Brainstorm

Rethink Placement of the Task Switcher

Posted on 2009-09-04 20:21 UTC by vamsi kanumuri. Status: Under consideration, Categories: User Experience.

I have been watching the maemo 5 videos. What i found is that task switcher virtual button is placed on the left side upper corner of the screen. In comparision the  same virtual button was placed in the left side lower corner of the screen on the previous tablets. Of course there was also a hardware button on the earlier devices. When i hold the device with both hands with the keyboard open, it is very ergonomic to press the task switcher virtual button when it is present in the lower left corner when compared to the same button bieng placed on the upper left corner.

 

 

Solutions for this brainstorm

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Solution #1: Move the task switcher to the left lower corner where it was in previous devices.

Posted on 2009-09-19 15:20 UTC by vamsi kanumuri.

The best place for the task switched inmho is the left lower corner instead of the left upper corner.

Another consideration could be the right lower corner. But the advantage of the left lower corner

is that, it would be the same as in previous tablet. This is specially important when the keyboard is

opened because it increases the vertical distance your thumb has to travel to click on the left upper

corner. Placing it on the lower corner is comparitively ergonomic and gives more stability while

holding the device.

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Solution #2: allow_ctrl-backspace_to_switch_between_menu-tasks

Posted on 2009-10-18 12:07 UTC by Thomas Perl.

Allow Ctrl+Backspace to switch between menu + tasks

Currently I use Ctrl+Backspace whenever the keyboard is open. Accessing the menu is currently not possible via a keyboard shortcut (AFAIK - if someone knows how, please tell me :).

My proposal is to allow Ctrl+Backspace (or some other shortcut?) in the task switcher to activate the menu. This way, you can fully use the keyboard to replace the soft key in the upper right corner. Of course, this would also require that when no apps are open and I'm on the Desktop to switch to the menu when pressing Ctrl+Backspace (or another shortcut..).

This solution would not require any changes to the UI, but simply additional functionality for power users through keyboard shortcuts.

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Solution #3: Task-switching could have an assignable button

Posted on 2009-11-17 14:27 UTC by Attila Csipa.

For those that are not satisfied with the location of the task-switcher, a button (or combination of them) could be assigned as task switcher. This way, for example, the camera button (or maybe even the proximity sensor) could be used as input to get to the task switcher in cases ctrl-backspace is not appropriate and the on-screen button is not visible.

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Solution #4: give STRG+BACKSPACE a functionallity in the task switcher

Posted on 2009-12-16 08:22 UTC by Helmuth M..

Instead of Idea #2 it is more useful to use STRG+BACKSPACE in the task switcher to switch back to the task you used before your last application.

So press STRG+BACKSPACE twice to get the same functionality like ALT+TAB on desktop PC's.

Comment: This solution is also added at a very similar Brainstorm: Shortcut to switch between running applications

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