What are windows good for? (not the OS, the GUI elements!)

[Wolki]

After opening a Firefox, Nautilus, Open Office or [insert any other application] window I instinctively maximize it to emulate full screen and would perfer real full screen. But with the panels still visible. So just removing the titlebar and borders around the window and making maximized default would do the trick. It just seems like a waste of screen space and occationally uneccessary scrolling to not use the whole screen.

OK Kvark, i played around a little. here's how to do it in Gnome:

1) Install devilspie from synaptic
2) Save the following as ~/.devilspie.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE devilspie SYSTEM "devilspie.dtd">
<devilspie>
  <flurb>
    <matchers>
      <matcher name="DevilsPieMatcherWindowName">
        <property name="window-title" value=".*"/>
      </matcher>
    </matchers>
    <actions>
      <action name="DevilsPieActionResize">
        <property name="maximized" value="TRUE"/>
      </action>
    </actions>
  </flurb>
  
  <flurb>
    <matchers>
      <matcher name="DevilsPieMatcherWindowName">
        <property name="window-title" value=".*"/>
      </matcher>
    </matchers>
    <actions>
      <action name="DevilsPieActionDecorate">
        <property name="decorated" value="FALSE"/>
      </action>
    </actions>
  </flurb>
</devilspie>

4) Start devilspie with Alt-F2 or Terminal
3) Add devilspie to your Session startup if you like it.

It will automatically maximize all your windows (except dialogs) and display them without title bar or borders.

[drizek]

i have 1400x1050 on a 19" and i hardly ever maximize a window.

[Kvark]

OK Kvark, i played around a little. here's how to do it in Gnome:

...instructions...

It will automatically maximize all your windows (except dialogs) and display them without title bar or borders.

Tried it on a pretty standard Hoary setup. It doesn't work and says this when a window is opened:

(devilspie:13917): Wnck-WARNING **: Received a timestamp of 0; window activation may not function properly.

fullscreen
devilspie: relocation error: devilspie: undefined symbol: _wnck_atom_get

[Wolki]

Tried it on a pretty standard Hoary setup. It doesn't work and says this when a window is opened:

(devilspie:13917): Wnck-WARNING **: Received a timestamp of 0; window activation may not function properly.

fullscreen
devilspie: relocation error: devilspie: undefined symbol: _wnck_atom_get

Hm... don't know what's wrong and I'm currently a little low on time... Maybe it has to do with the new version in Breezy? Can someone else using breezy check if this works?

I'll take a closer look at it tomorrow.

[GeneralZod]

I have a 17" 1600x1200 setup and maximise almost every app I use - it's simply never really occurred to me to do otherwise Amazing how different people can be!

[John Nilsson]

For a non overlaping WM I have grown quite fond of ION. The only problem is that it takes some configuration and usage time before it becomes comforatble.

I have noticed that my productivity is at a peak when I work in ION compared to when I work in GNOME.

Another project I havn't given the time to learn is WMI. It seems like an improvment upon ION... I shall give it another try. =)

I agree with the OP that windows can't be that good. Would tabbed browsing ever been so popular if windows was so good? Take a look at an IDE like Eclipe. There isn't an overlapping windows in sight. Instead panes are the container of choice...

On another note, I recently got a WUXGA monitor. It's the first time I've been confotable with non maximized windows. Actually maximized windows just feels silly now. To be able to DnD between an open window and the desktop is quite nice. I wonder how I would implement that in a paned environment like Eclipse...

[doclivingston]

I tend to use maximised windows for most things on Linux, because I usually have one application per workspace. On other OSs I don't use maximised windows, especially on a Mac.

[poofyhairguy]

Ever played with ION?

http://modeemi.cs.tut.fi/~tuomov/ion/

[Lux Perpetua]

You seem to be looking for something like ION or wmii. I emphasize "something like" because I can't recommend those window managers on their merits (yet?). Their concept is right, but neither has really addressed the problem of usability. The idea is that the user shouldn't have to waste time managing windows, but with those, I usually end up spending even more time messing around with the 'windows' (largely due to lack of good documentation, which is essential for a keyboard-based interface). Give them a try anyway, though; YMMV.

[UbuWu]

You might be interested in Exigo