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Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail: Unity has been updated today and besides many bug fixes, the update brings a new feature which allows users to switch between multiple windows of an application using quicklists:

Unity - switching between windows via quicklists

Right clicking an icon in the launcher to easily switch between open windows isn't a new idea and a while back, we wrote about a script that does the same thing, but with some limitations.

The maximum width of the window switching quicklists is restricted to 300px and longer window titles are ellipsized at the end. Also, the entries only show up if there are two or more windows; if the application has only one window, nothing is displayed, except for the regular quicklists of course.

Here are a few more screenshots with the new quicklists window switching feature for Nautilus and Gedit:

Unity - switching between windows via quicklists

Unity - switching between windows via quicklists


This seems to be the first part of the work to improve window management / window switching in Ubuntu. According to a bug report, it looks like Unity might also get support for switching between windows by scrolling on the application icon.

Besides the new quicklists window switching feature, the latest Unity comes with many bug fixes for multiple monitors and more. Also, the workspace switcher icon is no longer added by default on the Unity Launcher, but you can re-add it via System Settings (System Settings > Appearance > Behavior tab > Enable workspaces).

Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail is currently under development, so this feature may change until the final release!

A complete changelog for today's Unity update can be found here.


Browse our Raring Ringtail tag for more news about the Ubuntu 13.04 development.