classic (early 1990s) XFCE program groups?

[David Chmelik]

XFCE web-forum says ( http://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=15965 ) one 
can use yad to restore early_1990s-style program groups (similar to 
Windows 3 (win3) which similar is Common Desktop Environment (CDE) which 
XFCE was influenced by or said to have cloned it on GNU/Linux in '90s).

I partly got it working, for example with the following script, running 
'xfce_group System' opens XFCE's System menu in win3/CDE group style 
(window with icons you see all larger and even can open multiple groups).

#!/bin/bash
#xfce_group
[[ $1 == "" ]] && exit 1
CAT=$1
mkdir -p /tmp/Programs/$CAT
for f in $(fgrep -ri $CAT /usr/share/applications/ | awk -F':' '{print 
$1}' | uniq)
do
  cp $f /tmp/Programs/$CAT
done && yad --title $CAT --window-icon gtk-edit --width 500 --height 400 
--no-buttons --icons --icon-size 32 --read-dir /tmp/Programs/$CAT

I tried to extend to program group of groups opening to more windows with 
the following, as suggested, but just get blank window.

#!/bin/bash
#program_manager
yad --title "program manager" --window-icon gtk-edit --width 500 --height 
400 --no-buttons --icons --read-dir ~/.Desktop/program_manager

I also tried '--icon-size 32'.  Here's a typical file in that directory/
folder (this one named 'system').

[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_US]=
Comment=
Exec=xfce_group System
GenericName[en_US]=
GenericName=
Icon=/usr/share/icons/AdwaitaLegacy/32x32/legacy/applications-system.png
MimeType=
Name[en_US]=system
Name=system
Path=
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application

What did I do wrong, or is this still possible?

I've always hated win95/98/ME start (applications) menu and all newer  
options because can no longer see all groups simultaneously graphically, 
and smaller area takes much larger amount of mouse accuracy/precision I 
have to move it farther and regularly (to this day) multiple times slip 
out of menus or onto wrong entries (also in set position rather than 
moveable to see while doing other things); had most productivity on win3  
desktop PC '94 to '97.

I've mostly used *BSD UNIX & Slackware GNU/Linux since 1997, and briefly 
tried (Open)Solaris/Illumos UNIX, (Open)SUSE, Debian, RedHat (always 
disliked GNOME), Gentoo, Kubuntu/Neon, Mint GNU/Linuxes, but only  
systemd-based for family after sibling put Kubuntu on laptop so our 
parents switched... wouldn't be able to stand it on my PC, and became 
administration hassle, so now they use Devuan.  We'll likely use Gentoo.

I used TWM into early '0s, and then KDE3/TDE, but dislike KDE Plasma. so 
since that debacle/fiasco, my family uses XFCE on laptops (older) and I 
switched on workstation PC in early '20s, and we all switched last couple 
years.  I like how FVWM*, Enlightenment, etc. look and what they can do 
(window managers (WM) almost as powerful as desktop environments (DE)) 
but 
they seem to need too much configuration to do less than XFCE with less 
configuration; most efficient (fast, versatile) on our (even some from 
2013) desktops with sole minor exception of exiting X: takes maybe 30+  
seconds in comparison/contrast to TWM instant... should just drop to 
terminal and close the rest in backgroupd, but I'd guess not doable/
practical and I've gotten kind of off-topic.  This was just a little 
about 
me like what OS & GUIs I've used also with XFCE and why I like it or 
liked 
others that are/were similar in ways.

It's nice even if using most workstation's cores such as number-crunching 
(BOINC.Berkeley.edu for science, or cryptocurrency) I can still run XFCE 
for a file manager or text editor or to check messages with virtually no 
slowdown, like alternatively using TWM when KDE became too slow... for 
what I do (few GUI effects, no animations) I notice maybe no speed 
difference between minimalist TWM, XFCE.  Thanks for making excellent DE!