Exactly. Gnome3 tries to reduce the time you spend searching for icons+windows and/or sorting them. That's the most time consuming task for a desktop user. It makes total sense to improve on that.
I'm also faster at finding an icon when I first need to show the activities bar, instead of looking for it in an always-visible taskbar.
How is that possible? Shouldn't the taskbar be faster to access?
It's selective perception: The longer you stare at something, the less interest it holds for the brain.
Example: You see 20 individual looking apples in front of you. Each has it's own shape/color. You sit in front of those apples for hours, you don't exactly recognise them during work. Focusing on them again and finding a specific one is going to take longer as if they were hidden from view and just pop into view each time you want one.
I would find the exact opposite faster. Looking at something I'm used to looking at is easy, and it'll help muscle memory to be persistent. I don't have to decide I want to change, then wait while my hand triggers the popup, then parse the shapes.
That's not to say that the popup isn't a good idea, but the only benefit I see is I screen space.
How is that possible? Shouldn't the taskbar be faster to access? It's selective perception: The longer you stare at something, the less interest it holds for the brain. Example: You see 20 individual looking apples in front of you. Each has it's own shape/color. You sit in front of those apples for hours, you don't exactly recognise them during work. Focusing on them again and finding a specific one is going to take longer as if they were hidden from view and just pop into view each time you want one.