Workspace Switcher takes up large space for people who never use it

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

unity 3.6.6-0ubuntu3, Ubuntu Natty

The "Workspace Switcher" item in the launcher takes up a substantial amount of space in the launcher, and cannot be removed, when most people will not use it intentionally.

Other launcher items have a "Keep in Launcher" menu item, but the Workspace Switcher does not. If it did, though, someone would need to design a way of putting it back in the launcher again.

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

I think there's a strong case for having Workspaces be completely
optional, and possibly even not enabled by default.

MPT, where would the on/off switch for them best live?

Mark

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

I don't know. Being confident where it would best live would require taking some time to mock up multiple possibilities. Here are five to start off with:
* A checkbox in the "Appearance" settings panel.
* A dedicated "Workspaces" settings panel, with options for whether workspaces are turned on at all, how many there are (or whether they should be created on-the-fly), and whether the switcher is available from the launcher, plus a brief guide to the keyboard combos for switching.
* "Workspace Switcher" being a pseudo-application that can be dragged to the launcher from Applications (as Spaces is in Mac OS X, for example).
* One of a few "Extra items" (along with "Trash", "System Settings", etc) that are selectable in an "Add to Launcher" dialog that acts as an accessible equivalent to dragging and dropping stuff into the launcher.
* A context menu item for any empty area of the launcher.

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

On 25/03/11 16:48, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> * A checkbox in the "Appearance" settings panel.
> * A dedicated "Workspaces" settings panel, with options for whether workspaces are turned on at all, how many there are (or whether they should be created on-the-fly), and whether the switcher is available from the launcher, plus a brief guide to the keyboard combos for switching.
> * One of a few "Extra items" (along with "Trash", "System Settings", etc) that are selectable in an "Add to Launcher" dialog that acts as an accessible equivalent to dragging and dropping stuff into the launcher.

All reasonable suggestions, thank you MPT. I would be happy to see
exploration of any of these in Oneiric. For Natty, my preference would
be either the first one (no new panel or dialog interface, just an extra
checkbox in Appearance), or even better:

> * "Workspace Switcher" being a pseudo-application that can be dragged to the launcher from Applications (as Spaces is in Mac OS X, for example).

This one requires no new chrome, so is particularly attractive. Is it
implementable in Natty?

> * A context menu item for any empty area of the launcher.
We don't want to introduce a context menu if we can possibly avoid it,
and to do so for a feature of questionable usefulness would not make sense.

Mark

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

Mark, the User Interface and Beta freeze is past. This kind of change will not be possible for Natty.

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

I meant to add: there is only 4 weeks left before release. That means the risk of introducing non-fixable-in-time or even unnoticed regressions is high. Any new feature or feature change at this point must yield considerable benefit considering the risk taken in introducing it.

[Alex Launi (alexlauni)]

I would suggest leaving this be for natty, as it's really a tiny issue, and discussing the larger question of workspaces at uds-o.

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

OK, leave it be for Natty.

[Marco Hunsicker (ubuntu-triemax)]

Please allow the removal of the workspace switcher icon.