Re: [Usability] How CDE presents workspaces and viewports.

[Telsa Gwynne <hobbit aloss ukuu org uk>]

On Sun, Dec 09, 2001 at 04:30:03PM -0500 or thereabouts, Brian Crescimanno wrote:
> On Sat, 2001-12-08 at 23:32, Gregory Merchan wrote:
>
> > If CDE (or MWM or dtwm, whichever) provided a viewport over a 
> > larger-than-screen workspace, I was unaware of it.
> 
> The closest thing I can think of wasn't actually provided by WM, but by
> the X server itself.  The genereal concept being that you'd set your
> resolution to something like 800x600 and then set your "Virtual
> Resolution" to 1600x1200 which would create a scrolling effect on your
> desktop.  

I did this with fvwm2 all the time. Some people loathe it. It's
clearly a matter of taste. :)

(Later on, to get round a specific MediaGX bug, I actually *had*
to use it: I would set the virtual size to be one pixel larger
so that it would redraw properly (don't ask me why this worked!))

> This is essentially how viewports work now.  However, instead of
> creating the scrolling effect, the WM locks you over one section of the
> desktop at a time, making it easier to work with. [snip]
> The reason workspaces were such a great advantage over this method was
> the fact that each one was a non-scrolling screen.  It gave the
> advantages of having more workspace than your normal resolution desktop
> would provide without having to deal with the "scrolling" effect.

I love historical context. It makes things so much easier to 
follow. I have always wondered why this division occurred. 
Thanks very much. I think I may finally understand now!

Telsa