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Re: [Ayatana] Criticism of Client Side Window Decorations
Heres a mockup of a number of things, primarily how the title bar could better work in a similar fashion as the panel and how it could stay visible.
A. The window title bars echo whats going on in the top panel. On the left we have management, launching and closing windows. On the far right, we have (App Info) and Window, which correlate to the user name and specific info (im status and time in the panel, specific app info like inbox messages, name of the document, etc) Next from the right are panel indicators, like volume and sync status. Lastly, I made the window tabbed, because thats just awesome.
The window on the left and right are the same, but the one on the right has been moved, but no resized, against the panel. Thus, it got squished down some and a scrollbar shows up. The title bar is never lost, so neither are the windicators or window controls.
NOTE: I didn't add any app menus.
Second NOTE: The window tabs could easily be implemented on the panel, so that Tabbed Windows mean multiple of the same program (like tabbed Nautilus) while tabs on the panel represent actual different applications, or even workspaces if you want to get crazy. Less important to the current discussion, but still a thought.
On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 3:16 PM, Tyler Brainerd
<tylerbrainerd@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"
Why does a title bar have to be at the top of its respective
window? This causes a serious usability problem when a window is
Alt+Dragged above the screen: only the bottom part is visible,
so it's impossible to drag it back unless you know how it got
there. I actually am quite surprised this isn't a common issue.
Why can't the title bar detach from the window and stay visible
regardless of where the client has gone?"
Especially considering we already have 'rolling windows' available, is there way a way to allow windows to partially roll when the title bar is forced to the top of the screen and continued to move upwards?
On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 2:59 PM, Dylan McCall
<dylanmccall@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I was really looking forward to client-side decorations, but Martin has
pretty thoroughly changed my tune. I think there's a different problem
that needs to be solved: there is a doomed effort right now to make
window decorations feel like part of window clients even though the two
know nothing of each other. For example, window decorations are fixed to
the edges of the client area no matter what, as if they need to be. In
some themes (like Lucid's Light themes) they apply some quirky tricks to
blend with the client area.
Perhaps more problems can be solved if window borders Stop Intruding on
window clients.
A few loosely related thoughts spring to mind:
* It would be really super if someone would implement unobtrusive
window manager controls that appear (with lots of alpha channel
goodness) when the mouse reaches particular hotspots at the edge
of the client area, maybe after being inside the client area.
That would lead to a valid solution to Bug #160311
(https://launchpad.net/bugs/160311), among other things, and
it's a requirement for client-side decorations to work at all
well.
* Why does a title bar have to be at the top of its respective
window? This causes a serious usability problem when a window is
Alt+Dragged above the screen: only the bottom part is visible,
so it's impossible to drag it back unless you know how it got
there. I actually am quite surprised this isn't a common issue.
Why can't the title bar detach from the window and stay visible
regardless of where the client has gone?
* A window “title bar”, with goodies like the Close and Minimize
buttons (and soon, I guess, Windicators!), serves a distinct
role: it helps the user organize a window client quickly and
easily. These are proxies; helpers; tools. I think “title bar”
is a misnomer.
* A window client, in the Linux desktop, cannot trust the window
manager to do anything. As a result, we have a unique
arrangement where window decorations rarely introduce new
functionality that can't be achieved through the client. (Beyond
managing windows themselves, of course. The client can't be
reliably dragged to move it around. Now THERE is something that
could be patched in all the toolkits. If we want touch support,
it's a necessity).
* Items in the window list mimic window title bars. (Title, icon -
that's how they typically look!). Windicators could fit in there
really neatly. We're moving to a world where the window manager
handles more of the surrounding desktop (eg: gnome-shell), so
these things could get cool.
Thanks,
Dylan