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<HTML
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>Non-ICCCM features</TITLE
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><H1
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><A
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NAME="AEN24"
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>2. Non-ICCCM features</A
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></H1
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><P
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>There is a number of window management features or behaviours which are
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not specified in the ICCCM, but are commonly met in modern Window Managers and Desktop Environments.</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN27"
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>2.1. Additional States</A
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></H2
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><P
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>The ICCCM allows Window Managers to implement additional window states, which will
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appear to clients as substates of NormalState and IconicState. Two
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commonly met examples are Maximized and Shaded. A Window Manager may implement these
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as proper substates of NormalState and IconicState, or it may treat them
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as independent flags, allowing e.g. a maximized window to be iconified
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and to re-appear as maximized upon de-iconification.</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><H3
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><A
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NAME="AEN30"
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>2.1.1. Maximization</A
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></H3
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><P
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>Maximization is a very old feature of Window Managers. There was even a ZoomedState
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in early ICCCM drafts. Maximizing a window should give it as much of the
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screen area as possible (this may not be the full screen area, but only
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a smaller 'workarea', since the Window Manager may have reserved certain areas for other
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windows). A Window Manager is expected to remember the geometry of a maximized window
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and restore it upon de-maximization. Modern Window Managers typically allow separate
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horizontal and vertical maximization.</P
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><P
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>With the introduction of the Xinerama extension in X11 R6.4, maximization
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has become more involved. Xinerama allows a screen to span multiple
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monitors in a freely configurable geometry. In such a setting, maximizing
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a window would ideally not grow it to fill the whole screen, but only the
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monitor it is shown on. There are of course borderline cases for windows
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crossing monitor boundaries, and 'real' maximization to the full screen may
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sometimes be useful.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><H3
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><A
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NAME="AEN34"
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>2.1.2. Shading</A
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></H3
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><P
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>Some Desktop Environments offer shading (also known as rollup) as an alternative to
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iconfication. A shaded window typically shows only the titlebar, the client
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window is hidden, thus shading is not useful for windows which are not
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decorated with a titlebar.</P
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN37"
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>2.2. Modality</A
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></H2
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><P
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>The Window Manager _TRANSIENT_FOR hint of the ICCCM allows clients to specify that a
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toplevel window may be closed before the client finishes. A typical example
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of a transient window is a dialog. Some dialogs can be open for a long time,
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while the user continues to work in the main window. Other dialogs have to be
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closed before the user can continue to work in the main window. This property
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is called modality. While clients can implement modal windows in an ICCCM
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compliant way using the globally active input model, some Window Managers offer support
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for handling modality.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="LARGEDESKS"
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>2.3. Large Desktops</A
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></H2
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><P
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>The Window Manager may offer to arrange the managed windows on a desktop that is
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larger than the root window. The screen functions as a viewport on this large
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desktop. Different policies regarding the positioning of the viewport on the
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desktop can be implemented: The Window Manager may only allow to change the viewport
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position in increments of the screen size (paging) or it may allow arbitrary
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positions (scrolling).</P
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><P
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>To fulfill the ICCCM principle that clients should behave the same
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regardless wether a Window Manager is running or not, Window Managers which
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implement large desktops must interpret all client-provided geometries with
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respect to the current viewport.</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><H3
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><A
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NAME="LARGEDESKSIMPL"
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>2.3.1. Implementation note</A
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></H3
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><P
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>There are two options for implementing a large desktop: The first is to
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keep the managed windows (or, if reparenting, their frames) as children
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of the root window. Moving the viewport is achieved by moving all managed
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windows in the opposite direction.</P
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><P
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>The second alternative is to reparent all managed windows to a dedicated
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large window (somewhat inappropriately called a 'virtual root'). Moving
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the viewport is then achieved by moving the virtual root in the opposite
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direction.</P
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><P
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>Both alternatives are completely ICCCM compliant, although the second one
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may be somewhat problematic for clients trying to figure out the Window Manager decorations
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around their toplevel windows and for clients trying to draw background
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images on the root window.</P
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN49"
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>2.4. Sticky windows</A
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></H2
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><P
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>A Window Manager which implements a large desktop typically offers a way for the user
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to make certain windows 'stick to the glass', i.e. these windows will stay
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at the same position on the screen when the viewport is moved.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN52"
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>2.5. Virtual Desktops</A
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></H2
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><P
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>Most X servers have only a single screen. The Window Manager may virtualize this
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resource and offer multiple so-called 'virtual desktops', of which only one
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can be shown on the screen at a time. There is some variation among the
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features of virtual desktop implementations. There may be a fixed number
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of desktops, or new ones may be created dynamically. The size of the desktops
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may be fixed or variable. If the desktops are larger than the root window,
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their viewports (see <A
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HREF="x24.html#LARGEDESKS"
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>Section 2.3</A
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>) may be independent or forced to be at the same
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position.</P
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><P
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>A Window Manager which implements virtual desktops generally offers a way for the user
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to move clients between desktops. Clients may be allowed to occupy more than
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one desktop simultaneously.</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><H3
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CLASS="SECT3"
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><A
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NAME="AEN57"
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>2.5.1. Implementation note</A
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></H3
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><P
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>There are at least two options for implementing virtual desktops.
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The first is to use multiple virtual roots (see <A
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HREF="x24.html#LARGEDESKSIMPL"
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>Section 2.3.1</A
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>) and change the current
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desktop by manipulating the stacking order of the virtual roots. This is
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completely ICCCM compliant, but has the issues outlined in <A
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HREF="x24.html#LARGEDESKSIMPL"
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>Section 2.3.1</A
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></P
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><P
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>The second option is to keep all managed windows as children of the root
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window and unmap the frames of those which are not on the current
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desktop. Unmapped windows should be placed in IconicState, according to
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the ICCCM. Windows which are actually iconified or minimized
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should have the _NET_WM_STATE_HIDDEN property set, to
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communicate to Pagers that the window should not be represented as
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"onscreen."</P
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN63"
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>2.6. Pagers</A
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></H2
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><P
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>A pager offers a different UI for window management tasks. It shows a
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miniature view of the desktop(s) representing managed windows by small
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rectangles and allows the user to initiate various Window Manager actions by manipulating
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these representations. Typically offered actions are activation (see <A
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HREF="x24.html#ACTIVATION"
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>Section 2.8</A
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>),
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moving, restacking, iconification, maximization and closing. On a large
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desktop, the pager may offer a way to move the viewport. On virtual desktops,
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the pager may offer ways to move windows between desktops and to change the
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current desktop.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN67"
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>2.7. Taskbars</A
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></H2
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><P
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>A taskbar offers another UI for window management tasks. It typically
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represents client windows as a list of buttons labelled with the window
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titles and possibly icons. Pressing a button initiates a Window Manager action on the
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represented window, typical actions being activation and iconification.
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In environments with a taskbar, icons are often considered inappropriate,
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since the iconified windows are already represented in the taskbar.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="ACTIVATION"
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>2.8. Activation</A
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></H2
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><P
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>In the X world, activating a window means to give it the input focus.
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This may not be possible if the window is unmapped, because it is on a
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different desktop. Thus, activating a window may involve additional steps
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like moving it to the current desktop (or changing to the desktop the window
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is on), deiconifying it or raising it.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN73"
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>2.9. Animated iconification</A
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></H2
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><P
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>Some Window Managers display some form of animation when (de-)iconifying a window.
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This may be a line drawing connecting the corners of the window with
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the corners of the icon or the window may be opaquely moved and resized
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on some trajectory joining the window location and the icon location.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN76"
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>2.10. Window-in-window MDI</A
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></H2
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><P
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>Window-in-window MDI is a multiple document interface known from MS
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Windows platforms. Programs employing it have a single top-level window
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which contains a workspace which contains the subwindows for the open
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documents. These subwindows are decorated with Window Manager frames and can be
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manipulated within their parent window just like ordinary top-level
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windows on the root window.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN79"
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>2.11. Layered stacking order</A
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></H2
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><P
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>Some Window Managers keep the toplevel windows not in a single linear stack,
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but subdivide the stack into several layers. There is a lot of variation
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among the features of layered stacking order implementations. The number of
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layers may or may not be fixed. The layer of a toplevel window may be explicit
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and directly modifyable or derived from other properties of the window, e.g.
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the <SPAN
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CLASS="emphasis"
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><I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>type</I
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></SPAN
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> of the window. The stacking order may or may not
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be strict, i.e. not allow the user to raise or lower windows beyond their
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layer.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN83"
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>2.12. Scope of this spec</A
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></H2
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><P
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>This spec tries to address the following issues:</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>Allow clients to influence their initial state with respect
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to maximization, shading, stickyness, desktop, stacking order.</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Improve the Window Managers ability to vary window
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decorations and maintain the stacking order by allowing clients to hint the
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Window Manager about the type of their windows.</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Enable pagers and taskbars to be implemented as separate
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clients and allow them to work with any compliant Window Manager.</P
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></LI
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></UL
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><P
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>This spec doesn't cover any of the following:</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>Other IPC mechanisms like ICE or Corba.</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Window Manager configuration.</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Window Manager documentation.</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Clients appearing on a proper subset of desktops.</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Window-in-window MDI.</P
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></LI
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></UL
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><P
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>The Window Manager is supposed to be in charge of window management
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policy, so that there is consistent behaviour on the user's screen no matter
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who wrote the clients.</P
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><P
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>The spec offers a lot of external control about Window Manager actions.
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This is intended mainly to allow pagers, taskbars and similar Window Manager
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UIs to be implemented as separate clients. "Ordinary" clients shouldn't use
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these except maybe in response to a direct user request (i.e. setting a
|
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config option to start maximized or specifying a -desk n cmdline
|
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argument).</P
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