Ubuntu 13.04's Dash gained Ayatana Overlay Scrollbars (with draggable thumb, not released yet)

Applications, images, text files, video clips, etc, are items exposed on the Dash, approach that allows the user to easily search through and access a wide range of file types, furthermore, backed by filters, Previews, online sources, etc.

By providing a serious amount of functionalities, the Dash displays (naturally) numerous and numerous items; searching a specific item can be performed by typing a word in the search area, nevertheless, there are cases demanding an item-browsing activity, latter aspect that can be dealt with by scrolling the Dash.

In Ubuntu 12.10, the Dash features a built-in thin scrollbar that, while retaining a minimalist fancy look & feel, bears a decreased usability, in the sense of being relatively hard to be grabbed (due to its thin look) and dragged.

When talking about scrollbars, Ubuntu ships (by default) the powerful Ayatana Overlay Scrollbars, minimalist yet pleasant-to-the-eye modern filled-with-features scrollbars.

Basically, the Overlay Scrollbars come with a double-sided approach: non-active (opening a window, displays a thin red line) and active (hitting with the mouse pointer the edge of a window, summons a thick thumb with a "tail", presenting the user click, drag, resize-the-window functionalities).

The official Unity development launchpad/branch page has just gained support for Ayatana Overlay Scrollbars (to probably land in Ubuntu 13.04), meaning, the overlay scrollbars (including the draggable thumb) are available for the Dash.

Essentially, the "old" thin scrollbars have been changed with a no-compromise Ayatana Overlay Scrollbars.

Opening a lens and expanding a category, exposes numerous applications and the same "old" thin scrollbar, moving the mouse pointer to the right-side of the Dash, summons the "tailed" thumb (with support for click and drag, actions that scroll the Dash content).

Furthermore, as a "collateral" gain, clicking on the thumb, animates (similar to desktop application's) the Dash's scrolling process.

It seems that the developers have already adopted a full implementation (not landed by default), in the sense of landing the Ayatana Overlay Scrollbars on numerous Dash components, including filters-expanded view and Unity Previews (with support to scroll the exposed text), basically, properly "filtering" the Dash through an Overlay Scrollbars prism.