Switch between 2 opened windows of same program by click in Unity's dock icon

Bug #859715 reported by Xavier Guillot
38
This bug affects 9 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Ayatana Design
New
Undecided
Unassigned
Unity
Incomplete
Undecided
Unassigned
unity (Ubuntu)
Incomplete
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Hello,

I run on Ubuntu Oneiric beta and it works very fine, but I have a small problem since updates ten days ago.

One of the new amazing features of Ubuntu 11.10 and Unity was : if an application has 2 or more windows opened (ie Firefox with navigation + bookmarks manager), a quick double click on its icon on Unity dock automatically switched from a window to another.

This was really useful, as normal switch with one click makes visible the thumbnails of all opened windows, but always with the current one on the left side of screen, so to change the window maximized I had to do more move with mouse. This new possibility was just perfect !

But since some days, it does not work anymore, a double click has just the same effect as simple click : displaying thumbnails of all windows from this application, no more direct switch between them.

Is this a bug of Unity or a "feature", or a configuration to do in ccsm ? Because I really miss this option now...

Thanks ! Best regards,

Xavier

Revision history for this message
Xavier Guillot (valeryan-24) wrote :

Bad news since today's updates : now if I do a double click on an icon for application which has 2 windows opened, first click begins to display the thumbnails and the quick 2nd click just comes back to the same maximized window on which I was.

So for the moment no easy way to switch between windows from the same app' with mouse and without to go on the right half of the screen and select desired thumbnail, disappointed that this new feature disappears...

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

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

Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in unity:
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Xavier Guillot (valeryan-24) wrote :

In Precise the "quick double click switch" is still not re-appeared, so does it mean that this feature has been definitively removed ?

Revision history for this message
Xavier Guillot (valeryan-24) wrote :

Or, if the behavior of double click remains the same, ie: quickly show the 2 opened windows thumbnails and come back to the same window as before, why not change the default presentation of thumbnails when there are 2 instances of a program opened ?

I explain : you have for example Firefox browser and bookmarks manager both opened and maximized, so 2 left triangles on Unity launcher icon.

I am on the browser window and want to switch to bookmarks. I make 1 left click on Firefox Unity icon.

It displays thumbnails of the 2 windows, at left the browser (where I was), at right the bookmarks.

If I want to stay on browser, I just have to click another time on Unity icon, easy, no mouse move, and browser comes back in foreground.

But if I want to change to go to another window, the bookmarks one, I have to move through half of the screen with the mouse to select it and have it on first place.

This is not logical, as 2 clicks on icon remain same window, changing for the 2nd instance should be easier and this one should be shown closer to the launcher, to make minimal mouse move.

This is the behavior we get when one of the 2 instances is not maximized on the screen (ie Firefox browser maximized + Firefox download manager not maximized opened), the downlaod manager thumbnail is well on the left, or when there are 3 windows of the same program opened : current is seen on the right, others on left and bottom, which is logical.

summary: - Switch between opened windows by double click in Unity's dock icon
+ Switch between 2 opened windows of same program by click in Unity's dock
+ icon
Revision history for this message
Omer Akram (om26er) wrote :

I think design should consider adding this feature back. It sounds good to me.

Changed in unity:
status: Confirmed → Opinion
status: Opinion → Incomplete
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Xavier Guillot (valeryan-24) wrote :

It would be great to have this option back. The only thing I find annoying in Unity is this case :

When a program has exactly 2 windows / instances opened, to switch from one to another, the way there are displayed when we click one time to the Dock icon is not logical. The current visible window is presented on the left, the other on the right, so to select it we have to move mouse through half of the screen.

It should be either :

- Double click on Unity icon brings back to current window (like now) but one click display shows the other instance on the left

- Same display (current on the left, other on the right), but quick double click puts in front the other window.

By double click, I mean a very quick and immediate double click on the left mouse button (it has to be defined how many time max should be considered for that), not a single click to see the display, and another single click a few seconds after to come back to current window.

Revision history for this message
Xavier Guillot (valeryan-24) wrote :

Any news on this demand with the upcoming features of Unity dock and switch with Quick List ?

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