He does make a point. BlackBox is a very nice looking WM, and a lot of that
"nice looking" could be considered eye candy. However, I think it is
appropriate to draw a line somewhere. Gradients don't cost that much, either
in terms of memory, or speed. Image loading costs less in terms of speed,
but more in memory. Nothing but a bunch of lines, of course, is the fastest,
uses the least memory - but is pretty hidous. So I see gradients as a nice
compromise between wasteful beauty and spartan functionality.
3D text should be subjected to the same analysis. It is definitely
superflous, but does it add enough to make it worth the extra RAM, CPU and
disk resources? Personally, I don't think so - but I believe it should at
least be considered. I know a lot of people who won't put wallpapers in the
root window because they think it sucks too much RAM. Although I doubt this,
since the root window has to display *something*, even if it is just all
white or black, in the same color depth as the rest of the system - it could
be true. Frankly, I consider it RAM well spent to put a nice image in the
background.
Frankly, I'm not sure what else I would ask of BB. It is already my favorite
WM, and I use it on most of the *nix boxes I run. (including Solaris
machines). What isn't built in is easily handled by secondary programs, like
bbkeys.
I do have one thought, though this may already be possible. I would like to
see a popup window that is directly callable (ie, not a menu option) that
will show iconified programs. This way, they don't get "lost". No icons
necessary, just a text list. Right now, I accomplish this by tearing off the
"Icons" menu. This works well, but I don't think I could script this to come
up on startup.
Just my $0.02...
Seth Henry
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: cthulhain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: Blackbox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Re: How about those features?
>Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 08:47:24 -0500
>
>In the gothic chambers of the underworld on Fri 16 Feb 2001 at 07:03 -0500,
>Sigvard Lyth muttered darkly:
>
> > I saw earlier someone flashing some WM- code... Later it was comented on
> > in a positive way. Partly becuase it was 3D.
> >
> > I have been thinking about this for a long while, but have held the idea
> > back, in fear of the "feature-creep" bashers :) But now I feel it's time
> > to stand forward..
> >
> > The effect mentioned earlier, could be accomplised by putting a layer of
> > dark text beneath a layer of lighter text. The 3D-effect is stunning, as
> > seen i WM... Why do we not have this "optional" feature? It couldnt
> > possibly be a huge amount of code? (I'm no code...) And the cool-factor
>is
> > enormous... Why not?
> >
> > This could be use in menues, windowlabels, bbkeys, the toolbar, what
> > ever... :)
> >
> > I think it would be a neat effect...
> >
>
>this was discussed once. as i recall, the conclusion reached was that
>rendering the second layer of text required too much of a performance
>hit for it to be worthwhile. not to mention, shadowed "3d" text is
>completely useles, and has no practical value whatsoever. if you really
>have your heart set on it, you can always use enlightement. "but e is
>too slow!", you say. well, that's because it's full of eye-candy like 3d
>text. therefore, do not fear the feature-creep bashers: they are the
>ones who make blackbox, the window manager that you love.
Although I agree with you completely that shadowed 3d text shouldn't be
included with the wm; I feel that I should point out that blackbox isn't
devoid of features by a long shot. gradient title bars aren't much besides
eye-candy, and people could make do without many of the other features. (If
every feature-creepee was bashed down, we'd be using wmx or some such.)
This kind of thing is, of course, perfect to make a patch to include for
people who want it. (In my dream wm, I'd like a truly minimal wm with
patches so I could include exactly the features I wanted. Of course, that's
an administration nightmare :) Not my job, as I wouldn't want it anyway,
but hopefully someone who has the same itch and some coding experience will
do it. The more features the better, as long as it doesn't impinge on my
natural Right to Fast Programs.
----- Original Message -----
From: "aardvark joe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2001 11:47 PM
Subject: Re: How about those features?
> >From: cthulhain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >To: Blackbox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Subject: Re: How about those features?
> >Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 08:47:24 -0500
> >
> >In the gothic chambers of the underworld on Fri 16 Feb 2001 at
07:03 -0500,
> >Sigvard Lyth muttered darkly:
> >
> > > I saw earlier someone flashing some WM- code... Later it was comented
on
> > > in a positive way. Partly becuase it was 3D.
> > >
> > > I have been thinking about this for a long while, but have held the
idea
> > > back, in fear of the "feature-creep" bashers :) But now I feel it's
time
> > > to stand forward..
> > >
> > > The effect mentioned earlier, could be accomplised by putting a layer
of
> > > dark text beneath a layer of lighter text. The 3D-effect is stunning,
as
> > > seen i WM... Why do we not have this "optional" feature? It couldnt
> > > possibly be a huge amount of code? (I'm no code...) And the
cool-factor
> >is
> > > enormous... Why not?
> > >
> > > This could be use in menues, windowlabels, bbkeys, the toolbar, what
> > > ever... :)
> > >
> > > I think it would be a neat effect...
> > >
> >
> >this was discussed once. as i recall, the conclusion reached was that
> >rendering the second layer of text required too much of a performance
> >hit for it to be worthwhile. not to mention, shadowed "3d" text is
> >completely useles, and has no practical value whatsoever. if you really
> >have your heart set on it, you can always use enlightement. "but e is
> >too slow!", you say. well, that's because it's full of eye-candy like 3d
> >text. therefore, do not fear the feature-creep bashers: they are the
> >ones who make blackbox, the window manager that you love.
>
> Although I agree with you completely that shadowed 3d text shouldn't be
> included with the wm; I feel that I should point out that blackbox isn't
> devoid of features by a long shot. gradient title bars aren't much
besides
> eye-candy, and people could make do without many of the other features.
(If
> every feature-creepee was bashed down, we'd be using wmx or some such.)
>
> This kind of thing is, of course, perfect to make a patch to include for
> people who want it. (In my dream wm, I'd like a truly minimal wm with
> patches so I could include exactly the features I wanted. Of course,
that's
> an administration nightmare :) Not my job, as I wouldn't want it anyway,
> but hopefully someone who has the same itch and some coding experience
will
> do it. The more features the better, as long as it doesn't impinge on my
> natural Right to Fast Programs.
>
> Jared Minch
> _________________________________________________________________
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>
