Some thoughts on xfce4 design

[Mickael Graf]

Hi Jeppe

some thoughts are below:

Jasper Huijsmans wrote:
> * move handles
> Place move handles on the side of the panel (left/right or top/bottom)
> and no longer in line with the popup buttons. This make a lot of code
> simpler, since there is no more special casing for the handles.
I do agree totally, from the UI point of view: it's more CDE-like ;-)
The good thing is you have one place to point and click for pulling a 
menu, and clearly another one for moving the panel.

> 
> * panel objects
> Let every panel object use the same interface (everything becomes a
> module, either builtin or external plugin). Then have only one list of
> panel items/objects/modules (I still have problems finding the right
> word to use). Panel objects can specify if they need a popup button or
> not.
> 
> This must be seen separate from the user interface issues with the
> dialogs. We can still keep the distinction between right and left
> panel controls and the central panel. New items are then inserted before
> or after the central panel in the list. 
It think you can change this concept from right and left to another one. 
It implies few changes in xfce4rc.The main reason for this is
when the panel is vertical, right and left don't make sense anymore, but 
top and bottom. Maybe we can use a concept a` la "subpanel" (see below).

> There are some complications if we allow an item without a popup menu to
> replace one without. The user would then lose the menu. I think it
> might be wiser to only allow special builtin objects like the central
> panel or a separator (I really like that feature from Eugenia's 
> screenshot) to not have a popup menu. 
Only the cantral panel can't have a popup, the separator could be just 
the border of a subpanel. All the other items can have one, I don't see 
it as a problem.

> For instance, I really don't know how to implement separators in the
> user interface. Perhaps a separate tab in the global dialog with a list
> of separators. The user could then add or remove separators at a certain
> position.
Or why not letting user defining several subpanels, and xfce4 build a 
separator (as a border) between them. For trying to be more explicit, 
here a sample of how xfce4rc could look like:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Xfce>
   <Panel blabla="blabla">
     <Position blabla="blabla">
   </Panel>
   <Subpanel>
     <Group>
       <Popup>
         ...
       </Popup>
       <Control ...>
         ...
       </Control>
     </Group>
       ...
     <Group>
       <Popup>
         ...
       </Popup>
       <Control ...>
         ...
       </Control>
     </Group>
   </Subpanel>
   <Central>
     <Screen>1</Screen>
     ...
     <Screen>12</Screen>
   </Central>
   <Subpanel>
     <Group>
       <Popup>
         ...
       </Popup>
       <Control ...>
         ...
       </Control>
     </Group>
       ...
     <Group>
       <Popup>
         ...
       </Popup>
       <Control ...>
         ...
       </Control>
     </Group>
   </Subpanel>
   <Subpanel>
     <Group>
       <Popup>
         ...
       </Popup>
       <Control ...>
         ...
       </Control>
     </Group>
       ...
     <Group>
       <Popup>
         ...
       </Popup>
       <Control ...>
         ...
       </Control>
     </Group>
   </Subpanel>
</Xfce>

Here you have one subpanel on the left (or top), the central part, and 
then one subpanel, a separator, and another subpanel. It's how I see the 
things, but it's maybe too much pain in the ass for programming it.

Mickae"l
-- 
+-----------------------------+
|Mickae"l Graf|mgf at bredband.net|
+------------+----------------+
|http://korbinus.fr.st        |
+-----------------------------+