Re: [INFO] NEXTSPACE

[Matt Rice]

On Sun, Nov 26, 2017 at 3:07 PM, Sergii Stoian <stoyan255@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Nov 26, 2017 at 12:50 PM, Matt Rice <ratmice@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Cool project, was curious if you had/were planning on implementing the
>> right click behavior where
>> instead of bringing up the windowmaker vertical menu, right click on
>> the root window brings up the
>> main menu of the currently active application.  Given the
>> workspace/shelf the windowmaker menu
>> seems a bit superfluous
>
> Yes, something like what you've described. I want to get rid of
> WindowMaker's menus and panels as much as I it's possible to leave essential
> functionality.
> To reach this goal I need to implement Dock settings in Workspace
> preferences and Preferences where it will be appropriate.
>>
>>
>> I had a fork of aewm with click to focus + this, let me know if you
>> would like me to try and find it.
>> though I seem to recall everything including gnustep would pretty much
>> freak out when they receive
>> events that are outside of any window,
>> Anyhow let me know, perhaps it is less entrenched than trying to
>> experiment with such things in windowmaker (or maybe not).
>
> Actually it's quite simple to switch off root menu and show Workspace's
> menu. It's possible because WindowMaker is just another thread of Workspace
> application.

My main issue with this is that e.g. consider the user who selects some text,
then right clicks and edit -> copy,
if we're showing the workspace menu, this is going to copy the
selected file in the workspace,
rather than the selected text in the active application.

> I've never thought or try to show active application's menu with
> right-clicking on desktop. Is it intuitive or comfortable from user
> experience point of view? Current design of GNUstep applications let user
> bring app menu by right-clicking inside any of the app's windows. I think
> it's quite logical to bring Workspace app menu right-clicking on desktop
> background (anyway it's managed by Workspace). What do you think?

IMO yes having the active app's main menu is intuitive and comfortable,
But i am biased, having the main menu available everywhere without
having to move the mouse ever is
helpful.

I couldn't find a good example of this, and was having trouble
recalling the behavior when you right clicked on e.g. the dock
miniwindows, the title bar, inactive windows.

so here is a short video... https://youtu.be/1_glOOYIGlc

>> On Sat, Nov 25, 2017 at 2:35 PM, Sergii Stoian <stoyan255@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > More than 15 years ago I joined the GNUstep development because I like
>> > NeXT's OS design, look and feel. At that time my dream was to return
>> > NeXTSTEP desktop to Linux. After 15+ years my dream still alive. I
>> > understand that GNUstep project goals somewhat changed over these years.
>> > And
>> > this is good until project is interesting to broad kind (goals, tastes)
>> > of
>> > people involved in it's development.
>> >
>> > Finally I've decided to inform dear community about my project of last
>> > 2+
>> > years.
>> > I've named is NEXTSPACE. It is SPACE for NeXT applications.
>> > You can find code and brief description of project here
>> > https://github.com/trunkmaster/nextspace.
>> > It is not finished yet. However I use it as my desktop environment on
>> > daily
>> > basis.
>> > You can find RPMs in Packages directory:
>> > * libdispatch and libobjc2
>> > * nextspace-core - system specific files: skeleton for user home
>> > firectory,
>> > shell profile, udev, polkit, etc.
>> > * nextspace-gnustep - GNUstep libraries with my patches.
>> > The next step is to build Frameworks, then Appplications. You can create
>> > new
>> > user with all needed files inside it's home dir. You can start Login
>> > with
>> > command 'systemctl start loginwindow' or login to newly created user
>> > from
>> > your login application (it should start ~/.xinitrc in user home dir).
>> > That's
>> > it.
>> >
>> > Some noticeable achievements I've got:
>> > * I integrated Workspace and WindowMaker into Workspace Manager. That's
>> > it -
>> > one application. It was made possible by using libdispatch and libobjc2.
>> > For
>> > example, when non-GNUstep application starts Workspace's Processess
>> > panel
>> > shows it with info grabbed from WindowMaker. Another example: when you
>> > start
>> > application by double-clicking in File Viewer and appicon already exists
>> > in
>> > Dock icon fly from FileViewer's to docked appicon.
>> > * In general Workspace is ready to be NSWorkspace povider.
>> > * GNUstep and WindowMaker unified look and feel (menus and titlebars,
>> > fonts,
>> > miniwindows).
>> > * Media management: Workpace automatically mounts removable media
>> > inserted
>> > (UDisks integration).
>> > * Terminal: a lot of improvements. It's better to see it.
>> > * -NXAutoLaunch option implemented. Now applications started with this
>> > option doesn't show menu at all. No focus flickering. Smooth as it
>> > should
>> > be.
>> > * Preferences: everything you need to set up must be here. Not only
>> > GNUstep
>> > NSGlobalDomain options (localization, fonts) but system specific options
>> > also (display, keyboard, mouse, sound, networking).
>> > * A lot of other things I can't recall now but I write it down someday.
>> > ;)
>> >
>> > There are some facts I don't like and want to change:
>> > * NEXTSPACE is based on quite outdated release of GNUstep (base 1.24.8,
>> > gui
>> > and back 0.24.1);
>> > * It is based on ART backend. I want to use Cairo backend but ART has
>> > usefull features (.nfont packages provide ability to set hinting and
>> > antialiasing options on per font basis).
>> > * DE needs documentation. I plan to discuss NSHelpPanel implementation
>> > with
>> > you guys. First of all we need to define format for help files.
>> > * It is developed and tested on CentOS 7. I have no plans in near future
>> > to
>> > port it somewhere else. I need to finish what I've started first.
>> >
>> > PS: My apologies to community for being off the track so long. Now you
>> > know
>> > why.
>> > My current strategy is the following:
>> > 1. Finish NEXTSPACE to be feature rich, stable and fast. I guess this
>> > step
>> > will be done until next summer.
>> > 2. Return to development of ProjectCenter. First of all PC badly needs
>> > good
>> > editor, then GORM interoperation and next debugger.
>> > I hope my work will be useful not only for me but for GNUstep project
>> > also.
>> >
>> > --
>> > Sergii Stoian, ProjectCenter maintainer
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Discuss-gnustep mailing list
>> > Discuss-gnustep@gnu.org
>> > https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnustep
>> >
>
>
>
>
> --
> Sergii Stoian, ProjectCenter maintainer