launcherunity
Using gnome-desktop-item-edit, I created a custom launcher for Chrome. When I use the launcher, it doesn't show the arrow next to the icon in the Unity launcher, so any windows I open are unmanageable, and don't even show up while alt-tabbing.
This is the launch command: /opt/google/chrome/chrome --allow-file-access-from-files
How do I create a launcher that creates normal, alt-tabbable windows?
Unity does support custom launchers from .desktop files. To create custom launcher from a .desktop file you need to create a *.desktop file for your program.
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/name.desktop
The .desktop file should look something like this:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=the name you want shown
Comment=
Exec=command to run
Icon=icon name
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
In your file manager open your home folder and navigate to:
(You may need to press ctrl+h to show hidden files to see the .gconf directory.)
.gconf-> desktop-> unity-> launcher -> favourites
you'll see a bunch of folders starting with "app-".
you need to create a folder for your program. Use the same name.desktop you used in /usr/share/applications. Go into 1 of the folders for something that is already on the dock & copy the xml file and paste that into your new folder. Open it with your text editor and change the name of the *.desktop to your name.desktop.
Open gconf-editor (you can open gconf by running the command gconf-editor in the Terminal) & go to:
desktop-> unity-> launcher -> favorites
Double click the list on the right & add your name.desktop.
Log out & back in and you should see your launcher. (thank you kerry_s on the Ubuntu Forums for helping with this answer)
Unity also has a feature called Lenses. By default, you have two in Unity: Applications and Files. In the future, you will be able to install and create a lot more. There is some info about that on the Ubuntu wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity/Lenses
Copy 'Home Folder' launcher file to your home directory:
mkdir ~/.local/share/applications
cp /usr/share/applications/nautilus-home.desktop ~/.local/share/applications
Open the file for editing in gedit:
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/nautilus-home.desktop
Delete the following line from the file:
OnlyShowIn=GNOME;
Add this text to the bottom of the file, then close and save:
X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=Videos;Documents;Music;Pictures;Downloads
[Videos Shortcut Group]
Name=Videos
Exec=nautilus Videos
TargetEnvironment=Unity
[Documents Shortcut Group]
Name=Documents
Exec=nautilus Documents
TargetEnvironment=Unity
[Music Shortcut Group]
Name=Music
Exec=nautilus Music
TargetEnvironment=Unity
[Pictures Shortcut Group]
Name=Pictures
Exec=nautilus Pictures
TargetEnvironment=Unity
[Downloads Shortcut Group]
Name=Downloads
Exec=nautilus Downloads
TargetEnvironment=Unity
Log out and log in again to see the changes.
Best Answer
In Gedit or a text editor create the file below and save it to your desktop with a name like "chrome-file-access.desktop" Then drag the icon onto the launcher. Change the icon image to something unique.