[wmii] suggestions for the sanitizing of swapping

Hi Anselm, hi list,

Since the decision has fallen in favor of swapping, I have been
thinking about how to sanitize it, since the way it currently is is
just not release-ready. The main problem with (keyboard based)
swapping right now is its lack of predictability. Another "issue"
related to swapping is the suboptimal behaviour of moving. Below are
some suggestions that I think will lead to behaviour that is both
useable, predictable and consistent:

- Invert the taglabel of the selected client in "default" columns.
With "max" and "stack" columns, it is always clear what client is
going to be swapped with, with "default" columns not, because one
can't tell which client is the selected one. The suggested visual
feedback would eliminate this unpredictability.

- Make horizontal (keyboard based) moving attach the client just below
(or above, whichever is the better default) the selected client of the
target column. The would make swap and move behaviour more similar
(which means, less stuff to remember), since they both "target" the
same point in the target column. Inserting below/above the selected
client is a better default (well at least it is not worse) than
appending at the bottom of the column, I think, especially since this
is more consistent with swap behaviour.

- Make mousemove insert above the client under the pointer if it is in
the top half of it, and below if it is in the bottom half (this has
been suggested by both me and Chris before, I'm just relisting it here
for convenience :-). This would make mousebased move and swap more
similar, again since they both "target" the same point in the target
column.

- Keep the bindings for swap up/down on both M-C-{j,k} and M-S-{j,k}.
One could interpret this as inconsistency, but I think the gain in
useability is worth it in this case (and yes I know I stated the
opposite two days ago, hey people change their mind some times :-).

I think these changes would lead to an improvement is useability,
predictability and consistency, and we get to keep swapping. Though
I'm personally still not convinced we need it, I agree that it's
unnecesary to kick people in the teeth with it's removal so shortly
before release.

Greetins, Sander.

Btw, maybe horizontal swapping (M-C-{h,l}) and horizontal selection
(M-{h,l}) shouldn't wrap around the edges of the screen, since
horizontal moving (M-S-{h,l}) doesn't do that either (hence for
consistency is might be better to do no horizontal wrapping around at
all).
Received on Sat May 06 2006 - 10:41:00 UTC