Re: [wmii] Column Layouts

+++ Anselm R. Garbe [28/04/06 10:22 +0200]:
>Instead of throwing the different modes completely over board, I
>found a way to generalize the behavior. The key idea is that all
>columns are in stacking mode all the time, and that the 'mode'
>file in the column namespace is replaced with a 'stack' file,
>which takes following special syntax:
>
> 0: means no space for stacks, thus maximize all windows
> n: n visible stacked clients (focused client defines the center
> of the visible clients which is calculated through n/2).
> All other clients only get a titlebar (fallback to 0 if too
> many clients appear like in wmii-3)
>100: make all clients visible (like current default), fallback
> to 0 if too many clients appear)
>
>For n > 1 it is allowed to resize the heights of visible clients
>(though unless the stacking is not *, this arrangement might
>be changed on focus change).

This certainly sounds interesting, and a lot more automatic than what I've
suggested. However, though I hate to cite the past, this is a lot like the
"capacity" file that reared its ugly head for a few weeks in February. I
think we all can agree on what a farce that was.

So, I'm somewhat reluctant to put my full confidence in this idea. With
this system, every column would have its own threshold, which can be
different from all the others. I'm interested to know how one would set
this value. All I can fathom is a wmiimenu-based approach, letting the
user enter the column's threshold. What I don't like about this is that
you must enter an absolute value, which can be cumbersome when you are
trying to think of your work. You have to think, "I should set this column
to 2 and this one to 3 clients", and increment that value if things change.
This goes against consistency, in that not all columns behave the same.

Perhaps you have thought of a more elegant way to set the columns' threshold
values, which I'd be interested in hearing. For right now, this proposal
seems to remove one idea and introduce another, more cryptic one. I'm against
columns being treated as anything other than what they are -- an arrangement
of windows. Giving them stack files makes them more visible as entities
separate from the clients themselves.

Either way, we won't know how well it works until its implemented, which
still remains in the future. My only hope(request?) is that you think hard
about it, and try to see it from outside yourself. I think anybody able to
program such a complex system as a window manager on a haphazard base such as
X11 has a considerable measure of intelligence -- and talent. I just hope
that you use all of it.

---
"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go."