Re: Desktop/Window alignment (spatial?)

[Alexander Larsson <alexl redhat com>]

On Mon, 2004-03-01 at 06:23, Jerry Haltom wrote:
> Spatial view is pretty neat. When you open up Windows without a saved
> position they default to the top left of the screen, and stagger from
> there. That's fine. However, the desktop icons are also at the top left.
> So you cover the desktop icons by opening windows. This is VERY
> annoying. Windows should attempt to position themselves away from the
> side of the screen the desktop icons are on. Users tend to want to go
> back to them.
> 
> This works for Apple since theirs are on the right side.
> 
> So I suggest two possible things:
> 
> 1) Have a configurable desktop mode. "Right aligned" or "left aligned".
> Right aligned mode would put the desktop icons on the right side of the
> screen: ala apple, and open new nautilus windows on the left. Left
> aligned would be reverse.
> 
> 2) Open nautilus windows on the right side, or away from the desktop
> icons. There doesn't need to be any super smart algo to find the desktop
> icons and such, it just needs to be away from the left 200 pixels if
> possible.
> 
> 
> Opinions? (I like the mode idea the best, because I like right aligned
> icons anyways and this would be a nice option. :)

At the moment, unvisited windows are just placed by metacity like normal
windows. However, i think your idea actually has some merits in the
general case too. If you open a new small window, any window, chances
are that you don't want it to cover the typical icons on the left hand
(and possibly right hand) side of the desktop.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Alexander Larsson                                            Red Hat, Inc 
                   alexl redhat com    alla lysator liu se 
He's an old-fashioned dishevelled jungle king with no name. She's a scantily 
clad red-headed hooker with the power to bend men's minds. They fight crime!