Window manager idea

Window manager idea
Topic Started: Apr 26 2008, 05:28 PM (261 Views)
Jesin	Apr 26 2008, 05:28 PM Post #1
The Small Fish Posts: 48 Group: Admins Member #6 Joined: 1-01-08	I have an idea for a window manager, and I'm surprised that none of the widely-used WMs have this. Most modern web browsers have tabs, which I have found to be very helpful in keeping the desktop from getting cluttered with windows, as well as just useful in general. Some other non-web-browser programs have also adopted tabs. What I want to know is, WTF are those things doing inside the application? When the task bar gets too full, most window managers respond by grouping the windows from the same program into the same button on the task bar. You know how they deal with having more than one window per button? With a drop-down menu. The reason why tab bars are so great is that they group multiple windows into one so much more elegantly than that stupid drop-down menu. Applications shouldn't have to do this sort of thing; it should be the window manager's job. I propose that window managers should group different windows into one button on the task bar, but then have a tab bar below the task bar (or above it, whichever is farther from the edge of the screen; I keep my task bar at the top). When an item on the task bar is selected, the tab bar should show all the windows from that application, and the focus should go to whichever window from that application last had focus. Tab bars are almost universally useful, so why leave it to individual applications when they're all running under the same WM?



techwizrd	Apr 26 2008, 07:28 PM Post #2
Magister ex Machina Posts: 236 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: 31-12-07 Development Experience Jack-of-all-Trades Operating System Ubuntu 8.04, Slackware 12.1 Favorite Programming Language Python, C, Lisp Favorite Desktop Environment Gnome 2.24	You do realize that the Window Manager BeOS used had a tabbed titlebar. This is not a new idea. About the dropdown menu: Say I have 26 things grouped. That's alot of tabs and it would much more useful to dropdown menu. And even more useful jsut to have multiple desktops for organizations. Seriously, your ideas are actually stuff that have been used about 15 years ago. If you would like to write a window manager, be my guest.
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Jesin	Apr 27 2008, 10:49 AM Post #3
The Small Fish Posts: 48 Group: Admins Member #6 Joined: 1-01-08	Oh. Didn't know that. Jesin deflates. Edit: whoa! Code: `/me` works? PS. I have admitted that Gnome actually isn't all that bad, but I still like KDE better, and at the moment, my environment of choice is Xfce. Xfce is awesome! It's reasonably small, fast, and light, all without sacrificing the bells and whistles (the WM does transparency)!



techwizrd	Apr 27 2008, 01:46 PM Post #4
Magister ex Machina Posts: 236 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: 31-12-07 Development Experience Jack-of-all-Trades Operating System Ubuntu 8.04, Slackware 12.1 Favorite Programming Language Python, C, Lisp Favorite Desktop Environment Gnome 2.24	Jesin Apr 27 2008, 10:49 AM Oh. Didn't know that. Jesin deflates. Edit: whoa! Code: `/me` works? PS. I have admitted that Gnome actually isn't all that bad, but I still like KDE better, and at the moment, my environment of choice is Xfce. Xfce is awesome! It's reasonably small, fast, and light, all without sacrificing the bells and whistles (the WM does transparency)! IMHO, GNOME is still better than XFCE when it comes to usability and looks. The effects Compiz Fusion provide are probably the most advanced I have on linux and GNOME is still easily the most usable DE. The GNOME Control Center, Appearance Manager, Compiz Config Settings Manager, as well as most of the other apps are extremely easy to use. On GNOME, the text editor, gedit, is called text editor in the menu and around the system. When I open KDE I see a ton of Kapplications and must spend a whole bunch of time looking for a text editor which are named crasy things like Kate and KWrite. techwizrd is awesome, isn't he?
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Jesin	Apr 27 2008, 05:20 PM Post #5
The Small Fish Posts: 48 Group: Admins Member #6 Joined: 1-01-08	How is KWrite worse than Gedit? I can see your problem with the name Kate, but most people don't need anything more sophisticated than KWrite, and even KEdit is usually adequate. Oh, wait, I forgot that Gedit shows up as Text Editor in the Gnome menu. Such is stupid, and implies that Gedit is Text Editor, rather than simply a text editor. Sometimes I want to know what program I'm using, not just what kind of program. Also, unless you seriously messed up your KMenu, stuff should show up as Kate (K Advanced Text Editor), Amarok (Music Player), and Kopete (Messenger). Seriously, I found Gnome and Xfce equally intuitive (or unintuitive, whatever). Gnome makes a bigger deal of usability than Xfce does, but there's not that much difference in how usable they actually are. I also want to make sure you aren't thinking of Fluxbox. That is somewhat hard to use.



techwizrd	May 2 2008, 12:29 AM Post #6
Magister ex Machina Posts: 236 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: 31-12-07 Development Experience Jack-of-all-Trades Operating System Ubuntu 8.04, Slackware 12.1 Favorite Programming Language Python, C, Lisp Favorite Desktop Environment Gnome 2.24	Actually, GNOME is much easier to use. Fluxbox and XFCE are not that hard to use, but sufficiently hard enough for anyone not skilled with computers. Considering Fluxbox was my first WM, I use it and IceWM almost daily when I need to do heavy computing tasks, programming, rendering, or etc. XFCE is nice, but configuring the graphics is a little annoying. I have to say I like all of them, but I still like GNOME the most. My favorites: 1. GNOME 2. Fluxbox or IceWM or fvwm 3. XFCE 4. KDE
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