Muti-Desktop Icons-Bob?

[green_man]

Joe wrote, On 08/29/03 11:02 AM:

 > Peter,
 >       I have been sticking with kde so far because I got it to 
work
 > almost the way I wanted and so I haven't experimented with 
gnome much
 > yet.  What you describe sounds intriguing, but I don't really 
get it.
 > Can you elaborate or show some screen shots etc.?
 >       The main thing I don't like about kde is that when I open 
more
 > than 4 windows, the window area of the task bar piles up and I 
can't
 > see what's there without clicking on things.  I was hoping that
 > switching to another desktop would have an effect on this, but it
 > didn't.  Does what you're talking about have anything to do 
with this?
 >       Under Windows, I built a bunch of desktops for special 
purposes
 > just like Josh is talking about.  It was really cool and kept them
 > from getting impossibly cluttered with unrelated applications.  It
 > would be great to be able to do that in Linux.
 >
 > Joe
 >
 > Cyber Source wrote:
 >
 >> IMHO,
 >>   I think this is all just a matter of how we look at things, 
that is
 >> to say that after I have been working with Gnome for a while, 
a few
 >> things have become clear as to how intuitive this desktop is. For
 >> instance,
 >> 1. The multiple desktop window, or workspace switcher. I often
 >> wondered why Gnome did not include a show desktop button. If 
you use
 >> the workspace switcher for this, it works even better. As 
simple as
 >> that is and being so ingrained with the way windows worked, this
 >> never occurred to me to use it this way. I know with the Gnome 
that
 >> comes with RH9, they include a show desktop button but I think 
that
 >> was to appeal people that don't think this way. It still 
doesn't work
 >> as one would expect, yes it will minimize all open windows but 
when
 >> you open one again, they all open. I find this a strange way to
 >> behave but I think it falls in line with the way you should 
think of
 >> using the workspace switcher.
 >> 2. Bob has a good idea, a workspace for a given task, email, 
graphics
 >> stuff, etc. And Josh has a good idea with different icons on
 >> different workspaces. This is all thought of as being limited 
because
 >> the different workspaces cannot show respective icons, 
however, if we
 >> do not think of using the desktop icons as our only shortcuts, 
then
 >> we can bypass this limitation. The drawer icon that can be 
added to
 >> Gnome's panel, could be used in such a way, even renamed, or with
 >> different icons, etc. This way you could add many drawers with
 >> different names/icons for use with the different workspaces, even
 >> naming your workspaces and drawers the same to keep things simple.
 >>
 >> Just some thoughts.
 >> -- Cyber Source <peter at thecybersource.com
 >> <mailto:peter at thecybersource.com>>
 >>
 >>
[LARGE EDIT]

Quite a while ago, I set myself up as a separate user on my Mandrake
box, as a Gnome user, so I could compare KDE vs Gnome, and try to 
figure
out file permissions.
I found the drawers, and started playing :
  I had  a web browser drawer - Opera, Konqueror, Galeon, Mozilla, 
Netscape
I had an Email drawer - Kmail, Sylpheed, Mozilla Mail, Netscape Mail
I had a Media Player drawer, I had a Text Editor drawer, etc.

Gnomes drawers and panels are very configureable, and seemed to me 
to be
a very intuitive way to group tasks, especially since I was comparing
*everything* Linux Mandrake had to offer me. KDE's menus cascade
horizontally, windows-like. You can put a Gnome drawer where you 
want,
with more drawers inside, that cascade vertically or horizontally.  I
gave each type of drawer a different background tile color, so I 
didn't
even need to read the titles. I think one of the cornerstones of 
Linux
is the versatility and configureability - you truly can make it *MY
COMPUTER* - that's why I make my own icons and cursors. By all means,
test drive Gnome and experiment !


The only thing that threw me with Gnome is that apparently Ripsaw 
uses
?Galeon, I think? to drive all the desktops, and I remember having 
some
problems with that .
Gnome under a different  window manager may very well behave
differently, and I'm going to have to give that a whirl sometime.

-- 
The sole purpose of my life is, apparently, to test my sanity.

Scott
Netscape 7.0 on Win 98 SE