Re: metacity, vte

[Sean Middleditch <elanthis awesomeplay com>]

On Sun, 2002-09-22 at 14:05, Alan wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 22, 2002 at 06:01:51AM -0500, John J. Boyer wrote:
> > Hello,
> > I would favor giving the user a choice of window managers. One manager 
> > could be the default. Perhaps a list of window managers could be 
> > displayed during startup, and when startup is finished the user could 
> > change to the one s/he likes best. Then save the ssion and continue.
> 
> I disagree with this a bit.  If gnome is going to be a simple/everyday
> os, I'd vote for using a default WM on install, but sticking the option
> in a capplet in the advanced section.  Personally I find metacity a bit
> thing for what I want, and lacking in the configurability to do the
> things I do with sawfish.  Before anyone asks/flames: dealing with
> sticky correctly (xmms) nicer alt-tab ability (ie: ot bringing each app
> to the foreground when I alt tab through my apps), customizable
> keybindings that actually work (I couldn't get alt-rmb to map to resize
> window and alt-lmb to map to move window like in sawfish, I just got
> gconf errors about invalid strings), and a few others. 

I agree that the average user shouldn't be asked to pick a WM.  That is
a horrible way to "Make computing easy."

I still disagree on the capplet, however, if only because users are in
general idiots, a lot of them are going to end up changing to Sawfish or
whatnot without having any clue what they're "playing with" and breaking
their setup, and so on.

I would maintain that if you are an advanced enough user to configure
and use Sawfish, even tho it will not be integrated into GNOME the way
Metacity should (and hopefully will) be, you are also advanced enough to
change your WM without using a capplet.

Given as how things seem to be going in the direction that configuration
like metacity fonts and themes will be tied into the existing setup,
allowing average users to run a WM like Sawfish then have a bunch of
options to "Change Window Borders" or "Change Window Title Fonts" that
don't affect their window borders/titles will be bad.

An option to change window-managers is just horrible for a desktop that
is supposed to be an integrated whole.  Might as well add back in an
option to switch between GMC and Nautilus if we want that much of a
usability nightmare.  (note - anyone suggesting such a feature should be
kicked in the skin.  twice.)

> 
> Now that said, I think that metacity is great at what it does, I prefer
> sawfish however, and the point of OSS is that I have the choice to use
> that, and I think that you have to give users that choice as well, and
> not tell them the equivelant of "go into the registry editor and edit
> foo/bar/baz".  Just give them a simple little settings capplet so that
> if they decide to explore the interface, they can be plesantly surprised
> that 'hey, I can switch window managers here'.
> 
> My $0.02
> 
> /me returns to lurk mode
> 
> 
> -- 
> Alan "Arcterex" <alan ufies org>   -=][=-   http://arcterex.net
> "I used to herd dairy cows. Now I herd lusers. Apart from the isolation, I
> think I preferred the cows. They were better conversation, easier to milk, and
> if they annoyed me enough, I could shoot them and eat them." -Rodger Donaldson
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