Comment 176 for bug 668415

Originally, we used a corner invocation of the launcher. Testing showed
that users expected to find the launcher where they saw it go - on the
edge. That lead to us using edge invocation (this was a change late in
11.04). We knew at the time that false-positive invocations would be
greater on the left edge, but wanted to see if we could minimise that by
using some careful heuristics, for example, the extent to which it
looked like you really *meant* to invoke the launcher, how hard you hit
the edge and whether you continued to push the mouse past the edge.

We are still working on those, and patches to improve the heuristics of
launcher revealing on left edge would be welcome.

We are also working on ways to cue the user to the fact that they are
approaching the launcher invocation. X makes a proximity effect
difficult, but we could hint at the launchers presence for folk who just
inadvertently touch the edge before showing it, with a push giving you
quick access to the launcher, for example. Patches and mockups in this
regard would also be welcome.

We could consider a number of changes to the Launcher's behaviour to
address the needs of those who flat out don't want a left edge invoke:

 * we could have an option to reveal the launcher after a top left
corner hit (so the movement returns to being the original
slam-into-top-left-corner, then move to your app icon)
 * we could allow the launcher to move to the bottom of the screen.
However, this would require a patch which took into account all the
related issues, like animations and transitions, and the direction of
various arrows. We would not accept a patch which reduced the quality of
the existing experience for those who like it.

Mark