docs: publish scrolling tiling and spotlight updates

Author: mirkobrombin

public/scrolling-tiling.mp4

@@ -3,42 +3,47 @@ title: Spotlight
 description: Launch apps and run commands from one box.
 ---
 
-Spotlight is the box that opens in the center of the screen for launching apps
-and running commands. Press Super and Tab to open it, or Shift, Alt and F2.
+Spotlight is the box that opens in the center of the screen for searching and
+acting on the desktop. Press Super and Tab to open it, or Shift, Alt and F2.
 
 ## Apps or commands
 
-The box does two things, and it tells you which one it is on. While it is empty
-or you are typing a name, it is in search mode, with a lens icon, and it matches
-your apps by name, command, and id, with the closest matches first. It shows up
-to six suggestions; pick one with the arrow keys and Enter, or click it. The
-placeholder reads "Search apps or run a command…".
-
-Type something that is not an app and it becomes a command. Press Enter and
-Spotlight runs it in your terminal, leaving the terminal open afterward so you
-can see the output.
-
-## Built-in commands
-
-A few short commands are built in. The hint bar along the bottom reminds you of
-them:
-
-- `r` restarts the shell.
-
-With developer mode turned on, two more appear, and the hint bar grows to list
-them: `c` restarts the compositor, and `n` opens a nested test session.
+The box starts in search mode, with a lens icon. It matches apps by name,
+command, and id, and it also searches files through the system index. It shows
+the closest matches first; pick one with the arrow keys and Enter, or click it.
+When a file has a preview, the selected result opens that preview on the right
+without leaving the palette.
+
+Type something that is not an app or file and it becomes a command. Press Enter
+and Spotlight runs it in your terminal, leaving the terminal open afterward so
+you can see the output. Basic mathematical expressions are evaluated directly;
+for example, typing `19/2` gives `9.5` as a selectable result.
+
+## Desktop actions
+
+Type `!` to switch to action mode. The icon changes with the mode and the list
+shows desktop actions instead of keeping their shortcuts visible during a
+normal search. The available actions include:
+
+- Customize Panel and Dock
+- Open Settings
+- Lock Screen
+- Workspace Overview
+- Application Launcher
+- Open Terminal
+- Emoji Picker
+- Take Screenshot
+- Enable Tiling
+
+Select an action with the arrow keys and Enter, or click it. The right-aligned
+shortcut hint is shown only in this mode, so the normal palette stays focused
+on the thing you are looking for.
 
 ## History
 
 Spotlight remembers the commands you run, up to the last fifty, in your data
 folder. Walk back through them with the Up and Down arrows so the things you do
 often are quick to repeat. Press Escape to close the box.
 
-## Deeper search in the overview
-
-Spotlight is deliberately focused on apps and commands. The richer search lives
-in the overview, which you open with Super and Space. There, the same search box
-also finds your files through the system index, evaluates a math expression and
-copies the answer to the clipboard when you pick it, and runs any custom search
-providers you add. You can write your own: see
-[Search providers](/docs/search-providers/).
+The overview also has its own search surface for richer workflows and custom
+providers. See [Search providers](/docs/search-providers/) for the provider API.

public/spotlight-actions.png

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+---
+title: The tiling finally moves with you, and gestures
+date: 2026-08-10T17:30:00Z
+description: Scrolling tiling is finally on screen in Singularity, with one-to-one touchpad movement, animated settling and gestures that keep the rest of the desktop out of the way.
+draft: false
+---
+
+Scrolling tiling is a feature I have wanted for a long time, ever since I was using GNOME with PaperWM many months ago. I liked the idea immediately, but liking the idea and making it behave like part of a desktop are two very different things.
+
+I finally have it on screen in Singularity, and the important part is not that windows form a nice row for a recording. The strip follows the hand, windows can be stacked when that makes sense, and the rest of the desktop does not suddenly forget how to be itself.
+
+<video class="post-video" controls playsinline preload="metadata">
+  <source src="/scrolling-tiling.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
+</video>
+
+## The strip follows the hand
+
+The useful idea is simple: columns do not keep shrinking until every window becomes a postage stamp, they continue past the edge and the focused one comes into view. A three-finger horizontal swipe moves the strip one to one, so when the fingers move 60 pixels the windows move 60 pixels too.
+
+When I release, a short movement settles back to the current column and a real movement settles on the next one. I do not need to land perfectly in the middle of a window, and closing one does not throw its neighbour into the centre in a single frame, it lets the remaining column arrive there.
+
+The small pill in the panel shows where I am in the strip. It appears automatically while scrolling tiling is active, disappears when it is not, and can be moved with the desktop customizer like the rest of the panel. It is not an extra item I expect people to add by hand just to understand what the mode is doing.
+
+## Windows can share a place
+
+Dragging was the part that made the prototype stop being a prototype. While I move a window, the desktop shows where it will land, and the last 30 pixels above or below another window become a place I can drop it. The two windows then share a column instead of fighting for separate positions.
+
+If I pull one sideways, it leaves the stack and becomes its own column again. If I drag it into the lower drop area, it becomes floating, and the snapping guide gets out of the way for that interaction. I wanted the mode to give me a rhythm without forcing every window into the same answer.
+
+## Gestures that do not fight each other
+
+Three fingers horizontally belong to the tiling strip. Four fingers horizontally still switch workspaces, while three fingers vertically opens the workspace overview and four fingers vertically opens the app launcher.
+
+The overview and launcher sit over the desktop without painting a second opaque panel over it, and opening them does not rearrange the tiled windows underneath. The second recording shows those gestures in the same session:
+
+<video class="post-video" controls playsinline preload="metadata">
+  <source src="/touchpad-gestures.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
+</video>
+
+I did not have a decent way to record the gesture itself without making the result harder to understand, so the video can only show the surfaces moving. The proper test is to try it directly on a touchpad, where the overview and launcher follow the gesture instead of asking you to trust a recording of it.
+
+## The palette grew up too
+
+The other shell piece I wanted to fix was the palette. It is still the quick box in the middle of the screen, but it no longer stops at launching an app or running a command. It can search files, show a useful preview on the right, and evaluate a calculation without making me open another app just to check the result.
+
+Typing `!` switches it into action mode. That keeps the shortcuts out of the way when I am just searching, then gives me the things I actually need when I ask for them: customizing the panel and dock, opening Settings, locking the screen, showing workspaces or apps, opening a terminal, taking a screenshot and changing desktop features such as tiling. The icon changes with the mode, so the box tells me what it is doing instead of leaving a row of potentially dangerous commands under every search.
+
+The result is closer to how I wanted the shell to feel from the start: one place that understands apps, files, calculations and desktop actions, with the extra context appearing only when it is useful.
+
+<p class="post-gallery">
+  <img src="/spotlight-empty.png" alt="The empty Singularity Spotlight palette" />
+  <img src="/spotlight-app-search.png" alt="Spotlight searching installed applications" />
+  <img src="/spotlight-file-preview.png" alt="Spotlight searching files with a preview" />
+  <img src="/spotlight-math.png" alt="Spotlight evaluating a calculation" />
+  <img src="/spotlight-actions.png" alt="Spotlight action mode with desktop commands" />
+</p>
+
+## It is finally a real desktop feature
+
+I have spent enough time making this look convincing in a demo. The part I care about now is that I can open a window, move it, stack it, pull it out again and keep using the overview without the layout losing track of itself.
+
+There are still clients and hardware combinations I have not met, so I am not pretending a recording proves the feature is finished. It does prove that the idea has moved out of the prototype stage and into the desktop where I can use it every day, find the sharp edges and keep fixing them ([#227](https://github.com/singularityos-lab/singularity-desktop/issues/227)).
+
+The touchpad work is tracked separately in [#116](https://github.com/singularityos-lab/singularity-desktop/issues/116), and the implementation is available in the current Sinty build.

public/spotlight-app-search.png

@@ -73,6 +73,46 @@ const tg = `https://t.me/share/url?url=${enc(url)}&text=${enc(post.data.title)}`
       border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2);
       border-radius: 4px;
     }
+    article.post .post-body > :global(.post-video) {
+      max-width: 1220px;
+      padding-left: 0;
+      padding-right: 0;
+    }
+    article.post .post-body :global(video) {
+      display: block;
+      width: 100%;
+      height: auto;
+      margin: 28px auto;
+      border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2);
+      border-radius: 4px;
+      background: #000;
+    }
+    article.post .post-body > :global(.post-gallery) {
+      max-width: 1220px;
+      padding-left: 0;
+      padding-right: 0;
+      display: grid;
+      grid-template-columns: repeat(2, minmax(0, 1fr));
+      gap: 20px;
+    }
+    article.post .post-body .post-gallery :global(img) {
+      width: 100%;
+      margin: 0;
+    }
+    article.post .post-body .post-gallery :global(img:first-child) {
+      grid-column: 1 / -1;
+      max-width: 820px;
+      justify-self: center;
+    }
+    @media (max-width: 720px) {
+      article.post .post-body > :global(.post-gallery) {
+        grid-template-columns: 1fr;
+      }
+      article.post .post-body .post-gallery :global(img:first-child) {
+        grid-column: auto;
+        max-width: 100%;
+      }
+    }
     article.post .post-share { max-width: 840px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; }
   </style>