Re: [Usability] Resizability of windows

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>]

On May 4, 2006, at 7:42 AM, Elijah Newren wrote:
> ...
> Dialogs was only one example; Metacity also currently turns of the
> maximization capability for utility windows, toolbars, menus,
> splashscreens, docks (e.g. panels), and desktops -- not that it
> necessarily should in all these cases, I'm just telling you the
> current behavior.  :)

I was going to say that I think utility windows should have a maximize 
button, and that dialogs should not (dialogs should have no title bar 
buttons at all). But then I started reading the wm-spec ...

> Also, according to the hints provided by theme preferences authors,
> Metacity can only tell that it's a dialog.  In a terminal, run
>   xprop | grep _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE
> and then click on the theme preferences window.  See
> http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html#id2507144
> for a list of possible types.  A utility window is one of them, though
> I don't think Metacity really has much special support for utility
> windows and toolbars and such (yet) so changing it probably won't
> currently have much effect.

It seems that the wm-spec's definition of a utility window is vastly 
different from the HIG's definition of a utility window. What the 
wm-spec calls a utility window, the HIG calls a "toolbox", though 
that's not an ideal name either -- the same window style is used for a 
variety of palettes, not just toolboxes.

Were/are any interaction designers involved in the wm-spec? I mean, it 
has a special window type for *splash screens*, of all things, but no 
type for progress windows. What the hell?

> ...
> Calum already addressed how the authors of the HIG also disagree with
> the HIG (and Metacity) on this issue.  Further, I don't think the
> authors of Metacity agree with it either, given the many open bug
> reports I mentioned above (especially given some of the reporters of
> those bugs).  Anyway, this particular issue is filed as bug 319723,
> FWIW.  I just added a comment too about how the EWMH end of the deal
> is already done so it just needs gtk+ and metacity support.
>
> /me wonders whether he should make a tracker bug for all these issues
> ...

Bugzilla reports aren't good places for designing complicated things, 
primarily because they're append-only. But that's why we have wikis!
<http://live.gnome.org/Metacity/WindowTypes>

(Caveat: Any similarity between window types in that document, and 
window types defined in the wm-spec *or* the HIG, is currently purely 
coincidental. Some creative renaming may be necessary.)

--
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/