Launchers with open windows could be grouped together and separated from those that have none
Currently, launchers and grou buttons in dockbarx (and probably dockbar) are shown in the user-arranged order. When a user launches a program, its position in the list does not change. This is consistent. However, I would like the launched applications to be grouped together, to quickly see what I have open and what is not open. The following explains this feature.
Launched programs' group buttons are sorted among each other according to the user-arranged order. The remaining unlaunched launchers/ group buttons are sorted separately. The launched ones would be shown first (left-to-right order, top-to-bottom order) and the unlaunched ones after them. They could be separated with a vertical bar or other separator; maybe this can be specified in a theme.
Example scenario:
User launchers in order: firefox, evolution, liferea, pidgin, nautilus, calculator, rhythmbox, gimp, oowriter, eclipse, virtualbox, gnome-terminal
Description:
User launches firefox. Order of buttons does not change.
User launches evolution. Order does not change.
User launches pidgin. Pidgin moves next to evolution, past the unlaunched liferea. On closing, it will back.
User launches gnome-terminal. Gnome-terminal moves next to pidgin, past the unlaunched liferea.
User launches DosBox (not in the user-specified order). It moves next to gnome-terminal, past the unlaunched liferea. This is because launched applications are grouped together.
User launches liferea. Liferea moves between evolution and pidgin. The list of open applications is now ordered as follows: firefox, evolution. liferea, pidgin, gnome-terminal, dosbox. The unlaunched launchers list is as follows: nautilus, calculator, rhythmbox, gimp, oowriter, eclipse, virtualbox.
Blueprint information
- Status:
- Complete
- Approver:
- None
- Priority:
- Undefined
- Drafter:
- None
- Direction:
- Needs approval
- Assignee:
- None
- Definition:
- Superseded
- Series goal:
- None
- Implementation:
-
Not started
- Milestone target:
- None
- Started by
- Completed by
- Matias Särs
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Matias: I strongly disagree with this proposal. IHMO the biggest benefit of having launchers is that they keep your most used programs in the same spot at all time. That should _help_ you spot if your program is launched or not more quickly, not hinder you, you know exactly where to look for your application. Position shouldn't be the best way to differentiate between a launched and an unlaunched launcher. The buttons themselves should have clear differences between running apps and launchers, but that's up to the theme makers to see to.
Also I disagree with using dockbarx launchers for alsmost every program on the computer (like the launchers are used on macos). IHMO, You should only add the programs that are running as much as they are off. That way you maximize your work efficiency.
That's my 2 cents. You might disagree.
