opening the dash should not deactivate the launcher

[Sebastien Bacher]

When the Dash is open the Launcher should remain active (even though the visual appearance is toned down as specified by bug #750358).

When the Dash is open and the cursor is moved over the Launcher, all the Launcher items should re-saturate back to their normal state.

Clicking on any Launcher item while the Dash is open should:
1) Close the Dash
2) Launch or focus the selected item (normal Launcher behaviour)

To summarize, the behaviour of the Launcher should remain exactly the same irrespective of whether the Dash is open or closed. Additionally clicking on any Launcher item when the Dash is open should immediately close the Dash.

[David Barth (dbarth)]

It also creates an a11y regression: I don't see how users are supposed to focus the launcher and navigate through entries anymore.

For reference, this change was triggered by this design change: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ayatana-design/+bug/741926

Asking for design guidance. Since it's very late, I think we should revert the change and keep the launcher activated in dash mode.

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

OK, let's keep the launcher active in Dash mode.

Thanks!
Mark

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

I guess design can be marked as fixed per Mark's comment, also confirmed the bug report.

[6205 (6205-reactivated-deactivatedaccount)]

Or you could make active only dash lenses buttons and keep rest of the application launchers inactive..

[David Barth (dbarth)]

Apologies. There is no a11y impact, as ALT-F1 (and not SUPER) is the key defined for focusing the launcher, and the one actually used by users with disabilities (as confirmed by Luke).

I have checked that ALT-F1 does indeed work in the latest release, where the launcher is already de-activated in Dash mode.

So the conclusion is that we don't need to revert this change.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

bug #750119 has another reason why that change is an issue"Clicking the blue Ubuntu button hides the reason it went blue"

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

I believe this is already behaving properly in Unity 2D where the launcher is shown when the dash is invoked.

[Mark Tyrrell (marktuk)]

Just would like to add my tuppence. The launcher should be accessible when the dash is invoked, here are some scenarios:-

1. I am using the application lens and then decide I want to use the file lens instead. To do this currently, If I try to click the file lens icon in the launcher the dash closes and the launcher becomes active again, I then have to click a second time to invoke the lens... this seems clunky.

2. I would like to add some new apps to the launcher. So I find them using the application lens (let's say they are all internet apps) and begin to drag them to the launcher. However, as soon as I go to drag one, the dash closes... I guess to make the launcher active? This means to add the other apps I have to invoke the dash again and add them one at a time.

It just seems strange to have the launcher visible but not available. I understand it needs to have less prominence, but it should certainly still be accessible.

+1 for Mark's idea on re-saturation based on proximity.

[GodNobody (godnobody)]

I personally think, that this is a really nice looking solution.

I hope it's not to bugy though ;)

Thanks for your work!

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

ayatana-design tasks I believe have different rules, maybe they are recorded somewhere into some documents so I believe they should not be closed by us.