Re: [wmii] summary of some #wmii talk on 2006-03-02

On Fri, Mar 03, 2006 at 03:35:03AM -0500, John Nowak wrote:
> On Mar 3, 2006, at 3:22 AM, Christian Simonutti wrote:
> >I thought, wmii is dynamic. This statements don't form a dynamic
> >windowmanager.
> >
> >Empty columns? Manually create/remove?
>
> If that isn't dynamic, then I'd suggest no window manager will meet
> your definition of dynamic. I think the notion that wmii is "dynamic"
> is complete bunk to be honest. I have to deal with frames, locking/
> unlocking of frames (at least in 2.5), switching between frames,
> changing display modes, resizing (when something in my browser
> doesn't fit), moving stuff between workspaces, et cetera. If
> anything, wmii is more mental "work" than an overlapping manager,
> which just consists of "this is in the way, I'll move it".

The point of 'dynamic window management' is, that the WM
'arranges' the windows in a dynamic way, that your interaction
tasks are as minimal as possible. For the LarsWM concept which I
consider the first dynamic WM concept in the X world, this is
based on selecting a specific client and zoom it into the master
tile. In wmii this can be done through selecting a client of a
column and maximizing it or with sending a specific client to a
specific 'master' column. You don't have to think much with
those tools about where you place or how you resize a window to
fit your needs, the WM just does it for (though you have
interaction points still, would be a dream if the WM would guess
always correctly what you want ;))

In contrast to that, in WIMPy environments, the WM is pretty
dumb and only mediates between the input devices and the user.
It does not arrange the windows much, except keeping a list of
them and keeping some focus history. But arranging windows is
done totally by the user (though with snap-to-border,
intelligent placment, ... there are already some concepts in
WIMPy environments which reduce interaction tasks).

Thus depending on the level of understanding 'dynamic wm' you
are right, that it might be complete bunk to call it 'dynamic'.
Maybe it would be better to call it 'semi-automatic window
management'.

Regards,

-- 
 Anselm R. Garbe  ><><  www.ebrag.de  ><><  GPG key: 0D73F361