Using the task switcher, hard to cycle through different terminals

[Björn Tillenius]

I was going to say that if you have multiple terminals open, the task switcher shows only one of them. However, I just figured out that you can choose different ones by using the arrow keys.

However, it still feels like a regression of how it used to be. I have quite a lot of terminals open, and cycling through them with Alt-Tab was effective for choosing the correct one. Now I see an option of a bunch of terminals, but the text is so small, so I can't see which one I want to switch to.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: unity 4.12.0-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-10.16-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-10-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,gnomecompat,snap,regex,mousepoll,resize,vpswitch,imgpng,place,resizeinfo,move,animation,grid,workarounds,wall,unitymtgrabhandles,expo,session,ezoom,staticswitcher,fade,scale,unityshell]
Date: Mon Sep 5 17:22:23 2011
ProcEnviron:
 LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-09-04 (1 days ago)

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

We also have ctrl+` key to switch directly between the window of the same app.

[Björn Tillenius (bjornt)]

On Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 06:09:10PM -0000, Omer Akram wrote:
> We also have ctrl+` key to switch directly between the window of the
> same app.

Oh, didn't know about that (although it seems to be Alt+`. However, that
doesn't help, since I still can't read the text, and it also doesn't
help much switching from a browser to a terminal.

--
Björn Tillenius | https://launchpad.net/~bjornt

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

>>and it also doesn't help much switching from a browser to a terminal.

actually it does after alt+` if you press tab you can move next window
though there is a little learning curve ;-)

[Anders Feder (afeder)]

I have to agree that the previews sometimes are a little illegible. Maybe the window titles could be rendered subtly across the middle of the previews?

[David Gomes (davidgomes)]

I agree with Omer, one needs to get used to it, and then it's fairly simple. However, the previews are not very legible.

[John Lea (johnlea)]

@anders-feder

This is a bug, see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ayatana-design/+bug/838222

[Richard Merren (richard-merren)]

I like the ALT + ` switching...I didn't know about it either. But I have an issue that seems to fall under this bug. When I have several windows open including multiple terminal windows, if I alt-tab to the terminals the wrong one is active. Terminal A sits behind Terminal B, but Terminal A has the active cursor and accepts keyboard input. I use transparency in the terminals, otherwise I probably wouldn't have known what was going on.

The ALT+` switching lets me pick the proper one--when I switch between them with this key combo the active one comes back to the front. Also, when I use ALT+TAB to pick a specific instance of the terminal (Hit ALT+TAB, pause on the icon for the terminals and wait for the multiple ones to show up or press the down arrow to get to selections, then select the one I want) they end up in the correct z-order with the active one on top.

To recreate: open a few windows (I have chromium, "home folder", and Geany open) along with two terminal window instances. Go to the browser and ALT+TAB to the terminal icon. The active terminal is not in the front.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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