Other comments on EWHM version 1.0

["David Wheeler" <dwheeler ida org>]

Here are a few comments on the EWHM version 1.0:

1. No "author" is identified; this makes it a pain to refer to it in a
   reference lists, etc.  I suggest that the author be identified as the
   "X Desktop Group", or if that's not good, "FreeDesktop.org".

2. The spec should include a URL, so that people who get paper copies
   "out of the blue" can find it again.  I'd suggest appending to
   section 1.2 the following:

    You can retrive this specification from
    <ulink url="http://www.freedesktop.org";>the X Desktop Group</ulink>.

3. I hope that the website will be archiving "major versions" of the
   spec for easy downloading.  Is that true?

4. Nowhere does the document say what its GOAL is.  It just says that it
   "defines interactions", but presumably there's a reason to define
   these interactions. In particular, people who aren't familiar
   with the document should be given some clue of what the document
   will do for them. I'd add something like the following after
   the first sentence in section 1.2:

===
   The goal of this spec is to permit users to select whatever
   window manager they prefer, regardless of their selected applications
   and desktop environment, giving enough information to the
   window manager so it can provide an excellent user interface.
===

   Hack the words if you wish.

5. This is extraordinary document, for it shows multiple open source
   projects working together to create a
   common spec for interoperability.  In particular, many reporters are
   trying to create some sort of GNOME/KDE animosity, which is unfortunate.
   And many window managers "compete" with each other

   This document shows another side: projects cooperating for the common good.
   Problem is, the document itself gives no hint of this.  I suggest adding
   something like the following after the first paragraph of section 1.2
   (but before the URL note given above):

   This spec was developed through the cooperation of developers representing
   many different open source projects, including GNOME, KDE, Gtk, Qt,
   Enlightenment, Sawmill, and many others.  For a full list of
   contributors, see <xref linkend="contributors">.

  (You'd need to add an id="contributors" to the contributors section,
   and I'm sure the list of projects needs to be expanded.  Hopefully
   the idea is clear).


-- 

--- David A. Wheeler
    dwheeler ida org