Announce: Xfce 4.4.0 released

[Bo Thide']

Dear Brian,

In your e-mail of Mon Jan 22 21:34:26 2007 you wrote:
> 
> Bo Thide' wrote:
> > Yes, I have.  I removed the top panel (don't like the idea of wasting
> > space on two panels), and used panel settings to make the bottom as much
> > CDE-like as I could.  Still, I was not satisfied.
> 
> >  For instance, I
> > cannot get the names of the workspaces displayed in the Pager of the
> > panel (this CDE-like feature was possible in earlier releases of xfce).
> 
> We used to have an old pager like this as you note, but it was never
> ported to the new panel.  That's something that's relatively easy that
> someone who is looking to get involved with Xfce development might want
> to try.

OK.  For the way we work around here, it's pretty useless to have
different workspaces if you are not able to label them in an
efficient, direct and space saving way.

> 
> > There are no "popup arrowheads" as in CDE.
> 
> Sure there are.  Just open the settings for a launcher, and add more
> items to the list on the left.  With > 1 item, it'll create the popup.

I stand corrected.  But the arrowheads seem to be placed on the side
rather an above the icons.  This expands the panel sideways and thus
consumes extra screen real estate, something that I want to avoid. It
also causes ambiguity as to which icon it belongs.  I will investigate
further.

> 
> >  And the icons are no longer
> > CDE-like as they used to be.
> 
> That's up to you to configure.  Find an icon theme on the web that looks
> CDEish, or create your own based on icons from xfce3 (or wherever).  You
> can select the icon theme from the User Interface Settings panel.
> 

The icons in Motif/CDE are very pleasing (they were designed by
perception psychology experts at MIT and professional graphical
designers in industry and won awards for their design when they were
introduced) and do not give as "childish" and unsophisticated
an impression as most Linux/Xfce icons do.  I will try to get the CDE
ones.

> >  And the colour scheme is too Windows-ish
> > to my liking.
> 
> Then find a gtk2 theme that has a CDE or motif look and feel.  Google is
> your friend, as are xfce-look.org and art.gnome.org.

I have done that and not quite got it right.  By the way, I have not
found a way of choosing from a large number of well balanced colour
mixes for xfce as one can do for Motif/CDE.  Am I missing something?

> 
> > And the xfce panel autohide option is confusing and
> > annoying (I prefer the CDE mechanism).
> 
> It's been years since I've touched CDE, so I'm not sure what the
> difference is (I dislike and don't enable autohide anyway, so I likely
> wouldn't have known).

The CDE panel does not behave in any special way (as does the xfce
one).  It just behaves as any other window while in xfce it is either
always on top or always off screen.

> 
> > In summary, xfce4 seems to have
> > diverged so much away from earlier versions that it appears impossible
> > to turn it into something that I feel comfortable with.
> 
> That's a shame.  Feel like complaining any more about something provided
> to you free of charge?  Go buy CDE if you want CDE.  You're also free to
> use an earlier version of Xfce if you so desire, though of course it'll
> be difficult to get support for it.

I bought CDE for Linux some years ago and used it with pleasure on
earlier laptops.  But the company I bought it from (Xig) no longer
market CDE.  If they did, I'd buy it right away.  If not for anything
else its elegance and the powerful dtksh.


Thanks for your help!

Bo

-- 

Professor Bo Thidé, PhD, Head of Programme  http://www.physics.irfu.se/~bt
Address: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, P.O.Box 537, SE-75221 Uppsala
Office Phone +46 18-4715914  Fax +46 18-4715909  Home Phone +46 18-4951801
Visiting address:  Ångström Lab,  Room # 84108, Lägerhyddsvägen 1, Uppsala
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