Comment 0 for bug 849175

Release 11.10 - Beta 1 - Updated to the latest as of 13th Sept 2011
Tested in: Unity 3D and Unity 2D

There are a few indications that the Text field used in the Unity dash on both 2d and 3d is not a normal text field [and I'm not talking about looks here]. These issues make the Search field seem very unpolished (point No.1 in particular).

1. When hovering over the search field with the mouse pointer, the mouse pointer icon does not change to a text cursor as it does with any other text field or text area in the OS/Browser/Applications - (Affects Unity 2D and Unity 3D)

2. Despite the fact that you can highlight text in the Search field using the keyboard shortcut Shift+ Directional Arrow Left/Right, the user is unable to highlight text in the Search field using the mouse pointer by clicking and dragging it over text- (Affects Unity 3D ONLY)

3. Despite the fact that you can Cut, Copy, and Paste text to/from the Search field using the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C. and Ctrl+V, the user is unable to Cut, Copy, and Paste using the mouse pointer by using the context menu through Right-Clicking the Search field (or Right-Clicking highlighted text in the Search field) - (Affects Unity 2D and Unity 3D)

Regarding Points 2 and 3, the cardinal rule of keyboard shortcuts is that they should only be a Secondary means of achieving something that would otherwise take longer through the GUI. Currently, in the Dash's Search field case, there is no way of achieving these things through the GUI and these are therefore Usability bugs and should worked on beyond the UI freeze deadline.

Regarding Point 3, yes, I am indeed suggesting that a context menu should be created for the dash containing the Cut, Copy, and Paste options. Although, I do think that any menu created should look like it belongs to the dash and not look anything like the traditional GTK context menus belonging to the rest of the OS/Applications.

P.S: The Start Menu Search field in Windows Vista/7 does not have any of these issues...