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View Full Version : New idea: Multiple Taskbar!



finferflu
March 8th, 2007, 10:47 AM
I've had a sort of inspiration, it's too bad that I haven't got any programming skills (and have no time to earn them right now).

It would be fantastic to have multiple taskbars where to send/minimize/make appear chosen apps.
Let's say I had two toolbars with a taskbar each, I could decide to have Firefox and Gaim appearing on the top one, and AbiWord and The GIMP on the bottom one.

That would be a very well organized work area, a supplement to multiple desktops. In fact multiple taskbars combined with multiple desktops would be amazing!

What do you think about that? Does something similar already exist? If not, how would it be possible to develop it?

Spr0k3t
March 8th, 2007, 11:27 AM
This can already be done with the help of multiple monitors or multiple desktops. Take your pick of which one you want to use. Outside of that, it doesn't sound like it would improve upon the idea, only dissolve the idea through confusion.

A work around can be done... remove the option to minimize the application you are developing, instead focus on a notification icon which sits in the applet notification area. To modify existing applications to support this behavior would not be fun.

finferflu
March 8th, 2007, 12:04 PM
Well, this solution was there to manage the workspace you are working on. You can keep more windows on the same desktop, but not having them all appear on the same taskbar, so that you already know where to look when you search for an app. The thing is that you keep all the windows on the same desktop, so that you can see all of them at the same time. With multiple desktops you can either have them all on the same taksbar, or you can't see them all at the same time.

Note that I'm not talking about the system tray, that's another thing I find useful, and I think it's ok as it is. I think multiple taskbars would improve usability a lot, and I think that to achieve this one has to modify only the window manager's behaviour, i.e. having more than one button to minimize, like Minimize-Top, Minimize-Bottom...

Adamant1988
March 8th, 2007, 12:04 PM
I've had a sort of inspiration, it's too bad that I haven't got any programming skills (and have no time to earn them right now).

It would be fantastic to have multiple taskbars where to send/minimize/make appear chosen apps.
Let's say I had two toolbars with a taskbar each, I could decide to have Firefox and Gaim appearing on the top one, and AbiWord and The GIMP on the bottom one.

That would be a very well organized work area, a supplement to multiple desktops. In fact multiple taskbars combined with multiple desktops would be amazing!

What do you think about that? Does something similar already exist? If not, how would it be possible to develop it?

I certainly hope you don't want that all on one screen, Gnome and KDE already take up far too much screen real estate for my liking. What I would prefer to see would be switchable taskbars when mine fills up, just hit a button and move down to the next one, etc.. I understand that you want to keep more windows in one desktop, but frankly I prefer the multiple desktop solution to this problem as it's much cleaner than finding a way to cram all of that into one desktop.

finferflu
March 8th, 2007, 12:24 PM
Actually not, I want multiple taskbars AND multiple desktops. The thing is, as I said before, that sometimes I need to have some windows on the same workspace to see them all at the same time. Having multiple taskbar would ease the process of finding them. The problem with multiple desktops is that either you have all the windows appearing on the same taskbar, even though they are on different desktops, or you can't see them all at the same time. I think having all the windows appearing on the same taskbar is kind of messy.

Adamant1988
March 8th, 2007, 12:30 PM
Actually not, I want multiple taskbars AND multiple desktops. The thing is, as I said before, that sometimes I need to have some windows on the same workspace to see them all at the same time. Having multiple taskbar would ease the process of finding them. The problem with multiple desktops is that either you have all the windows appearing on the same taskbar, even though they are on different desktops, or you can't see them all at the same time. I think having all the windows appearing on the same taskbar is kind of messy.

And I think adding new taskbars only contributes to the problem. A better solution instead of taking up even more screen real estate is finding a better way to handle the space we currently have. Personally I like as little clutter on my desktop as possible, and I wouldn't want another couple of bars stealing space that I could be using for my web browser.

So the real question here is, how can we make all this information available on one screen without crowding it?

Spr0k3t
March 8th, 2007, 12:42 PM
Idea on how to implement this. Regular Expression filter option for the application task. That is, one task bar would be required as a sort of catch-all, the other(s) would have filter options for the task in the form of regex. It would be a simple feature to implement in either KDE or Gnome, but getting the developers to implement the idea is another story.

finferflu
March 8th, 2007, 12:45 PM
Smaller, fading taksbars? LOL

I'm too used to the taskbar to give it up so easily, I have actually given up E17, which is a great Desktop Shell (whatever that means :P), exactly because the taskbar support is quite poor in my opinion.

Of course I'm open to adapt a better solution, if it comes up, but for the time being this is all I have is a taskbar...