Search has been removed from the "Workspaces view". Was it really necessary? #95
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FYI, cosmic is actually just a gnome extension which means you can disable it to get back to the old behavior. Didn't realize that until a few days ago. |
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not quite, disabling it breaks the regular overview and search visually (the app grid appears in the background of everything) |
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You can revert the change manually then install the extension from source. The User Extension will override the System Extension. |
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I (and my colleagues) use Pop!_OS because it has (or had) great out-of-the-box ready-for-work environment. We use it for VMs, for example. I understand that anybody can reconfigure his setup for personal purposes. IMO this search feature must be included by default. Or there should be some quick switch for it. |
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I agree! I found that enabling the "search" shortcut gives back the old behavior (i.e. search in Workspaces view) the only thing would be to enable it to be only the "super" key (I put it as the "menu" key instead for myself but take a while to relearn the behavior) |
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Just tried "Search" shortcut - yes, it works. IMO, this would be useful (and can be the solution for our problem). But IDK what to do with this (behavior is not as before):
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Yeah indeed the clear search "erase" the possibility to type search.. No typos allowed then I guess? |
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I also found that Launchers > Search works perfectly. Is there any way to bind Search to Super only via a terminal command (also disabling the Cosmic use of Super preferably)? "gsettings get org.gnome.shell.keybindings" has "toggle-overview" but there doesn't appear to be any entry for "Search". |
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Copying my comment here for discussion. Not sure about other people, but I'm not really partial to whether it is gnome search or launcher. On keystroke, instead of It would do. |
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What are you doing in the Workspaces view to begin with if you want to search though? |
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For me, it's that I want a single key to do everything. The separation adds unnecessary complexity. |
I use the workspace as my one stop shop. It is used for everything the workspace offers, and then search (or launcher). I can see what applications I have open, and which monitor they are on, even if they are nested or hidden. This allows the workflow be more fluid, two (or more) different tasks can be accomplished by going to one place. |
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Hi, |
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Reasonable people can disagree, but I think the complaint about search being removed from Workspaces isn't addressed in the blog post. The latter says that universal search is not frequently used, so it was decided to keep search focused via the Pop Launcher. This says nothing about why the option to search while in Workspaces view was removed (other than there is some indication that Workspaces isn't really used that much). If somebody is already in Workspaces and they want to launch an app or open a file or whatever, why not allow the user to do that? I think that's the issue. The Launcher is also not nearly as performant as GNOME's universal search, in terms of speed or breadth. I'm sure that'll change in the future, but right now it is suboptimal. All that said, I believe in System76 as a company. Thank you all for the thankless work. |
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It may not be explicitly addressed in the blog, but contextually the answer is there. The search on the workspaces view, if not removed, would continue to enforce itself as a crutch towards a better paradigm. When you are opening the workspaces view, you already have a goal in mind for what you intend to do. You're not so indecisive and impulsive that you aren't sure if you want to move windows across workspaces, or open applications. So why subject yourself to a cascade of animations and blur effects that take you away from your workflow, just to launch an application? Which we have to be real, that's what most people use search for. |
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I think the concept from that post that drove these decisions is "no single component should do too much". In the "Launching Apps" section of the post, the animations for opening an application are discussed which is a fair complaint about the combined Gnome Activities. However I think a better solution than splitting it up into small pieces as has been done here would be to bind the new launcher to Super + Space (or similar) instead of the Super key. The Applications and Workspaces views are the same as the Activities just a bit worse so is worth bringing back. Personally I have switched back to Gnome Shell until this has had some more work - and I have become a supporter of Pop!_OS (you should allow for more than $1/month!) to support the continued improvement. Some more configuration options to pick and choose between the features would be the best of both worlds - but I understand the hesitation to adding more config switches |
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I use search in the overview specifically because with it I have a one stop shop for everything. |
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so no one uses workspaces to search and open a bunch of apps to then place them in different workspaces quickly? now there are more steps and there is plenty of room to keep search in the workspace view i don't get why it had to be removed, plus the new launcher search is not even the same , old one was quicker because you didn't have to spell out the whole name of the app, typing f and enter would open firefox now its firmware, vs would open vscode but now its libraoffice draw... i keep opening wrong apps because of muscle memory |
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It makes no sense to me why they changed the workspaces view. I have no problem with wanted to move to the new app launcher, but please restore the functionality of the workspaces view so those of us that are used to it don't have to switch back to Ubuntu just to get a functional workspaces view. Please, just an option to turn it back on if we wish. |
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The all-in-one, single-key launcher was one of the best features of Pop_OS over Ubuntu. I also vote to bring it back. In the meantime, here's the easy way to get it back: |
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Doing this until the Maintainers see that removing this feature seriously impairs peoples workflows. I loved the super behaviour so much that this was something I talked about most of the time when discussing Linux v Windows. because every single time I work on Pop and go back to my Windows PC I really miss this feature and constantly have to remind myself that it's not that easy on Windows. |
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same |
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@jkleint I used your solution previously, but I found that I can do get the same old behaviour without reinstalling gnome-session. See this comment of mine: #95 (reply in thread) |
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I completely agree. The removal of search in the workspaces view have seriously impacted my workflow.
This causes my workflow to be something like this right now:
Previously it was:
Please restore functionality that so many people depend on in their workflow, or at least give us the option to re-enable it. |
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And cosmic is slow!! |
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This seems a bit harsh. I haven't experienced the same CPU load or sluggishness. A bug report seems more appropriate. |
Suggestion:If you bring back the ability to see my applications as windows just like in workspaces, I for one might be tempted to give your new search a try. As others already stated, there are people rely on the "thumbnail" of the application to quickly switch between apps. Removing the possibility of identifying my applications quickly, seeing on which monitor they are and reordering them quickly seriously impares my current workflow. One of the reasons I stuck with Pop after distro hopping quite a bit was the way the super key worked. I honestly couldn't care less if it's "bad UX design" like some mentioned here. In my opinion it was "extremely good UX design" because it makes life just so much easier. to address @mmsticks point:
It's really not about being impulsive. It's about not wanting to work more than is necessary when working with multiple windows. I'm a devops engineer. Having at least 6 applications open at a time is my norm, usually it's more, often even multiple instances of one application. that means having a list of applications with icons is really not an option for me, it's just more work and takes longer to see which window I'm looking for. I also frequently need to launch new windows, so my most frequent actions are
So it makes a lot of sense to have this be one single key instead of two right? |
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For those who want to enable search in the workspaces view but want to keep other cosmic functionality (e.g. the dynamic dock), you only need to disable pop-cosmic (the first 2 lines of @jkleint 's answer). After doing this I wasn't able to see the actual search bar in the workspaces menu until after a reboot (or logout & login), although the search functionality worked. |
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With 21.10 on the horizon and the Beta now out, The Original Issue for this discussion: This New Issue for 21.10: Here is a GIF on my take. I have been using this since the 21.04 Beta.
My implementation doesn't quite match the mock-ups in the new issue, but this is what works for me. Code For It: Shell Cosmic Based on Impish (21.10) Branch for Gnome 3x & 4x Cosmic Based on Hirsute (21.04) Branch for Gnome 3x One Known Bug: |
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The single entry workflow is modern and vital to many users now, and we want more choices than GNOME. Most importantly for the repetitive task of switching anything between tasks, having 1 key and not having to know multiple multi-key shortcuts over and over reduces cognitive fatigue. When you need to shift your attention, you just do it because there is one key so your muscles can get there the same time your mind does. It doesn't matter if it's the new application launcher or GNOME's,m we just don't want to be abandoned because we like to do things simpler and faster. This is most important for the new rust desktop. There isn't any good argument for not allowing the option to launch applications from the overview, (or to launch the launcher by typing while int he overview). Need to switch windows? super This is simpler. This is faster. This is better. |
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Also check out this write up about Pop OS that praises it, and one of the main parts reviewed in detail was why the single-entry workflow is so good. |
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This is Super. |
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I'm still not fully used to the new shortcuts. I find myself goofing it up all the time :/ |
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Partially coming from MacOS I can understand the Pop devs going the same route with a separate workspaces, application dashboard and launcher. Pop now having a better launcher is great, and making them separate entities is understandable, but not being able to include the new launcher in the workplaces view is a regression in functionality that made the Gnome workflow so great. I have disabled the pop_cosmic extension for now, but I hope the new launcher gets featured on the new workplaces page, which I also find better than standard Gnome. |
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One of the devs mentions the plan is to eventually integrate the launcher (not app library) into workspace view. That satisfies me (even as an option toggle) completely and wouldn't want to disable the extension at that point. What do you all think? |
I have been using type to launcher in workspace since the launch of 21.04, I modified the extensions to do it, (See GIF higher up for example.) My implementation isn't perfect, (I have not gotten it to look like the screenshot they have for their plan), but it gets the job done. |
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I miss being able to search for files in the super menu |
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Launcher can search files with the |
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I find launcher's file search to be rather off from what I'm looking for. For example, I might type a name of a file in my home directory, but it will instead find tens of files with that word in some obscure git repository. It does get things right sometimes, but most often than not it doesn't find what I'm looking for. My solution is the following: (Note: You need dconf-editor to be installed.) These commands disable Cosmic and re-enable some kinds of search (including files) in Gnome search. Some I keep disabled, like contacts, because I don't use them, but you can of course modify these commands as per your needs. Keep in mind, these commands are written for a basic PopOS install. If you have some extra extensions installed, you will need to add them to the relevant command, otherwise they may be disabled. |
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@sc941737 DUDE! This solution rocks thanks a ton! no really! This made my frigging week! |
and others
We started to discuss it in #85; #70; pop-os/shell#995 and some other.
As I can see, not only I was used to search for apps in "Workspaces view".
Yes, "App view", "Workspaces view" and Launcher are 3 completely different tools. But IMHO auto-switching to search on typing was really useful feature.
I propose to discuss options for a solution that will suit the majority. For example, auto-switching to launcher on typing, or adding switch for enabling old search in Workspaces view.