Re: Revisiting the GNOME Panel in general...

[Sean Middleditch <elanthis awesomeplay com>]

On Tue, 2004-10-05 at 21:13 +0300, Gediminas Paulauskas wrote:
> On Tr, 2004-09-22 15:06+0100, Scott James Remnant wrote:
> > This is something that's been itching at me for a while, and Jeff
> > prodded me in the direction of the list and Davyd's blog post[0].  As
> 
> > [0] http://www.livejournal.com/users/davyd/118545.html
> 
> > Davyd identified three kinds of applets, I'd like to actually expand on
> > that list a little bit:
> 
>    1. applets that are tied to the lifetime of the session,
>    2. applets that are tied to the lifetime of a particular program, and
>    3. applets that are tied to the lifetime of hardware
> 
> To me looks like types 1 and 2 are the same. Applets like window list or clock
> turn into simple programs, which do not even have a main window; but they
> register with the session, and display a notification widget in tray (the
> spec allows to put any widget in notification area, not only an icon).

They are very different.  2 means applets that are tied to the lifetime
of a program other than the applet itself.  For example, an applet to
control Rhythmbox or Gaim.  Currently, apps (ab)use the notification
area for this, as its the only way to get an icon to appear and
disappear on the panel in a controlled fashion.  (If they registered and
unregistered applets, the applet would just appear in some seemingly
random location which the user could not control.)

> 
> >    And (possibly) controversially, I think this also includes Launchers.
> 
> If, by Davyd's plan, everything on panel becomes a "notification icon"... Oh,
> we have a problem with foot menu, launchers, buttons and drawers, which are
> different kinds of panel objects than applets.
> 
> If only applets are put into
> "notification area", users can no longer mix launchers with applets or have
> different applets on different panels (default setup).

Davyd is proposing the the exact opposite of the scenario you are
describing.  The entire panel and applet interface would be able to do
the notification feature as well as the old-style applet stuff.  You'd
actually be able to mix *more* types of panel objects, since
notification-type icons wouldn't be locked into a notification area
applet anymore, but be able to freely move around the panel just like a
user can already do with other panel objects.


-- 
Sean Middleditch <elanthis awesomeplay com>
AwesomePlay Productions, Inc.