Unity launcher should not hide when cursor hovers over it

[Robert]

1) What actually happens: When you mouse over to reveal the launcher and select an open application, while a full-screen app is open, the launcher hides after your first click on one of it's elements even if you don't mouse away and the cursor is still above it. If you have to do another action with the launcher bar you have to wait until it reveals again. In other systems such as Windows 7 the launcher does not hide until the user mouses away from it.

A simple use case where this is bad and slows down window management is when you have many instances of the same application open such as several file manager windows, and at least one full screen applications such as a maximized Firefox window. You switch from Firefox to one of the nautilus instances and then decide that the most recent instance which it gives you is not the one you want. The launcher has already disappeared from under the cursor and you must now mouse to the left to reveal it and then click on nautilus again to select another instance. The launcher disappearing took away valuable time.

2) Expected action: You switch from Firefox to one of the nautilus instances and then decide that the most recent instance which it gives you is not the one you want. The launcher stays shown because the cursor is still above it and you can click the nautilus button again without rushing or worrying the launcher will disappear from under the mouse after it accepts your first click. This is the way other systems such as Windows 7 behave and it is the efficient way.

3) How to reproduce:

A simple use case where this is shown and how it is bad and slows down window management is when you have many instances of the same application open such as several file manager windows, and at least one full screen applications such as a maximized Firefox window. You switch from Firefox to one of the nautilus instances and then decide that the most recent instance which it gives you is not the one you want. The launcher has already disappeared from under the cursor and you must now mouse to the left to reveal it and then click on nautilus again to select another instance. The launcher disappearing took away valuable time.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: unity 4.24.0-0ubuntu2b1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-13.22-generic 3.0.6
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-13-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,grid,gnomecompat,move,imgpng,resize,regex,mousepoll,compiztoolbox,place,unitymtgrabhandles,wall,vpswitch,snap,animation,session,workarounds,expo,fade,scale,ezoom,unityshell]
Date: Mon Nov 14 18:49:23 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_CA:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Robert (open-source-software-rb)]

I also think this bug is a fairly critical usability issue which should be on higher priority