Re: [dwm] [ANNOUNCE] dvtm-0.3

On Tue, Jan 22, 2008 at 12:54:52AM -0500, Ritesh Kumar wrote:
> Hi Marc,
> I just tried out dvtm... its a really nice application of dwm concepts
> to the console. Really awesome!

Thanks!

> I wanted to bounce off a few ideas from the audience about dvtm...
>
> - We know that dwm uses Mod+<key> for most of its commonly used actions.
> In this case, moving to a given client is basically about pressing Mod and
> tapping 'j' a given number of times. However, in dvtm's case, its about
> interchangeably tapping ^g and j a number of times... which is not as
> smooth.

You can always do a ^g n where n is the window number to jump to a
specific window.

> I know we are trying to minimize interference of shortcuts... and
> hence I was thinking, how would it be if we followed a 'command' and
> 'insert' mode thing (like vim) for dvtm. I mean, to move to a particular
> client and zoom on it we do a ^g jjjj... \n. The \n and ^g keys also
> terminate the 'command' mode. A simple notification scheme could be used to
> tell the user when he/she is in the command mode.

I have thought about this myself, but i think always switching between
the different modes is a bit cumbersome. I would like a different (not
^g) keybinding to enter command mode so that a quick ^g + [key] still
works.

> - What do you think about moving the status bar to the bottom left/right
> corner superimposed on the border? I guess using a distinct color (inverse
> video with a dark background color) should eliminate any confusion with the
> application running in the master window. This will free up the statusbar
> line and use the border line without interfering with its function.

The statusbar can already be positioned at the bottom (see BarPos in
config.h) but it currently doesn't draw over the window border.

There are some other ideas floating around, for example Christian Garbs
proposed this (the points are the screen borders, only the top and
vertical window borders will be drawn):

 ······················
 ·-[t1]---------------·
 · ·
 · ·
 ·-[t2]----+-[t3]-----·
 · | ·
 · | ·
 · | ·
 ······················

> - Do you think it will be a good idea to terminate dvtm when the last
> client is done? I fear accidental shutdowns so much that I generally map the
> quit key in dwm to Ctrl+Alt+Shift+q. Quitting after the last client closes
> seems to be a cleaner way to shutdown a terminal multiplexer IMHO.

As there was some confusion recently regarding the "black window", i
will probably commit a solution which quits dvtm if the last client
is a shell otherwise a new shell will be opened.

Thanks for your comments.

Regards,
Marc

-- 
 Marc Andre Tanner >< http://www.brain-dump.org/ >< GPG key: CF7D56C0