workspaces-to-dock
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passingthru67
Keyboard focus & navigation
It would be nice to navigate between workspaces when the dock is shown. At the moment the focus stays on the open application. The dock also stays open as long as the focus does not change. I think the dock should at least grab keyboard focus, allow to exit on escape and exit on clicking some place outside the dock. Navigation using arrow keys then would be a plus :)
(this is all when opening the dock using the keyboard shortcut)
I noticed this myself. In fact, I've got 'grabbing the focus' and 'exiting on escape' on my todo list.
Hmm, on the other hand CTRL-ALT-Up/Down is bound by default. So arrow keys would duplicate this behaviour. An alternative would be CTRL-ALT-Up/Down always shows the dock, instead of the workspace switching overlay that normally is shown in the middle of the screen.
Next potential step:
The question is - for what purpose is the dock shown? Answer: for switching workspaces and looking for apps (to then activate by mouse). So even more extreme: on Alt-Tab shows dock and highlights workspace taskbar apps. Keep dock shown as long as Alt is pressed (duplicate all Alt-Tab behaviour), and remove the alt-tab overlay that is usually shown in the middle of the screen. Yes, workspace dock could be used for Alt-Tab :-)
This way the whole grabbing focus and exiting would be integrated into the normal workflow, the user wouldn't have to learn something new.
That's an interesting suggestion. But, to be honest, I sometimes use Alt-Tab without needing the workspaces dock showing up (usually when I want to switch between two open apps quickly). Showing the workspaces dock would actually get in the way of my workflow. Having a different/distinct keyboard shortcut to show the dock is more logical in my situation. Anyway, that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a good option for some users. I'll look into it after I fix the grabbing focus issue.