still the same in Ubuntu 13.04.

dino99 (9d9)
tags: added: precise
removed: oneiric
Stephen M. Webb (bregma)
Changed in unity:
milestone: 7.1.0 → 7.1.1
Changed in unity:
assignee: Stephen M. Webb (bregma) → Brandon Schaefer (brandontschaefer)
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
assignee: Stephen M. Webb (bregma) → Brandon Schaefer (brandontschaefer)
Revision history for this message
PS Jenkins bot (ps-jenkins) wrote :

Fix committed into lp:unity at revision None, scheduled for release in unity, milestone 7.1.1

Changed in unity:
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package unity - 7.1.0+13.10.20130812.1-0ubuntu1

---------------
unity (7.1.0+13.10.20130812.1-0ubuntu1) saucy; urgency=low

  [ Brandon Schaefer ]
  * Add ibus.py to the tests/autopilot/unity/emulators from
    lp:autopilot. (LP: #1210661)
  * Don't make the ScopeView/DashView/ScrollView Visible on start up
    (bool wise, causing things to think its ok to render). (LP:
    #1201631)
  * Adds the ability to use the mouse in the switcher. (LP: #824965)

  [ Andrea Azzarone ]
  * Add edge barriers to unity::panel::PanelView. (LP: #931384)

  [ Marco Trevisan (Treviño) ]
  * ApplicationLauncherIcon: Create a local desktop file when sticking
    an app that has not Also make icon sticky only if both the icon
    itself and the inner app is sticky as well. (LP: #1209320, #753305,
    #765466, #754334, #704046)

  [ Ubuntu daily release ]
  * Automatic snapshot from revision 3462
 -- Ubuntu daily release <email address hidden> Mon, 12 Aug 2013 06:49:01 +0000

Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Stephen M. Webb (bregma) wrote :

Fix Released in Nux Unity 7.1.1.

Changed in unity:
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Changed in ayatana-design:
assignee: John Lea (johnlea) → Irfan Fauzan (theblackhat-mj29)
Changed in unity:
assignee: Brandon Schaefer (brandontschaefer) → Irfan Fauzan (theblackhat-mj29)
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
assignee: Brandon Schaefer (brandontschaefer) → Irfan Fauzan (theblackhat-mj29)
John Lea (johnlea)
Changed in ayatana-design:
assignee: Irfan Fauzan (theblackhat-mj29) → John Lea (johnlea)
Changed in unity:
assignee: Irfan Fauzan (theblackhat-mj29) → Brandon Schaefer (brandontschaefer)
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
assignee: Irfan Fauzan (theblackhat-mj29) → nobody
tags: added: rls-w-incoming
To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.