[Techtalk] Window Managers ... again

Kathryn Andersen kat_lists at katspace.com
Sat Aug 31 18:49:26 EST 2002


On Thu, Aug 29, 2002 at 10:52:32PM +0100, /dev/null wrote:
> On Wed, 2002-08-28 at 23:58, Kathryn Andersen wrote:

> > The thing I find notable about Enlightenment is that it's probably the
> > prettiest window manager around.  *Making* themes for it is hard, but
> > some of the themes that have already been made are ultra-cool, breaking
> > the conventions of "little boxes" that every other window manager has.
> > (My favourite E theme is Ganymede.)
> 
> yes, it is lovely... i started using it when i noticed it on a friend's
> laptop and went 'what is that?..'... he was also running gkrellm and
> using the shrooms pic from digitalblasphemy.com - so i kinda cloned his
> desktop, im really pleased with it... its a pleasure to work in. 
> i tend to use the Blue_OS theme... i like kinda minimal but very nicely
> done graphics... 

I'm sort of waiting for when E themes get easier to make (and the
interface gets more stable -- seems like each version number the themes
have been completely re-done) and then I'd like to sit down and design a
really cool theme, someday.

> > My personal preference is for Fvwm (or to be strictly precise, Fvwm2).
> > Because of its modular design, the features you don't want aren't used,
> > and thus don't take up memory.  <http://www.fvwm.org/>
> > There's an add-on which makes Fvwm very easily themable
> > <http://fvwm-themes.sourceforge.net/>
> > One of my favourite things, themewise, about Fvwm are the
> > vector-buttons -- it means you can make a theme and change the
> > appearance without actually having to make up lots of images.
> > My own fvwm theme is on my colour-scheme page
> > <http://www.katspace.com/tools/col_scheme/> (down the bottom)
 
> yes, fvwm is really nice... i will have to check out your themes too :)

(grin)  Only one theme for Fvwm2-themes.
What that page is mostly about is my system for changing my
Window-manager colours automatically every day...
But the theme works fine without the script; you just happen to be stuck
with the colours it was the last time I updated the page.  (evil grin)

But one thing I've noticed with a lot of themes is that you get clones
of themes which are exactly the same, but with different colours.  I
want to eliminate all that.  Make the theme, and then the user can pick
the colours (within limits).

That's actually one nice thing about the Crux theme in Sawfish -- it
follows the colours in the GTK+ theme, which meant that when I was using
Sawfish/Gnome, I didn't have to figure out the nuts and bolts of Sawfish
in order to have my rainbow of colours -- I just rainbowed my GTK+
theme, and Crux followed.

> its a long time since i made themes... for a while i was making quite a
> collection of WindowMaker themes... 
> i really like Fluxbox as well, which is like fvwm with tabbed windows
> (yeahhhhhhhhh!)... although i still can't get gdm to recognise my
> fluxbox entry so starting it is a bit difficult :(... 

What do you mean, like fvwm but with tabbed windows?  Oh, you mean you
can stack windows on top of each other, and flip between them.
Actually one of my favourite things in fvwm is the pager/virtual
desktop.  It's just nicer to use than the other ones I've had to
struggle with (like on KDE or Gnome), it's easier to switch between
desks and move windows from one desk to another, you can even drag a
window out of the desk into your current desktop (not that I do that a
lot, but it's kinda cool.)

Actually, that reminds me...
Why is it that KDE and Enlightenment (and Gnome if you don't turn it
off) take over the desktop background, in such a way that you can only
change it through their background control, instead of being able to use
your standard set-the-root-window programs like xsetroot, xloadimage/xli
or even ImageMagick's display program?  I've found that wierd things
happen when I try; in Enlightenment, the background gets set for the
current desktop, but is the original one for all the others, and in KDE,
it sets the current one, and if you change desktop, you get artefacts
(well, you get an outline of the windows on the original desktop) --ugh!

Lover of variety that I am (and owner of a large collection of pretty
piccies) I like to put random images on my desktop (yes, I've written a
script for that too) and it is really annoying when my window manager
won't let me.

Another reason I tend to stick to fvwm.
 
> > (And can I put in a plea for people to stop Top-Posting?)
> 
> actually, there's a reason why i usually top-post... although its become
> force of habit now...
> 
> on one of the other lists i belong to, there's a guy who is visually
> impaired and reads email with text-to-speech tools... for him it is very
> difficult to wade through miles of quoted text to find the relevant
> replies... so i top-post for accessibility reasons, i never know who
> might be using text-to-speech on a mailing list...

In which case, they'd be best served by you not quoting anything at all,
and only giving a bare reply.  Top-posting only serves to confuse.
(Kathryn stops before she starts ranting.)

Kathryn Andersen
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bellfriar:  And just who are you?
    Blake:  Well, according to the Federation, I'm a political criminal.
            You may have heard of me. My name is Blake.
Bellfriar:  Yes, but then we're absentminded scientists, you see.  In fact,
            we've forgotten your name already.  Haven't we, Gambrill?
 Gambrill:  Whose name, sir?				(Blake's 7: Killer [B7])
-- 
 _--_|\	    | Kathryn Andersen	<kat at katspace.com> <http://www.katspace.com>
/      \    | 
\_.--.*/    | GenFicCrit mailing list <http://www.katspace.com/gen_fic_crit/>
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