helm-taskswitch

Helm source for switching between X windows

You know how some times looking for the program or browser tab is like rummaging through a drawer of unmatched socks? This is a solution to that problem.

How I use this

Hot key to activate helm-taskswitch

I map the win-a key to be globally handled by the window manager to run emacsclient -n -e '(helm-taskswitch)'

Force all browser tabs to a window instead

A lot of tasks are done in browser tabs. But they are not accessable to task switchers. I definitly need to switch between browser tabs to get my work done.

To get chrome browser tabs exposed to the helm-taskswitcher, I use a extension called 'New Tab, New Window' so each tab is in its own window. To further assist with searching for tabs I use an extension 'URL in title'.

These would allow access to tabs from any task switcher but most mainstream ones would be useless with dozens of browser windows. Using matching from helm alows helm-taskswitcher to quickly find them.

Example

With this setup, when I hit win-a, Emacs comes up and I get the task switcher, from there I type in the first thing that comes to mind related to the tool I want, the title, the URL or host, .js to get all my JavaScript buffers. Helm handles all the auto-complete and filtering. Hitting return brings the window/tab/buffer to the foreground.

Lets say I want a chrome window with the an AWS ElasticSearch console.

I hit win-a, type 'go' (that filers to all google chrome windows) SPACE 'ela' (all google chrome with 'ela' in title) SPACE 'con' (all chrome with 'ela' and 'con' in title). Then I usually just hit return without looking since I'm confident it will be right.

This works great for me. I still use alt-tab for most recently used program. And if I have my hand on the mouse I use it for task switching.

Why?

When working on a computer I'm working on tasks. Usually each task is serviced by a program that is running, a tab in a browser or a buffer in Emacs.

When I switch between one task and another it goes something like this:

1. Something triggers a mental need to switch to another task in my mind

2. I think of which program/tab/buffer is servicing this task. I personally, the first thing I think of about the program/tab/buffer is some sort of word such as 'inbox' 'terminal to server-dev-23' 'ItemAction.js'.

3. I do something with the computer to bring the program I need to do that task to a state where I can use it.

Mainstream UIs for switching between tasks almost always use a visual UI to offer the options of which running programs can be switched between. This does not work with my step 2 since I'm thinking of something like "google chrome with AWS lambda console". I don't think of how it looks, I don't think of how many times back in a stack that might be.

I find these deficient because I usually have a large number of programs/tabs/buffers running, each servicing a task. They focus on a visual search of open program windows. As the number of windows grows these become illegible.

Web browser tabs are a huge difficulty. If I have three browser windows open each with a dozen tabs there is no way I'm going to find the tab I want efficiently. Mainstream UIs don't service tabs/buffers so they don't cover all of the things I want to bring forward.

The setup I use with this package achieves:

1. Symbolic searching of title, program etc for programs/tabs/buffers that service tasks. I just hit win-a and type something. I touch type so this works well for me. I'm never rummaging around.

2. Combines the program window search space, tab search space and Emacs buffer search space. These are the most common types of tools I'm looking for.

3. I never have to find which browser window has which tab. All the tabs are exposed.

TODO

This doesn't keep track of how frequently windows are visited or the most recently visited window. I'm working on that. I have the input data by listening to xevents.

Requirements

Xwindows, wmctrl, emacs, helm. I run this on linux.