Beta XFWM4/tasklist behaviour

[Brian J. Tarricone]

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On 8/15/2006 1:26 PM, Erik Harrison wrote:

> I respect that. I'm going to make an argument that it isn't the
> correct behaviour, and if you disagree, say so, and I'll shut up about
> it. I'm not asking for an option. I'm asking to either remove the
> behaviour or replace it with something else (non optional) that works
> more smoothly.
> 
> The whole reason I use workspaces is to seperate out tasks or groups
> of tasks. If a window from workspace 2 can "invade" workspace 1, then
> there isn't much of a gain to moving low priority windows to workspace
> 2.

I agree wholeheartedly.  This behavior has been annoying the hell out of
me since it was introduced.  On a side note, I also don't like how new
(unfocused) windows start blinking in the taskbar as well, though I can
live with this.

> Frankly, if I'm in the middle of reviewing a code sample on workspace
> 1 with my coworkers, then the fact my wife wants to say hi over Jabber
> is an interruption. So I move Gaim over to workspace 2. But with this
> new behaviour she blinks in. 80% of the time, I click on urgent
> windows in the tasklist out of instinct, and suddenly, rather than
> bringing a window to the front, my desktop changes. This is
> disorienting.

Uh huh.  And I think it's very unintuitive to how you expect the taskbar
to work.  Unless you have "show all applications from all workspaces"
set, having a click on the taskbar *change* your active workspace is
just bad UI.

> I would argue that the WORKSPACE in the switcher should blink,
> indicating which workspace wants attention, if anything.

I really like this, actually.  I'd like to see this mis-feature removed
from the taskbar and added to the pager instead.  Makes much more sense.

> Also, as long as we're on the topic, I'd like to  propose that this
> blinking (either workspace or window) stop after a short period of
> time, but stay highlighted. If I know it's my wife asking about
> dinner, and I choose to ignore it, it shouldn't continue to draw my
> attention. After a few blinks, the button should stay in highlighted
> state until the Urgent hint is removed. Is this behaviour reasonable?

Yes!  Again, agreed.  If I haven't moved to the window within 5 blinks
or so, it just means I don't have time for it yet, and to continue
blinking only annoys me to the point that I'll quickly raise it and then
hide it just to get it to stop (without actually acknowledging whatever
it was that made it urgent).

So, to summarise:

1.  Remove the feature whereby an urgent window on another workspace
starts blinking in the current workspace's taskbar.

2.  Add a feature to the pager where an urgent window on an inactive
workspace causes that particular workspace to blink.

3.  For any repetitive blinking behavior like this, after 5 flashes,
stop flashing and leave it in the "flash on" state until the urgent hint
is removed.

What do we think?

	-brian

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