I never used the app menu as an indicator, and I never had any problems. I just refocus what I want to when in doubt
For me, a partial solution would be a straight upgrade as long as it doesn’t get in the way
I like the effect for quick focus changes such as window close or alt-tab.
When there is a delay between user action and the animation, it feels off. Maybe graying+fading out the other windows when the workspace is unfocused would work better ? This kind of “screen-wide/passive” effect could also be used to show the active window when recovering from inactivity
Thanks for getting out of your way to ask point and click users feedback, I hope this goes well for you ^^
Could you say specifically what you mean by “The behavior is a little strange”? What problems did you encounter?
The blue border is an option but not ideal when a window has its edges on the edge of the screen (part of the blue border will not be visible or it has to be drawn inside the window) . Note that this is just a small comment on this. If you want to highlight any alternatives feel free to open a new topic as starting to discuss them here would be off topic .
I liked the animation that this extension added, it helped my eyes snap to the focused window, but I am a little sceptical about removing the app menu.
I use it fairly often to access the desktop actions that apps expose. An example would be opening a new window for an app. Some of these applications do have an option in their in-app menus to open a new window (I know the dash will also have these options but it is hidden while using the app) but having these options in the same spot on my screen was an added convenience.
Also as noted by others here the animation only shows the focus at the time of switching and does not have a persistent way to present this information.
Finally, the app menu did have a small spinner to indicate that an app was loading. On slower computers this provided a much needed bit of visual feedback to reassure the user that the action of launching an app was properly registered.
Overall I like the animation and I would be delighted if it was incorporated into GNOME however I also think it does not solve the same issues the app menu did.
Regardless of what is ultimately implemented in GNOME I would like to thank all the contributors to the GNOME project for developing and maintaining an awesome user experience!
Sooooo, I did just that and it doesn’t work all the time.
The reason is that, on my main PC, I changed the Alt+Tab behavior to switch between windows and not applications, like that (see “Switch applications” and “Switch windows” bindings):
(I use several terminals and other applications at the same time, on the same workspace, and I don’t want all my terminals to pop up when I hit Alt+Tab, I just want my previous window to pop up).
And with this configuration, Alt+Tab’ing between windows doesn’t trigger the focus animation, but the other cases work as intended.
I guess most if not all people commenting here (myself included) are familiar with the apps to the point of knowing both the command-line name and the “About” name, when they diverge. For everyone else, one possible downside of the change would be not showing the current app’s name. We click the file drawer in the dock, and a file manager app appears, but we might not even think which is the app’s name. That might be an issue when talking to other people, e.g. asking for help. The name is still displayed in some occasions, but not as often.
I find the animation a bit distracting most of the times.
I personally like the indicator on the panel (appearance wise), and I think it gives useful information if you glance at the screen maybe after looking away for a bit (and without the need of interacting directly with the pc).
While I agree that the menu is mostly useless and few apps put any meaningful options in there, I think getting rid of it doesn’t really solve much and that an empty panel is even more useless.
This experiment is great as an easy way for regular users to try out things and give feedback. Thanks!
These are my first impressions after just a while of using it:
I never interact with the app menu and I can’t even recall if I use it as a reference at all, so I don’t think I’d miss it. But reading the OP and other people’s comments I see four main needs that could be solved by this:
(1) avoiding confusion, while:
(2) focusing on the active window when switching to it
(3) recognizing the active window at any moment
(4) seeing the active app’s name, which is not displayed in the window
Now to the feedback:
Good:
Cleaner top bar
Somewhat clearer indication of changing focus. Nice effect, windows feel “alive”. Helps with (2)
Less good:
It already feels like it can get old and tiresome very fast. Too much movement.
It doesn’t really show the currently active window, only the window that is becoming active - doesn’t really solve (3)
It doesn’t show the current app’s name - doesn’t solve (4)
Even less good:
As many have said, the “bounce” behavior just triggering in some cases feels wrong. This causes the windows that don’t bounce to feel broken, as if they weren’t following a system-wide behavior… or as if it wasn’t a system-wide behavior at all. It makes it more difficult to understand and get used to. So it doesn’t solve need (1) because it removes a source of confusion but creates a new one.
So my general feeling is: it could improve some aspects, but it’s not much of an improvement and may cause more problems than it solves.
Possible alternative approaches:
Keep the app menu where it is, but remove its functions as a menu and make it just highlight (bounce) the active window on click. This would make it self-explanatory and solve (1) (3) and (4). It could be combined with a more consistent bouncing when switching windows to solve (2).
Highlight the active window only in the overview, keeping its title visible even when you’re not hovering with the mouse and using the system-wide highlight color on the app icon and name. Additionally, the icon in the dash could also be highlighted. This would need an action to enter the overview, but it’s a simple, well known action. This would solve (1) (3) and (4), but with extra actions.
Possible alternative approaches I don’t think I would like:
Permanently highlighting the active window with a color outline. Maybe adding an accent color (line, background…) to the header bar could work better, but I’m not sure if I’d like it either. And it wouldn’t solve (4) anyway.
Increasing contrast between active and inactive windows. Not sure how much you would need to improve that contrast, and this wouldn’t work that well if your active window is isolated, in a different light/dark mode (per-app setting) or in another monitor.
If that’s not the issue, could you ask by opening another topic or on the GNOME Extensions site to avoid going off-topic if more diagnosis is needed? Thanks!
I find the visual effect kind of uncomfortable. I don’t know why but it slightly unsettles me visually, especially after changing workspace.
But much more important: In my opinion, we urgently need to permanently highlight the focused window, not just when changing workspace or apps.
For example, if you have to Nautlius windows opened on a tiled workspace, it’s impossible to know which instance has the focus. Only the shadow of the active window indicates this, and it is almost imperceptible.
In my workflow I start typing constantly in the wrong window. So please consider a solution which works not only after the focus was changed.
In my workflow I start typing constantly in the wrong window.
I didn’t want to exaggerate. More precisely, it happens from time to time, but with a certain regularity.
Imagine a workspace like this:
You think, for example, the editor has still the focus, but after you where interrupted, let’s say by your phone, you have little visual indications whether that’s really the case.
I had also more annoying situations where I pasted something in a messenger window etc.
Am I the only one experiencing this? Maybe I have to work on my work flow rather than annoying Gnomes design team!
ps.: This is of cause i screenshot with the focus indicator extensions, so the indicator in the top bar is gone. But although I know about the indicator I usually don’t notice it.
Update after couple days of use: im much more adjusted to it and dont find it that distracting.
One thing this doesnt solve is that if I leave my desk for a few minutes and come back, the indicator would quickly let me know which app is active, that isnt the case anymore. I am able to discern which app is active looking at the windows but that is something i feel not everyone might find easy to hop back in.
Hello! After some time using this extension I would like to point this:
I didn’t miss loosing app menu, just did’t notice it
Zoom effect is annoying when fast workspace switching
I think for me the best way to differentiate active window from inactive would be by coloring header - more intense for active, less intense for inactive
I tried the extension. My feedback is that the animation effect is well designed and works to indicate the window you’re switching to at the time of switching.
It is however no substitute for the app menu. First of all the menu does not only indicate focus, but even if we only focus on that particular functionality, if we have to keep only one of the two I’d still vote for the app menu because it is always there and unambiguous. The effect only works to indicate focus at the time of switching. It does not show focus when returning to your computer while being away or when momentarily looking away. Furthermore without it, the name of the current app is not visible anywhere on the desktop, the user needs to go into the overview.
Additionally, the app menu serves two other functions which are important to the way I use my computer.
It allows me to launch desktop actions without leaving the desktop and going to the overview. This is particularly useful when using a text editor or browser and you want to open a new window. Yes those actions are available from within the app but having them always at the same spot is nicer. With Gnome builder it is also useful to launch the various tools.
It provides a list of windows of the current app and allows switching between them without having to go to the overview. For my work I often have to read research papers. Papers reference others papers so when reading one you end up opening other papers too and jump between them. The app menu allows me to see a list of the open evince documents and switch between them much more quickly than going to the overview and right clicking on the evince icon in the dash.
Please do not remove the app menu as it offers real value to people who use it. If you have to remove it please offer the functionality I mentioned in another way.
The bounce effect currently also triggers if you run wl-paste or wl-copy in a terminal. Probably not intended, but it actually looks quite fun. I wonder whether the bounce can be used in other interactions (e.g. to notify or alert the user).
Regarding the window focus, the border/title color and cursor shape are enough for me to find the focused window. I use “focus on hover” anyways, that simplifies the mental model of focusing. I am used to simply pointing at the window I want to use.
I do not use the app menu since everything is in the hamburger menus. The purpose of the app menu has never been very clear to me.
Thanks for reaching out to the community for testing!
I tried using the extension over the weekend, and while I liked the idea at first, it quickly became distracting, and frankly, uncomfortable.
I usually open a single app per workspace, and use touchpad gestures to switch between them a lot. Having apps jump at me with every swipe was too distracting. If this ends up being the default behavior, please also implement a setting to turn it off.
The app menu on the other hand doesn’t get in my way, it’s small and unnoticeable until I need it, the monochrome icon makes it visually appealing, and it offers a permanent and ‘at a glance’ indicator of the current app. I also use it constantly to start new windows of the current programs.
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