Re: Initial window placement

[Philipp Lohmann <Philipp Lohmann Sun COM>]

Am 16.08.01, 18:16:26, schrieb Havoc Pennington <hp redhat com> zum Thema 
Re: Initial window placement:

> Because if clients manage windows, you get different window management
> for each client. If the window manager manages windows, you get
> coherent, consistent window management.

Sorry, that's theory only. In reality the WM will place windows anywhere. 
Maybe where there is space, maybe random and some even put the task of 
initial placement on the user. If the user tries to arrange his windows 
by e.g. using a -geometry parameter he will not get what he wants if he 
switches to another WM or in some case not at all. And some user  have to 
use different window managers simply because they have to use multiple 
workstations. This geometry problem could  be solved easily by having a 
hint where to put the frame instead of the window.

> If you have window management partially in the client and partially in
> the WM, then the result is A Big Mess that doesn't give users a nice
> experience. Also, you remove the flexibility that window managers
> currently have to implement different kinds of policy.

The window management IS partly on client side, else we wouldn't need to 
bother with WM hints at all. Whether the result is a big mess remains to 
be argued :-). But this is not the point. As i said a 
_NET_WM_FRAME_GEOMETRY would be a hint; the window manager still could 
adjust it if e.g. the window would be positioned under a taskbar or such. 
But it should at least try to do what the client asks.

Regards, Philipp