Smartening Up Alt-Tab’ing

Most users are used to switching between open applications by pressing the Alt+Tab keys … especially if they have used Windows a lot. By default, this works on Ubuntu Netbook Remix, but it does look a little dull.

Let’s take advantage of the fact that compiz works well on netbooks like the Samsung NC10 and make Alt+Tab look a little smarter!

(If you’ve been following this blog, by now you should already have compiz installed and working on your netbook. If not, we have a complete set of instructions to get you started).

Disabling The Boring Alt+Tab Switcher

Launch ccsm (you’ll find it under the System menu, as Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager). A window will open listing all of the different features of compiz:

CompizConfig Settings Manager

All of the different features are grouped by type, and the list of types can be seen on the left of the window. Click on Window Management, and on the right hand side of the window you’ll see a bunch of features appear, including the ones we are looking for

The Window Management Group In ccsm

Make sure that the Application Switcher, Ring Switcher and Static Application Switcher plugins are all disabled (if any of them are ticked, untick them).

Now we can go ahead and switch on the Shift Switcher.

Enabling The Shift Switcher

Make sure the Shift Switcher plugin is ticked, and then click on it to open up its settings:

The Shift Switcher Options In ccsm

Assign a key combination to the Next Window option. I’d recommend sticking with Alt+Tab, because that’s where everyone is used to finding this functionality.