Is there a way to separate windows in Launcher?

Question

unity --version
unity 7.5.0

Since there is no official Hangouts app for Linux, I set up a Launcher icon for Google Hangouts which essentially opens the link in a new Firefox window. However, one thing remains problematic is that consequent tabs are attached to either Firefox Web Browser or Google Hangouts, not separately. The screenshot below describes the current situation well.

If I open Firefox first, then the situation is reversed.

I want them to be separate, and Hangouts to be standalone. Meaning if I have 15 windows open in Firefox and if I click on the Hangouts icon, I want it to act as a separate instance in the Launcher, not attached to Firefox Web Browser. I don't think Firefox provides such a command. Any idea on how to fix this annoyance?

The desktop entry for this custom launcher are as follows:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=
Name=Google Hangouts
Comment=Google Hangouts
Exec=firefox -new-window https://hangouts.google.com
Icon=~/Downloads/unnamed.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application;Messenger

Here are some of the variables:

DESKTOP_SESSION=unity
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=unity
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity:Unity7:ubuntu    
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11
XDG_MENU_PREFIX=gnome-
DISPLAY=:0
UNITY_DEFAULT_PROFILE=unity
COMPIZ_CONFIG_PROFILE=ubuntu
MANDATORY_PATH=/usr/share/gconf/unity.mandatory.path
DEFAULTS_PATH=/usr/share/gconf/unity.default.path
COMPIZ_BIN_PATH=/usr/bin/
UNITY_HAS_3D_SUPPORT=true

I've tried the Hangouts extension, but for whatever reason it doesn't respect the window switcher: it stays on the foreground forever, can't switch to another window until it's minimized.

Does this answer your question? How to disable the grouping of windows on the launcher? — Pizza, Sep 04 '20 at 18:14
"consequent windows are attached to one of Firefox Web Browser or Google Hangouts, not separately" I don't understand what you're saying here and the screenshot is so cropped that it's not helpful. Do you mean that new launches of Firefox are new tabs instead of new windows? Did you put the new window flag on your firefox launcher as well? — Nmath, Sep 04 '20 at 18:15
@Nmath The screenshot shows everything relevant to this specific case. I don't want to reveal personal data. It's not about launching Firefox, read the body of the question carefully, please. — Akbarkhon Variskhanov, Sep 04 '20 at 18:25
"read the body of the question carefully, please" - I certainly did, several times, before commenting that it's not clear. The screenshot is not helpful if you remove all context. You don't need to put personal info on the screen. I'm not the only one here trying to help who doesn't understand. Now you have the option to help yourself, and try to improve the clarity of your post, or you can double down like you just did, and insist that is clear when people who are trying to help are telling you that it's not — Nmath, Sep 04 '20 at 18:36
possibly related: https://askubuntu.com/questions/747541/how-do-i-easily-switch-between-windows-rather-than-applications-in-gnome-shell | https://askubuntu.com/questions/432022/disable-gnome-compiz-task-switcher-grouping — Nmath, Sep 04 '20 at 18:55
Do you specify a different WMClass in your custom launcher? You may want to include all content of your custom launcher. I do not think it will help, though, but in principle, the launcher separates icons based on different WMClass. Confirm: is this the Unity desktop? DE also will be important here. — vanadium, Sep 04 '20 at 19:27
I don't think that will help anyway. I once tried to have google applications under their own launcher but I did not manage. You could experiment with Firefox webapps: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/f3ikwj/how_to_enable_web_apps_in_firefox_like_chrome/ — vanadium, Sep 05 '20 at 10:12
@vanadium Unfortunately, enabling and adding SSB did not impact the behavior of windowing. Thanks for the guidance, though! — Akbarkhon Variskhanov, Sep 06 '20 at 08:14

Is there a way to separate windows in Launcher?

0 Answers0