Anthony Thyssen wrote...
| The biggest problem I have with the ability to select themes
| is that it requires a seperation of 'menu', 'user menus', number of
| workspaces, icon windows or icon areas, and just what applications a
| user uses. Every user example I have seen depends to tighly on the
| application the user uses!!!!
|
| Basically people generating themes must follow very restrict limits and
| rules about what they can and can NOT do in their theme configuration.
|
Gary Kline on wrote...
| Anthony Thyssen wrote...
| > the problem is they are not very usable by other users except the person
| > who created as they are too application dependant and provide no easy
| > way for the users own menu setups.
| >
| I see them as examples, as templates. I've often said that
| one example is worth ten thousand words; and in something like
| using CTWM as one's desktop, this is at least doublly true.
|
Yes current all examples I have seen are just full examples of
cwcomplete CTWM RC files, with Xsessions! That is they are all
applications specific, while showing methods and techniques.
Users need to pick it apart to extract the ideas they want to use.
However for distribution of example, some regrious 'theme' rules need to
be setup so as to seperate a specific user 'applications' and 'layout'
from the style or setup of the window manager theme.
Gary, your own CTWM example you gave to the list on the 24 July...
http://www.thought.org/credits/ctwmrc.html
suffered from this. But then my own example also does the same
thing!!!! Both has some nice ideas, but others can not use those
examples directly, only example and study them for their own use.
BTW: With your own example, Gary...
You no longer need to create xterm symlinks, to define which workspace
they start in. You can specify a resource on the xterm command line as
to which workspace the application should start in.
---
Continuing my rant....
A user needs to be able to define his own set of menus, applications,
workspaces and layout, completely seperate to the selected style or
theme.
The Ctwmrc files defining themes (or styles) need to limit their effect
to window decoration, window title bar look, and CTWM window control
menus, as seperate things to more user specific aspects (a user
application menu, applications started, layout and workspace defintion).
Basically for themes to be practical we need rules and a core CTWM RC
that seperates these aspects, posibly which looks up what themes are on
the system and make the appropriate theme includes according to settings
made by the user.
In summery we need a well define 'core' RC that will load other 'RC'
files and themes, appropriately. Once the rules are defined, then
proper themes can be developed, distributed and shares amoungst CTWM
users.
----
My own RC files provide a start toward a more general 'theme'
methodology... Look at my ctwmrc dot files I have put online at...
http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~anthony/saves/ctwmrc_example/
The start file is ".twmrc.m4" which only defines one 'emergency re-load
binding', then loads everything else from more specialised includes.
This is a start but offers a way of defining multi-themes which are
application independant.
A more general top level RC file like thiscould define M4 variables
specifing the 'theme' to load and the number and naming of workspaces.
My own files do not provide a perfect seperation of layout and
applications from the theme being setup. This is especially evident
with the 'icon directory selection' and 'workspace creation'.
Comments for improvements welcome, as I am sure I don't have a final
solution, just a start, or posibly miss-start.
PS: The M4 macros provided are not perfect and has problems which are M4
short comings. I have however made them so as to work with Non-Gnu M4
(on Solaris machines) as well as the GNU version (on linux machines).
Anthony Thyssen ( System Programmer ) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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`` The avalanche has already started.
It is too late for the pebbles to vote.'' -- Ambassador Kosh
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Anthony's Home is his Castle http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~anthony/
