RE: GNOME Window Manager

[Lion Kimbro <lion lithtech com>]

  Mawarkus,

  Well, here's more evidence that people get pretty emotional about their
window managers..!

  When I say that it should be invisible, I mean that the user should almost
never see any reference or evidence of something called a Window Manager
even existing.

  For example, when you open up the control panel, there wouldn't be a
window manager section, with a theme system entirely of it's own, with a key
binding system entirely of it's own, etc., etc.,.

  As an example of what some of the tight coupling would be like:
  * GNOME themes would include data for customizing window layout.
  * When a GNOME theme is selected, the data for customizing window layout
would be somehow given to the GNOME compliant window manager.
  * The window manager would read out the theme data, and set it's rendering
accordingly.

  That is, the window manager is invisible to the user; the user need never
know that there is such a thing as a window manager.

  What happens when my girlfriend wants to use AfterStep? When a GNOME theme
is selected, GNOME notices that it doesn't know how to talk to Afterstep,
and doesn't do anything with the theme data for windows.

  That's one example. Here, lets do key bindings next:
  The key bindings system is put into the GNOME control panel.
  GNOME control panel fields requests to map keys. GNOME forwards those
requests to the gnome compliant WM (window manager). What happens if the WM
isn't GNOME compliant? Then the control panel doesn't field requests to map
keys; Indeed, it doesn't even show the user the option.

  The basic formula here, roughly worded, is:
  GNOME makes the window manager it's bitch, unless it doesn't know anything
about a particular window manager, in which case it disables/ignores it's
own functionality that depends on it's bitch.

  This is my educated guess about what the internals of the systems are
like, and what can be done to render a window manager invisible under the
GNOME system.

  Take care,
    Lion Kimbro =^_^=



-----Original Message-----
From: mawarkus t-online de [mailto:mawarkus t-online de]
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2001 5:00 PM
To: gnome-list gnome org
Subject: Re: GNOME Window Manager


+++ Tue, May 29, 2001 at 03:51:14PM -0700 +++
Lion Kimbro e-mails me. Film at 11. Reply right now, after the break.
>   But by default, GNOME should have a window manager that is, for all
> practical purposes, __invisible__.

Elaborate, please.

> You never know that it's there; it is
> just a seamless part of the GNOME system.

Could you explain inhowfar Sawfish isn't?

mawa
-- 
Sack of rice tipped in China.

Film at 11.

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