Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!ico!auto-trol!marbru From: marbru@auto-trol.UUCP (Martin Brunecky) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: Window Managers and Client Menus Message-ID: <296@auto-trol.UUCP> Date: 26 Sep 89 15:03:25 GMT References: <663@thor.wright.EDU> <654@thor.wright.EDU> <1839@bacchus.dec.com> <671@thor.wright.EDU> Reply-To: ncar!ico!auto-trol!marbru (Martin Brunecky) Organization: Auto-trol Technology, Denver Lines: 48 In article <671@thor.wright.EDU> adatta@odin.wright.edu (Amitava Datta) writes: >klee@gilroy.pa.dec.com (Ken Lee) writes .... > >But how will you get all clients to have the same kind of menus to pop >up regardless of which WM is being used? This is the primary goal. >Again, different clients will still use different kinds of menus >making the user interface non-uniform. > 1. To me, menus are just one, small part of the user interface. Though, even when you make this part 1000% uniform and "standard", the main goal - user interface consistency - is still miles away. >You can never force one ``common widget set'' on all clients and WMs. > 2. Yes. That would be stupid, and would kill any inovation and creativity. But we are at the beginning of the user interface evolution, which, in my opinion, will result in commonly accepted "feel" - such as a standard typewriter keyboard. The "look" does NOT matter that much to me... And what ever that "feel" is, it will be adopted by any toolkit that wants to survive. And I, as a user-interface programmer, will have the option to pick the toolkit which suits to my needs (such as ease of use, my favorite "look", performance, portability...) without having to worry about the "feel". > >The way I have it implemented now, client menus can be invoked even >without client intervention. Just specify the key or mouse button >binding that the client wishes to bind to a menu popup just as you > .......in short menus in WM are simple .... 3. Yeeeeh. As long as we talk few simplistic applications, everything is simple. When you go into applications with HUNDREDS of menu options (I happen to work on such), simlicity suddenly turns into a nightmare. You can not define everything statically. You must add dynamicsi - such as deffered sub-tree definitions. So while initially there was a limited overhead of setting up WM properties and addtional "menu selection" events going from WM to SERVER and then to the APPLICATION, in a real world we may end up with even unaccptable performnce degradation. > -- ############################################################################### Martin Brunecky, Auto-trol Technology Corporation, 12500 North Washington Street, Denver, CO-80241-2404 (303) 252-2499 ncar!ico!auto-trol!marbru