Match on application names rather than window names in Launcher
Feature summary
By default, pressing Super in gnome-shell produces a modal dialog that lets the user:
- Switch to an open window, by name
- Open an application, by name
However, for (1), the text is matched on the basis of the window title, not the application name. For example, if there is a web search for "emacs" open in Firefox, then typing in "emacs" may switch to Firefox, even if Emacs is open.
In my personal workflow, I would prefer it if the Launcher matched candidate windows based only (or at least first) on the name of the containing application (which is also displayed, underneath the window name).
How would you like it to work
I imagine that users rely on the current behavior. Therefore, one way to improve gnome-shell might be to add an option for what candidates should be displayed in the Launcher. I have looked through Settings and so far I haven't been able to find any options whatsoever for Launcher behavior, although I could have missed them. By contrast, similar software for other platforms (Spotlight or Alfred on macOS) has many options regarding what can be selected from the interface, and in which order candidates are displayed.
I searched Ask Ubuntu and the gnome-shell issue tracker on GitLab to try to find prior discussion of customizing the Launcher behavior. The only thing I found was https://askubuntu.com/a/1213707, which suggests that a related request for customization is not currently available. This made me think perhaps there is no way to customize the behavior at present.
I am open to writing a GNOME extension that implements the behavior I describe. I don't know yet whether or not that is possible, but it seems like nobody else has done so yet.
I am also open to using a third-party launcher implementation, but it would be nice if it were possible to trigger such a launcher on the existing Super binding. It seems to me like that is not currently possible, based on the exclusive nature of the following settings dialog:
Relevant links, screenshots, screencasts etc.
Example of where typing in "firefox" does not select Firefox by default, but rather an Emacs window that just happens to have a file called "firefox" open (I apologize for taking a photograph; it does not seem possible to use the screenshot facility while Launcher is open):