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+--- Thread: Window Manager creation questions (/Thread-Window-Manager-creation-questions)
Window Manager creation questions - eduarch42 - 07-02-2019
Howdy nixers, I’ll go directly to the point. I’m creating a window manager (nothing special), but I have some questions and I would like different points of view. Here they are:
1- Which way for implementing keybindings is recommended, via a config file so the wm parses them (like i3) or using and external program as sxhkd. There’s also the way of herbstluftwm, which uses a IPC client and sends the binds to the wm. Which of these 3 ways is the most preferable and suckless and is there any other way of adding keybindings that I didn’t mention?
2- What can i make to make the wm fully compatible with wmutils and xdotool?
3- Is there anything that any of you would like a wm to have? Any curious feature?
I could add more questions later. Feel free to give your point of view because that’s I’m searching for, different points of view with pros and cons. Also if I posted this thread in a wrong category, just tell me.
Thanks
RE: Window Manager creation questions - venam - 07-02-2019
(07-02-2019, 12:13 AM)eduarch42 Wrote: 1- Which way for implementing keybindings is recommended
There's no recommendation in my opinion, it depends what the user wants in the window manager. A window manager has two functions: Layout and control. It's how you implement those that defines the philosophy of your window manager. This topic goes deep, you can take a look a this research paper or this article/podcast
(07-02-2019, 12:13 AM)eduarch42 Wrote: 2- What can i make to make the wm fully compatible with wmutils and xdotool?
Your window manager will support wmutils if it's written for X11, there's no other requirement. Maybe some functionalities like the changing of borders may not work if you redraw the borders within your window manager. As for xdotool, it's mostly the same, your X server implementation should come with the XTEST extension, which mostly always do these days. There's some features within xdotool that require you to implement some EWMH (Extended Window Manager Hints). You could check the specs for more info: https://specifications.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-latest.html
(07-02-2019, 12:13 AM)eduarch42 Wrote: 3- Is there anything that any of you would like a wm to have? Any curious feature?Being lightweight while at the same time allow composition. Things like zooming. Good support for EWMH also.
RE: Window Manager creation questions - jkl - 07-02-2019
The window manager of my dreams would probably be a dynamically tiling StumpWM. The "rewrite everything while it's running" feature is handy.
RE: Window Manager creation questions - eduarch42 - 12-02-2019
I’ve finally decided to go with the solution of i3, to use a config file. Since it’s relatively easy to code in nim. Also I may add the functionality of adding keybindings on the fly, which will only function on that Xorg session.