editing desktop behavior

[nbv4]

Is there wnay way to edit the way Gnome behaves on the desktop? I do a lot of web design, which means lots of switching between windows. The focus of all my activity is the browser window, which I like to have maximized. I click on the taskbar items to bring up the various other apps I use such as nautilus windows, gedit, ssh terminal, etc. What always happens, is I get clumsy and accidently click on the Firefox taskbar item which causes Firefox to be minimized. this is VERY ANNOYING. Is there any way to change the way Gnome behaves by having it NOT MINIMIZE the active window when you click on it's taskbar? I used to do this all the time with Firefox tabs, but firefox has a way to change that behavior and it makes working with multiple tabs a lot easier. If Gnome can't do it, can KDE? If so, I just might have to make a switch soon...

[colau]

Did you use compiz?

aptitude install compizconfig-settings-manager

From System>Preferences>Compizconfig...

[nbv4]

Did you use compiz?

aptitude install compizconfig-settings-manager

From System>Preferences>Compizconfig...

Just spent about 10 minutes looking around that app, but couldn't find anything that seems to do what I want ...

[colau]

Can you post a snapshot of an active window you are running?

[asmoore82]

You may like the "Window Selector" panel applet -
it displays all open windows across all workspaces in a menu

You can right click on the panel and "Add to panel" to get it.

"Window List" is the default applet that you were describing.

[asmoore82]

Also, I picked up this tip in an interview with the man, the myth, the legend,
Linus Torvalds himself, also a known and very outspoken critic of Gnome...

It is a very old Unix behavior that is a perfect time saving solution to lots of problems
if only I could break my own bad habits and use it effectively ...

middle-click(or "wheel-click") on a window's titlebar to send that window to the bottom of the stack
it makes perfect sense if you think about it - left-clicking a titlebar brings that window to the front;
This is a very organic behavior that we never even stop to think about anymore,
so this "middle-click" behavior is a real gem - the missing link of windowing workstations!

I can't say enough about how genius and useful this is - it keeps your mouse pointer up in your work area
and eliminates the need for alt+tab, taskbars, docks, or even the whole minimize/iconify paradigm.

Linus's actual complaint, BTW, was something about Gnome's inability to change right-click behaviour.
Linus recently switched to Gnome and his laptop has only 2 built-in mouse buttons.
In the text of the complaint he "spilled the beans" that he can't live without the ability
to middle-click his titlebars - old school Unix FTW !