Re: Window Manager configuration utilities

[Cristian Tibirna <ctibirna total net>]

On Wed, 7 Jul 1999, Matthias Clasen wrote:

> > I disagree. For those window managers which implement virtual desktops as
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > different screens :0.0, :0.1, etc. their config tool could have a method
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > to set backgrounds based on the workspace. I do not believe GNOME has this
> > functionality, and it should be left to the WM config tool to handle. And
> > considering that background images are set by a majority of themes, I
> > think this is the easiest way.
> 
> A wm cannot implement virtual desktops as different screens. Screens are
> an X protocol concept: either the server provieds multiple screens or not.
> The wm may manage them all or only one of them. But virtual desktops are
> usually tied to one screen; otherwise it wouldn't be possible to move 
> windows between desktops (since you can't move windows between screens).

OK. This is exactly what X manuals say. And we all know this. But then
what did you mean with the expression I underlined?

The new Xinerama extension tha XF86-4 will support lets you move windows
from a physical screen to another.

> Regardless of this, it should be possible to set different backgrounds on
> different workspaces, and it should also be possible to implement that
> in the gnome background capplet, since it can simply monitor the 
> _NET_DESKTOP property.

Setting background colors/pixmaps should have nothing to do with the specs
we try to build.

Cristian