Re: emacs for everything?

[Floyd L. Davidson]

Kai Grossjohann <kai@emptydomain.de> wrote:
>floyd@barrow.com (Floyd L. Davidson) writes:
>
>> After looking at that web page, I'll admit that I just don't see
>> much value in what it does compared to using the FvwmPager module
>> with simply a large number of virtual desktops.
>
>Hm.  This seems to be very difficult to answer, since desktops and
>tabbed windows are so different.
>
>Most of the time, my screen layout consists of a full-height window in
>the left hald of the screen and another full-height window in the
>right half.  In this setup, I could put an FvwmTabs window on the left
>and another FvwmTabs window on the right, and then I could put
>multiple xterms into each, and then I'd be able to choose which xterm
>to see on the left and which xterm to see on the right.
>
>This is not possible with virtual desktops.

As such yes, but what virtual desktops allow you to do is exactly
that several times.

If all of those xterms in both of those windows are used in one
project, then that is useful.

If the reason for having multiple xterms in each window is that
the xterms have different projects in them, then it is much more
versatile to put them into an entirely different virtual
desktop.

But back to where they are all one project...  In my case I
rarely ever just line two windows up one directly next to the other,
because I either end up with too few characters per line in each
window, or if the columns are wide enough I have to use a font
that is too small for me to read.  I just don't have the eyes to
do what you are doing.  At least not on a 17" monitor.  And my
entire style of usage has been developed on a 17" monitor.  Now
that I'm using a dual head video card and have two 17" monitors,
I am slowly getting used to doing things that way though, and
now, when it is handy, I'm stacking two nearly full screen windows
side by side.  (I'm also eyeballing 17" LCD screens that have more
viewing space... :-)

Probably because of the way I've been doing things, my habits
rarely ever end up with more than 4 or 5 windows open on one
desk top, and usually only 3.  I just offset them slightly, both
vertically and horizontally, so that it is easy to move the
mouse to a new one (and since I use focus-follows-mouse, that is
quick and easy).

I sounded to me as if you are stacking all of your various
projects into two windows, and then using the tabs to select
which project's windows are the two displayed.  I don't see that
as anything near as versatile as putting each set of windows
onto a virtual desktop.  And I need a larger window size anyway.

>> I didn't look into exactly how the tab system decides what label
>> to apply in each tab.  Hopefully it is something useful, though
>> in fact I have yet to see one that is for me.  I don't relate
>> short names (or icons) to what a program is being used for.  In
>> particular I may have several similar projects going, all of
>> which use some of the same programs.  Hence just a program name
>> is no clue at all to which tab I might be interested in.
>
>You could make one FvwmTabs window for each project.  Then you
>automatically know which project each program belongs to, since you
>know which tab it is in.

But then you can only look at one of them at a time.  I don't
line them up next to each other as such, but I sure to offset
them to be able to view some parts of different windows, and
sometimes I'm interested in looking at more than 2, or even 3.
And which ones I want visible at the same time varies too.  It's
just too restrictive if I can't move the various xterms or emacs
windows around in relation to each other.

>(That would be similar to placing the relevant windows on the same
>desktop.)

But it would be the same as using everything fullscreen on the
desktop too, and I've always found that too restricting too.

>> But aside from that aspect, the tab system is just too
>> restricted.  I don't want to switch between projects on the same
>> screen or worse yet the same window.
>
>Well, you get the tabs in addition to virtual desktops, so you only
>gain features, you don't lose any.

And that is *very* true.  Adding it certainly doesn't stop me
from doing exactly what I am now, it just adds one more way to
keep track of multiple windows on one desktop.  And without
trying it I really can't say just how useful it is.  Given the
significant differences in the style you use and the style I
use, some part of it that you haven't mentioned, because it just
doesn't do you any good at all, might happen to be useful to
me...  Hence I'm definitely going to give it a try and see what
develops.

Regardless of tabs though, I find the discussion of different
ways to approach screen management are very useful as a way to
develop new ideas.

-- 
Floyd L. Davidson           <http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)                         floyd@barrow.com