Re: Window Maker and Looking for the right window manager
Kevin Grant wrote:
> At the moment I'm using Window Maker as my window manager
> but I'm having trouble figuring out how to make it do some
> of the things I'd like it to do. For instance, I'd like
> to set program specific window "looks". Like have all
> xterm windows come up with white writing on a black background
> and all of some other software's window come up with black
> writing on a red background, etc... I also would like to
> experiment with semi-transparent backgrounds so that you
> can see through (somewhat) a command shell to the windows
> that lie behind it. Perhaps Window Maker can do these
> things and I just don't have the HowTo's I need? Perhaps I
> should be using a different WM for this sort of thing? Or
> perhaps none of them can do this sort of thing? I've thought
> about trying "Enlightenment" but its authors claim that it
> is still pretty buggy and can crash the system. Since I
> changed to Linux (from DOS/Windows) because I had to deal
> with chronic system crashes this would hardly be an improvement.
> Any comments, advice, pointers to useful info, etc... appreciated.
The semi-transparent terminals that you've probably seen in
screenshots are not really transparent. It is an illusion.
What really happens is the terminal looks at the desktop background
when you start it and remembers it. It then compares it's own position
with the in-memory cache of the desktop background, and changes it's
own background to match that of the desktop when started or moved.
This makes it appear to be transparent, but it will _not_ show another
window thru its 'transparency'. Also, if you drag the terminal
to another desktop, it will keep the background from the original one,
which totally blows the illusion.
If you want to play with it, you need to get the Eterm package. You
don't need Enlightenment to run it. Only Eterm.
--
This .sig space available for lease. Please contact:
Mitch Blevins | mitch_blevins@mindspring.com
Reply to: