Hello,

The Dash and the planned Workspace
Switcher<http://jimmac.musichall.cz/log/?p=1126> take
advantage of the user's spatial memory. It does so by having a fixed
arrangement of items (app icons for Dash/workspaces for Workspace Switcher).
Their linear order of the items can also be changed manually by the user and
this order can have meaning attached to it (like sorting by level of
importance).

On the other hand, the Window Picker is two-dimensional instead of linear.
Also unlike the Dash and Workspace switcher, the arrangement of items (in
this case, windows) depends on an algorithm and the user can't manually edit
the sorting.

To visualize it, see
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/7938/windowpicker.png .

This is my 
recommendation<http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/8936/windowpickerrecommendat.png>
inspired
by Firefox Panorama <http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/designing-tab-candy/>.
Like on the dash, let's take advantage of the user's spatial memory by
attaching a fixed linear relationship between windows. It'll still be
flexible by allowing to user to manually rearrange windows, so the user can
meaningfully sort them. The approach here is just a bit different from the
Dash or Window Picker, because there's a bigger real estate allocated, but
the principles would be fundamentally similar.

It's best to read the Principles of Design that Aza wrote
here<http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/designing-tab-candy/> to
understand the rationale behind and to test the latest Firefox 4 beta
build<http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/beta/> to
test how it works.

Thoughts?

-- 
Regards,
Allan
User Experience Designer
http://www.google.com/profiles/allancaeg#about<http://www.google.com/profiles/AllanCaeg>
+63 918 948 2520
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