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saikobee

Member

From: Oregon

Registered: 2008-05-30

Posts: 6

Website

New window manager (with prototype!) [wmii-like] --- looking for help

I have a prototype for a new window manager in the style of wmii. It is called
cakewm. I currently have a prototype version implemented in pygame, and would
like help moving this to use X---making it a real window manager.

Disclaimer: I have a very limited knowledge of X11 and window manager
development. The most I've done is add a couple new features to wmfs.

To get the code
> git clone git://github.com/saikobee/cakewm.git

Then run main.py. cakewm depends on pygame.

Upon running, press Alt-Enter to fullscreen cakewm and intercept keybinds, or
Alt-Space to just intercept keybinds.  Press Alt-Esc to quit. The window
manager related keybinds are listed in the file binds.conf.

Config note: <WSCA-x> means Windows-Shift-Control-Alt-x

Implementation note: pypixel.py is a large and mostly useless dependency. I
forked a library I made previously rather than coding straight in pygame.

cakewm's goals are to be similar to wmii, but with more functionality, easier
configurability, and saner defaults.

- cakewm is fully functional using the keyboard. Mouse support can come later.
- cakewm provides 9 workspaces per monitor.
- cakewm manages each workspace as a group of columns. Each column is like a
  wmii default split, except each window can have other windows "stacked" on
  top of or behind it.
- cakewm manages column sizes (and window sizes within columns) using a
  master/slave paradigm, with the ability to adjust the size ratios.
- cakewm's configuration file is simple key=val pairs, with the ability to
  include other files like in C.
- cakewm has a slightly larger emphasis on window decorations (adjustable
  size---even in tiled mode) and themes (nothing bloated, like pixmaps or
  gradients---it's all still simple colors).
- cakewm will have proper support for international text (Japanese text in
  window titles or the wmii status bar generally render as boxes) through the
  use of a more advanced text library such as Pango.

Please let me know if you have comments, questions, or concerns. If you are
interested in helping, get in touch with me. If you know somewhere better to
look for volunteers, please let me know.