Re: [g-a-devel] window composite managers and gnome-mag

[Bill Haneman <Bill Haneman Sun COM>]

I agree with Carlos about this.  The magnification service is best 
provided separately from the window manager. 

If we had a plugin architecture for post-processing/compositing, then 
possibly the magnification service could be provided via such plugins to 
a WM-based compositor, but in the absence of such a plugin architecture, 
I don't think putting the gnome-mag functionality into the WM makes 
sense; gnome-mag already provides more API and more functions than a WM 
is likely to consider appropriate to integrate.

Bill

Carlos Eduardo Rodrigues Diógenes wrote:
> On Thu, 2006-11-30 at 18:14 -0800, Peter Korn wrote:
>   
> > Hi Carlos,
> >
> > I think the right answer is for the composite windowing managers to 
> > implement the gnome-mag API (or likely better still, some new API that 
> > we work out that doesn't depending upon CORBA).  Starting with gnome-mag 
> > now (vs. waiting until we define a new API) would I think be the fastest 
> > way to significant magnification improvements.
> >     
>
> Okay, we really could have magnification improvements with this, but the
> magnifier code stay very dependent, what is not good IMO, what do you
> think about this? Do you think that have the magnifier so attached to
> the window manager is a good idea?
>
> Really, I think these questions are dummy, since it's clear in your
> answears that the magnifier must go inside the window manager and this
> appear to be a community consensus, but I still find that leaving the
> magnifier appart from the window manager is good. Maybe I'm the only
> dumb guy that find that we must go in other direction. The reasons to
> not embbed the magnifier in the window manager are so clear in my mind
> that I can't move toward this direction.
>
> I really think that we must make applications easy to use, but we can't
> make then inflexible and this is a direction to make the magnifier
> inflexible.
>
>   
> > Regards,
> >
> > Peter Korn
> > Accessibility Architect,
> > Sun Microsystems, Inc.
> >     
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > When the window composite managers be all around how gnome-mag will
> > > play?
> > >
> > > David Reveman give me the advice to write a compiz plugin and make
> > > gnome-mag communicate with it when compiz is running. This is reasonable
> > > for me, but we must have some kind of specification here, something that
> > > I think that fit into the EWMH.
> > >
> > > First we must be able to know if the window manager running is a
> > > composite manager (if not, gnome-mag use it's own composite code).
> > >
> > > Second, hints (I don't think that hints is a good way, since it must be
> > > granted) for change the built-in window manager magnifier options must
> > > be added, this way when gnome-mag receives a call to change the zoom
> > > factor it will be sended to the window composite manager.
> > >
> > > I still want a functional magnifier if I don't want to use a specific
> > > window manager. This is the only way that I see to make the magnifier
> > > portable enough between different window composite managers without
> > > having to make major modifications to the Xserver.
> > >
> > > Comments about this are really appreciated.
> > >   
> > >