Can Xfce plugins work outside of the xfce panel -- or a better way to compiz?

[Jimmy Wu]

On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 10:50 PM, Henk Boom <lunarc.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 26/03/2008, Roberto Dohnert <rjdohnert at gmail.com> wrote:
>  > Why is it desirable?  What technical functionality do you get out of it
>  > besides that it looks cool.  Nothing at all.   I have never run across
>  > anyone that has told me that Compiz makes them more productive.
>
>  Compiz makes me more productive.
>
>  There is a lot of junk in Compiz, and the features people show off
>  tend to be the eye-candy ones, but it does also have features that
>  increase productivity and usability.
>
>  The Scale plugin completely obsoletes the taskbar. I see all of the
>  windows at once, rather than me having to read all the titles on the
>  taskbar, letting me switch between windows much faster.
>
>  The Desktop Wall/Expo plugins give you proper workspaces (much nicer
>  than the cube, which is pretty useless). You can zoom out to see all
>  your workspaces at once. I find it much easier to keep track of many
>  workspaces (6 or 9 usually) when I can see visually how they are laid
>  out and can "feel" (through the sliding effect) how they correspond
>  spatially to each other.
>
>  The Negative plugin is useful when a program doesn't let you specify a
>  light-on-dark theme.
>
>  In my experience it uses more memory, but is _faster_, than using a
>  regular WM. I agree, though, that Compiz is fairly buggy, and is not
>  always supported well. I had to stop using because I was developing
>  OpenGL programs, and Compiz does not interoperate well with OpenGL
>  applications on my integrated graphics card (For other OpenGL
>  applications I get redirected drawing _or_ hardware acceleration, but
>  not both).
>
>  Sorry for branching a little off-topic, but it aggravates me when
>  people say that compiz has no practical advantage.
>
>     Henk

+1 :-)

I cannot understate the usefulness of the scale plugin - it's the one
thing that made me jealous of Mac users with their Exposé effect, and
I am extremely happy there is something comparable for Linux. It makes
finding the right window when you have ~15 open so much easier. The
ring switcher is also nice for similar reasons.
Most of the other effects are just eye candy though, with minor exceptions.
-- 
Jimmy Wu
Registered Linux User #454138
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