Re: My test grid layout monstrosity (in case anyone else is interested)

[Scott Scriven <sawfish-list toykeeper net>]

* Pat Regan <thehead patshead com> wrote:
> I don't know if anyone else will be interesting in this 
> abomination of an ugly hack, but I've been playing with it for 
> a month or so now and I don't think I'd be able to live without 
> it at this point.

It does look pretty interesting.  I don't usually have a numpad, 
but otherwise it looks cool.

As for what to do with the vast space on a large monitor, my own 
solution is somewhat similar.  I use hotkeys for features kind of 
like tiling window managers, though the tiling part is optional.  
Basically, I use a lot of move/grow-until-hits-an-edge bindings, 
combined with tabs, to let me build arbitrary non-overlapping 
window layouts with minimal effort.  Here's a screenshot:

  http://toykeeper.net/tmp/semi-tiled.1200.jpg

It doesn't actually show a real session...  it was a manufactured 
shot created as a response to someone trying to get me to use 
"Terminator".  But it shows the idea well enough.

The hotkeys, if you're curious, are:

  H-Arrow:  Move until the window hits something.
  S-H-Arrow:  Grow until the window hits something.
  C-Tab, M-Tab:  Raise the next tab to the left/right.
  H-m:  Expand window into available space. (toggle)

... and a bunch of others, but they're not very relevant to 
window tiling.  :)  A few might be somewhat relevant, though...

  C-Arrow:  Move to next workspace (2-D grid).
  H-s:  Stick/unstick window.
  H-c:  Create new workspace.
  H-d:  Delete workspace.

I move around a 2-D grid of workspaces, and if I want to send a 
window to another workspace I just stick it, go to the new 
workspace, then unstick it.  If I start a new project, I make a 
new workspace for it, and later delete it when I'm done.

It would be nice if sawfish-pager could grow vertically as 
workspaces are added (instead of only horizontally), but I 
haven't bothered fixing it.

> I started to try to write the whole thing in lisp, but I 
> haven't the foggiest idea how to properly set up an access any 
> kind of complex data structure.

This has been my biggest obstacle too.  If sawfish was written 
in, say, Python, I would have a much easier time making changes 
and extensions.  Or even common lisp -- I don't have a lot of 
experience with it yet, but it has a lot bigger community and 
better documentation than rep.

> It also, unfortunately, has completely hard coded window 
> placement/size numbers (for 1680x1050, with a gnome-panel, and 
> assuming the Toyberg theme).

Out of curiousity, why Toyberg?  Are you also using tabbed 
windowing?  (if not, Elberg may look better)


-- Scott