HOWTO: Switch workspaces by moving your mouse to the edge of the screen

[shakin]

Brightside is a utility that allows you to switch to adjacent workspaces by moving your mouse cursor to the edges of the screen. Move your mouse left and you switch to the workspace to the left of your current one, move right to move to the workspace to the right, etc. You can also configure custom commands to run when you move to the corner of the screen, or set it to move to a diagonal workspace if you have a multi-row, multi-column layout.

Here's how you do it:

Install Brightside

$ sudo apt-get install brightside


Optionally configure brightside using the GUI (set custom commands for corner movement)

$ /usr/bin/brightside-properties


Run the program

$ /usr/bin/brightside


You should now be able to switch workspaces by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen.

Below are instructions to have brightside start when you login, otherwise you will need to run the /usr/bin/brightside command after each login.

- Menu: System -- Preferences -- Sessions.
- Go to the Startup Programs tab.
- Click Add.
- In the Startup Command text box type (without the quotes) '/usr/bin/brightside' and click OK.

Happy workspace switching!

[henriquemaia]

Nice tip!

Thanks a lot :)

[Fab]

my setup is to switch on left and right edges and to mute sound in the bottom right corner (i got nothing there except the pager)
i usually listen to music really loud, so when someone is coming, i point my mouse to the bottom right corner (no click :)) and the music fades out till its muted
really nice
also, i didnt need to put it into the start up programs, it did so automatically :S ?

[Sham]

Will this prog work under KDE too?

[illmonkey]

so so so nice!!!

[totalshredder]

Dang, now that is a really cool program. and it's so easy to set up!!

Good Work!

Luke

[dataw0lf]

Ugh. xfce4 comes with that behavior by default, I couldn't stand it. Ctrl+Alt + # or arrow works for me.

[shakin]

Will this prog work under KDE too?

Sorry, I'm pretty sure it's Gnome-only.

[Sarojin]

Will this prog work under KDE too?
KDE can do that without extra programs (don't remember how, the option is somewhere in kcontrol).

[vapor]

Kcontrol>Desktop>Window Behavior>Advanced tab

Sheesh... KDE has had that for years... and yes it still annoys me. :)

Come to think of it, I think fwvm had it, too.

[Gandalf]

cool tip thanks...

[panickedthumb]

rock on-- been wondering how to do this.

[Gandalf]

i'l like to do a script to run/stop it just by a shortcut like Alt+F3 for example because it's really ugly when you watch a movie, you hit the mouse by accident and Boom! you're on the next workspace...
so is it possible?

[Eproxus]

The thing I liked in XFCE4 is when you dragged a window to the edge and it would move to the next workspace, however it is quite confusing when just moving your mouse and the workspace switches. I also don't like the pager popping up in my face. I'll try it for a while though.

[huh?]

funny, just moving my mouse to the workspace icon, and using the scroll feature, quickly changes the workspace...that and CTL/ALT + an arrow, works just fine for me..

[Happy]

the mute volume button didna'e work for me :|
other then that this is a great plugin.
for the movie question, couldn't you just make it display on every screen so it don't matter if you knock the mouse to the next window?

[Steel3]

Pretty cool, especially when combined with use of 3ddesktop

[jkish]

I agree. 3ddesk with brightside is very cool. I setup brightside so when I move my mouse to the corner 3ddesk kicks in. All you have to do is click to switch windows.

Here's a screenshot.

[bored2k]

Just tried this for 15 secs. COuldn't stand it.
I'm 3ddesktop a try though..

[funkenstein]

sorry, I'm an idiot. No, just a n00b....

to remove brightside:
uninstall it using:

sudo apt-get remove brightside

outputting:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
brightside
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives.
After unpacking 946kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y {<- Need to tell it yes}
(Reading database ... 64725 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing brightside ...


So there, me doing something right, imagine that! \\:D/

[Erucolindo]

I also use brightside to switch desktops with 3ddesktop.. right now i have it set up to switch to my right desktop in the upper right corner (by running '3ddesk --nozoom --gotoright') and vise versa.. however every third or fourth time i switch desktop it dosn't return focus to my desktop, this is very anoing.. it's probibly a bug in 3ddesktop and i can probibly not do that much about it.. but if anyone have a sugestion....?

[MrMunson]

Oh.... So... great... app.... thank you! *bow* This is amongst the funkiest, coolest AND most useful app I have seen in ages.

THX \\:D/

[hunteramor]

Is there any way I could use the corner settings to switch left and right workspaces? My girlfriend, who needs to be able to use the computer too, winds up switching workspaces accidentally too often when it's set to switch at the right and left borders, even with the delay set high. If it only switched in the corners, she might still be able to use it and I'd still have the functionality.

Anyone figured out a way to do this yet?

[deNoobius]

Nice, this is a terrific tool. I was wondering how to switch workspaces in Blender (it covers up the bottom taskbar).

[Crashmaxx]

I also use brightside to switch desktops with 3ddesktop.. right now i have it set up to switch to my right desktop in the upper right corner (by running '3ddesk --nozoom --gotoright') and vise versa.. however every third or fourth time i switch desktop it dosn't return focus to my desktop, this is very anoing.. it's probibly a bug in 3ddesktop and i can probibly not do that much about it.. but if anyone have a sugestion....?
Oh wow! That's even better then either alone.

I don't have your problem though.:-k

[trazek]

Hello all.

I am new to Ubuntu and recently installed 10.04 LTS. I installed Brightside to move around my workspaces a little easier and for some reason, I cannot switch between workspaces with my mouse. All the custom corner functions work but not the workspace switching.

Any ideas?

Update: Nevermind, more Googling lead me to the answer. It seems I had to turn off all visual effects for Brightside to work properly.

[pt123]

you can have visual effects, and use Compiz to attain the same functionality as Brightside

just install compiz settings manager

[Pougnet]

Thanks for this.