Re: Problems with current Apple X11 package
Re: Problems with current Apple X11 package
- Subject: Re: Problems with current Apple X11 package
- From: magenta <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 14:37:06 -0800
On Fri, Jan 31, 2003 at 02:25:35PM -0800, John Harper wrote:
> On Friday, January 31, 2003, at 12:12 PM, Sean Ahern wrote:
> > Are you talking about the stacking order of X11 windows with respect to
> > ordinary Quartz windows? If that's the case, then I agree with you
> > that
> > the X server needs to provide some type of "intermingling" policy, as
> > no
> > X11 window manager has the capability of knowing that there are windows
> > outside of the X11 environment.
>
> The rootless X server has the following stacking policy right now:
>
> When a stacking change request is received for a window, do the
> following (even if the window didn't change position in X's stacking
> order):
>
> - if there is a mapped X window above the changed window, order the
> changed window immediately below it in the native window system
>
> - otherwise (i.e. it's the topmost mapped window) raise it above all
> native windows
>
> So this means that most window managers should work fairly well without
> any changes. Some things that may not work is if they try to keep track
> of the stacking order themselves and use that to decide when to restack
> windows, or use the window's visibility status to decide whether to
> raise or not,
The problem is that some window managers *don't* work well with that. pwm,
ion, ratpoison, etc.
I use pwm specifically to avoid the problem of overlapping windows, and
would like it so that if X11 were to get application focus, ALL X11 windows
should be raised to the top.
IMO, raise-on-focus is a horribly broken way of doing things (as a personal
preference; some people work better with that), and I like to keep window
focus separate from window raising. However, as a result, working with
both X11 windows and Aqua windows using Apple X11 becomes rather
frustrating.
I much preferred XDarwin's behavior of raising all windows when the X
server is raised, as it was more compatible with my work style and my
choice of WM.
Obviously, that's not perfect behavior for everyone, since everyone has
different workflow and styles of interacting with the system, which is why
it should be configurable.
One of the greatest strengths of X11 (which is something that both
Microsoft and Apple could learn from) is that it allows the *user* to
customize *everything* about their environment (not just superficial things
like colors and window decorations). With my pwm configuration, I spend
more time working, while with traditional window managers (such as Aqua) I
spend a disproportionate amoutn of time with hunting around for the right
window, moving windows around, etc.
In fact, what I'd *really* like to see is a way for Apple X11 to manage
*all* windows of the system, not just X11 windows. I'd love it if I could
manage my Safari and Finder windows with pwm. :)
--
http://trikuare.cx
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