beryl: usability (iv)

howto to use the new wheel style switcher to switch applications

One problem I often find with <alt><tab> switchers (both in beryl and in other window managers) is that they either only give an icon (for conventional switchers) or three thumbnails. While you can switch through those three thumbnails, if you've got 10 or 15 windows open, it becomes quite unweildy to flick through them, and quite often you end up pressing the tab key so fast, you often flick past the desired window, because you only see it once before it becomes the selected window, you don't have time to react. Beryl provides a couple of solutions to this issue. The first is the scale plugin, which I've explored in a few other articles. Alternatively there is the new wheel/rotation feature for the switcher.

the wheel switcher

You can activate the wheel switcher using the <super><tab> key combo. In terms of keyboard strokes, it works the same as <alt><tab>, you press <super><tab> to switch one application in the forward direction and <shift><super><tab> to go the other way.

When activated, all windows arrange themselves into a ring with a sort of horizontal perspective, so that windows at the top/back of the ring are smaller, and grow in size as they move toward the front of the ring. The window at the front is the one that's selected if you release the keys.

To set things up so that only the wheel switcher shows when you activate it (and all windows disappear - like in the video below, check the box marked Fade windows out when using Ring Switcher. You can find this option under the Appearance tab, by expanding the Rotating List options item.

The advantage that I see for this in terms of usability is that you can see all of the applications clearly, as they spin around the ring. This gives you plenty of time to focus in on the one you want, and watch its progress around the ring, so that you can make sure you stop in the right place. In my view, this is a great improvement on both beryl's standard switcher and also the switchers on non-composited window managers.

Check out the following video which shows the traditional switcher in operation first, and then the wheel switcher:

You can discuss this howto on the forums.