Re: OT: Window Managers for Widnows (RE: OT!!! -- Window Managers)

[Tim Ellis <Tim Ellis gamet com>]

> From what I have read, my understanding of window
> managers on X is that they provide not only virtual desktops, but the
> ability to learn and remember the windows associated with an application
> and their positions between sessions.  So when you you start the
> application again, you do not need to spend time setting everything up
> to your liking.

I *THINK* some Linux WMs can do this now (in KDE 3 and GNOME 2?) but I
can't get any of them working on my Linux system.

If you use *ONE* desktop, yes, they will put all the windows back the way
you had them, and it's all good, but if you're like me and use multiple
virtual desktops, it'll put all the windows on the first desktop.

Thus, I actually have to disable the WM's desire to "restore my session"
because, in fact, it won't restore my session, but will instead restore an
abomination that doesn't even resemble my session. It actually takes more
time to close all those windows and re-open them on the proper desktop.

Like I say, I think KDE3/GNOME2 fix this, but I haven't been able to get
GNOME2 installed on my system, and I'm just not a KDE guy (for some very
trivial reasons I assure you -- KDE is rock solid and GOOD).

>  If virtual desktops are used, some window managers can
> even remember which one to open an application on.

Can't wait 'til Sawfish can do it on GNOME. It's a feature I've been
wishing for for about five years.

Right now I have scripts that will place things into certain positions on
my screen, and I run one per desktop. A huge pain, but a requirement even
on Linux.

I'm fairly certain Windows has it worse. No ability to place any windows
anywhere on any desktop. You just gotta play the hand you're dealt.

> This is particularly
> useful for applications like Dia and GIMP, which don't use a multiple
> document interface (MDI) or even a Single Document Interface (SDI);
> toolbars, documents, palettes et al all have their own windows.

This will not change, since WMs have the ability to deal with application
groups. It's a solved problem in Linuxland, and these are Linux apps.
They're only provided under Win32 because people want them.

You need virtual desktops in Windows to solve the problem. I'll recommend
MultiDesk again because, like I say, I've used it with a large amount of
satisfaction. Putting Gimp on one desktop, Dia on another, Outlook on
another, and Explorer windows on another really make things work well.

It's got keyboard, mouse navigation, and a tree menu for moving windows
between desktops. Basically the 8 features you need to make multidesktops
a viable solution, MultiDesk implements.

-- 
Tim Ellis
Senior Database Architect
Gamet, Inc.