[Nautilus-list] implementing a snap-to-grid for desktop...

[Jamin Philip Gray <jgray writeme com>]

A feature of nautilus that I've wanted for a while is a snap-to-grid,
"tidy icons" or whatever you want to call it, for the desktop.  I've
taken a look at some of the code behind the nautilus desktop but have
a few questions.

First of all, is there technical reasoning behind disallowing any of the
standard icon sorting methods available to the standard directory view
on the desktop such as "sort by date", "reverse order", etc.?  

Why isn't auto layout or zooming allowed on the desktop:

from /src/file-manager/fm-desktop-icon-view.c:
...
static gboolean
real_supports_auto_layout (FMIconView *view)
{
        /* Can't use auto-layout on the desktop, because doing so
         * would cause all sorts of complications involving the
         * fixed-size window.
         */
        return FALSE;
}
 
static gboolean
real_supports_zooming (FMDirectoryView *view)
{
        /* Can't zoom on the desktop, because doing so would cause all
         * sorts of complications involving the fixed-size window.
         */
        return FALSE;
}
...
What "complications involving the fixed-size window" are there?

Could someone who knows the architecture better than I give me some
pointers.  What would it take to implement this feature?  I figured
this might be a good place to start in getting to know the nautilus
code.  Comments?  

----------------------------------------------------
name:    Jamin Philip Gray
email:   jgray writeme com
icq:     1361499
jabber:  jamin jabber com
web:     http://DoLinux.org/jamin/

"My country, right or wrong" is a thing that no patriot would think
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drunk or sober."
        
-- G.K. Chesterton, "The Defendant"