Window Switcher & multiple windows of the same application

[alanchambers]

I'm finding this very frustrating but I can't find an answer anywhere - sorry if it's already been answered.

I've always used Alt-Tab heavily to switch between open windows - in the old days on Windows, and in recent years with Ubuntu. It's particularly useful when - for example - cutting and pasting between two documents, or two presentations, etc. where I'm constantly flipping back and forth between the two windows.

I therefore find it extremely frustrating that in 11.10, the window switcher seems to switch only between applications, not between windows within them. I know if I pause on an app, it then opens up a view of all the windows of that app and I can then switch between them, but this is slow (there's a timeout involved before it shows the windows) and requires more concentration than just the repeated Alt-Tabs that I'm used to.

I find it better to do a Super-W, to get all the windows shown, and then click the one I want but this too is far slower and more distracting than just a quick Alt-Tab to flip between the windows.

Is there a setting I'm missing somewhere that would make Alt-Tab work the way it always did?

Or am I missing some other neat UI trick that would achieve the same aim in different way?

Thanks.

(PS - my wife has a MacBook and I notice OS X does something very similar - which I would find equally difficult - fortunately, she never got used to Alt-Tab so doesn't miss it!).

[nothingspecial]

Hi, I could be wrong here because I'm not using Ubuntu right now but I think you use Alt with the key above the Tab key to switch between windows of the same application.

[alanchambers]

Well - you're absolutely right! It works exactly as you said - switching between windows of the same app, rather than between apps.

I can live with that, although really I don't know why the behaviour of Alt-tab had to be changed. Is it just to be more like OS X, I wonder - I've noticed many other similarities?

I need to check out what other hot-keys there are that I don't know about.

Many thanks.

[Copper Bezel]

I can live with that, although really I don't know why the behaviour of Alt-tab had to be changed.
Well, it's not changed, per se. By default, the Alt+Tab switcher is the new one that comes with the Unity plugin, but you can still switch it to any of the old ones in CompizConfig. (If you haven't, you can install the CompizConfig Settings Manager from the Software Center.)

[alanchambers]

Yes - I do take your point, but the effect for the user is that effect of using Alt-Tab has changed. I have CCSM to customised various aspects of Unity and actually like it a lot now.

I think I may come to like the Alt-"key above tab" thing too. (I'm not sure how it should be described though (other than like that) as the actual engraving no doubt varies with language. On my (UK, Thinkpad) keyboard it's the |, ` and ¬ key!)

Thanks to both for your responses.