Too much vertical movement to find an icon

Binary package hint: unity

I have a unity bar setup with some applications I use regularly, and my muscle memory knows where they are - this is no different from my experience on other operating systems, and indeed in GNOME2. However, when an application opens close to the left edge of the screen, my unity bar disappears, for maximum screen real-estate enjoyment. I understand this, and think it's a good thing.

However if I wish to click an icon in the unity bar I will need to bring it back to the screen. Intuitively I throw my mouse to the left, where the unity bar was, and in the rough direction of the icon I wish to click. Unfortunately the unity bar doesn't appear. I learn (by asking someone) that I have to throw the mouse to the top left of the screen where the Ubuntu logo is, in order for the Unity bar to appear, then I must traverse down the screen to get to the icon I wish to click.

This seems somewhat sub-optimal to me. Diagonally up to top left then down to icon takes longer and is less accurate than going directly to the icon I want. Is this configurable or The Way It Shall Be (tm)?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: unity 3.2.12-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.37-12.26-generic 2.6.37
Uname: Linux 2.6.37-12-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 260.19.29 Wed Dec 8 12:08:56 PST 2010
 GCC version: gcc version 4.5.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.5.2-1ubuntu6)
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Jan 20 12:03:03 2011
DistUpgraded: Yes, recently upgraded Log time: 2011-01-19 12:33:17.207056
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 nvidia-current, 260.19.29, 2.6.37-12-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-current, 260.19.29, 2.6.35-24-generic, x86_64: installed
 vboxhost, 3.2.12, 2.6.37-12-generic, x86_64: installed
 vboxhost, 3.2.12, 2.6.35-24-generic, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard: Subsystem: LeadTek Research Inc. Device [107d:2a62]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100816.1)
InstallationMedia_: Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100816.1)
MachineType: System manufacturer System Product Name
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 LC_MESSAGES=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37-12-generic root=UUID=fb22b4e1-1576-4bf8-8272-15300bc7de38 ro vt.handoff=7 quiet splash
ProcVersionSignature_: Ubuntu 2.6.37-12.26-generic 2.6.37
SourcePackage: unity
UnitySupportTest:

dmi.bios.date: 04/24/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: ASUS P5N32-E SLI ACPI BIOS Revision 1801
dmi.board.name: P5N32-E SLI
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: 1.XX
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 123456789000
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvrASUSP5N32-ESLIACPIBIOSRevision1801:bd04/24/2009:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP5N32-ESLI:rvr1.XX:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.22-2ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.9+repack-1ubuntu6
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.5+6ubuntu8
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.13.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.13.901-2ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20100805+b96170a-0ubuntu1