Re: File dialogs: an attempt at a summary

[Ken Fox <kfox vulpes com>]

Dylan Griffiths wrote:
> X's "clipboard" is broken by design.

I know it's in vogue right now to bitch about X, but X doesn't
have a problem with the clipboard design. The problem is that Xterm
has odd selection usage and that's keeping other applications from
using the clipboards "properly".

> A proper clipboard implementation done on the server that accepts
> multiple MIME types

X calls the clipboard a "cut buffer" and it has several of them. It
also has a "current selection" (which is what Xterm uses and that
screws up other applications). The type of a cut buffer is specified
by the application storing something on it. Another app getting a
cut buffer can look at the type and do something appropriate.

> and is "smart" about it (explict request), verses the current
> "dumb" mode (annoying)

This has *nothing* to do with X. Applications must explicitly set the
current selection and the cut buffers -- nothing is automatic. What
you're complaining about is a broken *application*. (Probably Xterm
or something "inspired" by Xterm.)

> A consistent API that allows setting of the mouse speed, acceleration,
> double click rate, etc.

Many of the things on your list are already configurable with X APIs.
The double click rate is a per-toolkit configurable parameter, not a
core X feature. (I suppose you hate this too, but consider that it
would piss off toolkit developers if they were forced to live with a
400 millisecond latency between all mouse click events. X already
includes server-side time stamps on all events, so double clicks are
trivial in a toolkit.)

> There are other major problems with X, but these are the main ones I
> think of when I think of how X handles input (and the clipboard).

Get a clue before you pop off on something you don't understand.

X has some really nice features that a lot of applications totally
misuse/abuse/avoid. It would be like Microsoft doing a really terrible
port of Office to Linux and then everybody bitching about how horrible
Linux is.

The rule of thumb for bitching about X is whenever you get the urge
to say "X sucks because of ..." replace "X" with "This application".
If it's a real problem with X then the developers will be happy to
tell you exactly why and how much X sucks.

- Ken