Hi all,
I switched away from Openbox, to ctwm, for about 2 months, before switching back to Openbox. There were a lot of little reasons, but there were also some little reasons to like ctwm better than Openbox. The *main* reason I went back to Openbox was the Alt+Tab functionality. Openbox, like Win98 and Gnome2 and KDE and IceWM before it, kept a stack of open windows on the given workspace. Each window viewed goes to the top of the stack. Alt+Tab goes to the second to top on the stack, Alt+Tab done twice goes to the third to the top on the stack, etc. It turns out that for some reason, that behavior is very understandable at a muscle-memory level. Contrastingly, ctwm keeps the windows on a given workspace in a ring buffer. This requires two different keystrokes: One to navigate clockwise, and one to navigate counterclockwise. For whatever reason, even after 2 months using specially created hotkeys for these circular navigations, I couldn't get my muscle memory to work with the 2 key solution. I would never recommend you're getting rid of the ring: There are probably people whose muscle memory requires the ring. Instead, I recommend adding a stack of windows for each given workspace. I'm pretty sure each element on the stack would be just a pointer to the element in the ring. Or, if it turns out better, put all the data in the stack structure, and make the ring a bunch of pointers. Anyway, once you have the windows in a stack, a hotkey like Alt+Tab can quickly enable people to navigate by keyboard. I don't think it would be difficult. As another useful enhancement, most WM/DEs (Window managers and Desktop Environment) flash on the screen the name of the program that would gain focus if you let go. I have no idea how easy or difficult that would be. My impression from the 2 months I used ctwm was that most users on the mailing list were mouse-using people who were into GUI long before Bill Gates came around. I remember in 1987 seeing my boss running four different terminals on the monitor for his VAX, and ctwm is still perfect for that. But the stack recommendation will make ctwm practical for the more able of the masses, and that recommendation plus the program name flash recommendation would make it even easier for the general masses. Of course general masses bring their own problems, and the project probably doesn't need "input" from the kind of people who would use KDE or Gnome. But that's just the point: That kind of person will always use KDE or Gnome. Where ctwm fits in is as *the* most configurable stacking user interface, for self-starting DIY people. What my two recommendations do is make ctwm faster and more convenient for Keyboard-Centric DIYers. Thanks, SteveT Steve Litt September 2018 featured book: Quit Joblessness: Start Your Own Business http://www.troubleshooters.com/startbiz
