Unity 4.8 Dash is no longer keyboard accessible

[Jeremy Bícha]

Today's Unity 4.8 update makes the dash completely inaccessible by keyboard.

Keyboard accessibility is important to gain acceptance with the subset of the geek population who feel they can work faster with keyboard shortcuts so smart keyboard navigability is important for product acceptance by the early adopters.

Also keyboard navigation is definitely an accessibility requirement.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: unity 4.8.0-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-8.10-generic 3.0.1
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-8-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,mousepoll,vpswitch,regex,animation,snap,expo,move,compiztoolbox,place,grid,imgpng,gnomecompat,wall,ezoom,workarounds,resize,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,scale,session,unityshell]
Date: Fri Aug 12 00:45:19 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-06-17 (55 days ago)

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Thanks for your report. Confirmed with latest updates applied.

[Jan Pieczkowski (physicalist)]

Fullack. Especially when using netbooks w/ tiny mousepads it's annoying.

With 4.8.0-0ubuntu2, the keyboard input behaviour is inconsistent at best. Possibly related to the new lenses?
i) Half of the keyboard shortcuts don't work anymore.
Reproduce: Try e.g. Super-A or Super-F.
If shortcuts were purposefully removed, the documentation should be reflecting that. All I could find is the list at AskUbuntu.com/questions/28086

ii) Keyboard selection (arrows) still works on the home screen when summoning Dash (Super key), but actually selecting e.g. "Media Apps" actually crashes compiz (from syslog:
"Aug 17 12:50:42 dot kernel: [ 3412.062440] compiz[2521]: segfault at 128 ip 00007fd662271fc8 sp 00007fff49510118 error 4 in libnux-1.0.so.0.200.0[7fd66219c000+1d1000]")
Interestingly, after the crash, or maybe after invoking Dash a couple of times afterwards, arrow key-selection doesn't work anymore even there; instead, it behaves as described in the next item, (iii).
Reproduce:
1) Invoke Dash using Super key
2) try to select one of the items below using arrow keys
3a) if selection works (i.e. selection box is visible), compiz will crash, then restart after up to one minute
3b) if not, nothing will happen except that the "search" box loses focus, see item (iii)

iii) Keyboard selection _doesn't_ work when entering something in the Dash search box; however, pressing an arrow key (e.g. down) makes the search box lose focus without removing the caret. Focus in the search input box can be regained if one tracks the (invisible) selection box around the app, and moves it back to the input box. However, pressing enter on the presumably selected item does nothing.
Reproduce:
1) Press Super to invoke Dash
2) Search for a program, e.g. by typing 'term'. "Terminal" icon (for gnome-terminal) will be shown, among others
3) Try selecting an item with the arrow keys
4) No item will be _visibly_ selected. However, the search box loses focus, without the caret being removed. "Enter" doesn't launch the presumably selected item.
5) Search box's focus can be regained by tracking the selection manually and moving it back to the search box. Enter key still doesn't work, however.

iv) In many of these cases, ESC doesn't do anything anymore. I couldn't reproduce this consistently, however.

v) While on the topic of keyboard input & focus, after invoking Dash and closing it again, the last open application would _not_ regain focus - really annoying, especially while typing up this bug reports :)
Definite usability issue, even if unrelated to the original bug!

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package unity - 4.8.2-0ubuntu1

---------------
unity (4.8.2-0ubuntu1) oneiric; urgency=low

  * New upstream release.
    - Dash shows random solid color on first launch of 'active blur'
      enabled Unity (lp: #824886)
    - Unity crashes if you select a gradient as wallpaper (lp: #825091)
    - If the wallpaper file is deleted, Unity/Compiz crash on Oneiric
      (lp: #827579)
    - Unity 4.8 Dash is no longer keyboard accessible (lp: #824966)
  * debian/control.in: updated nux requirement
  * Backported a leak fix and a fix for small screens from trunk

  [ Didier Roche ]
  * debian/control:
    - add libdee-dev to the unitycore dev package as fixed in trunk
      (put in the .pc file)
 -- Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:43:12 +0200

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

Hi, thanks for significantly improving this. These actions are still not possible from the keyboard:

1. Selecting any of the shortcuts on the dash "front page"
2. Switching to a different lens
3. Filtering search results with "Refine search"

Can I reopen this bug or would you rather I open a new bug?

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

new bug report please.

[jhfhlkjlj (fdsuufijjejejejej-deactivatedaccount)]

@Jeremy and all interested: bug 842086 has been reported regarding lens switching via keyboard.