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#26 2008-11-10 18:54:58

Rasi
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From: Germany
Registered: 2007-08-14
Posts: 1,914
Website

Re: Who uses openbox without a panel? Can I pick your brain?

thayer wrote:

Because nobody else has mentioned it, I want to put in a good word for Openbox's built-in dock system.  The dock, a legacy tray-like feature, is built into most of the *box window managers. It swallows 'dockapps', of which there are dozens. Though most of these are very old school (http://dockapps.org/), there are still quite a few that look great with modern themes:

lal -- a simple and configurable clock
docker -- a system tray for tray icons and notifications
bbdock -- an icon-based application launcher (similar to the Windows XP quick launch)
bbpager -- a visual desktop pager which shows open client windows

All of these dockapps are visible in my screenshot below:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3277/290 … c517_m.jpg

The 'dock' has the added benefit of being native to Openbox (no extra software required) and much of its behaviour can be control via Obconf (yep, that's what that last tab is for!).  It truly is one of the *box's best kept secrets.

How have you managed to get bbpager like this? it doesnt use my dock (always starts in the lower right corner) and i cant move it at all


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#27 2008-11-10 20:36:14

thayer
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From: Vancouver, BC
Registered: 2007-05-20
Posts: 1,560
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Re: Who uses openbox without a panel? Can I pick your brain?

Rasi wrote:

How have you managed to get bbpager like this? it doesnt use my dock (always starts in the lower right corner) and i cant move it at all

I've posted the relevant stuff for everything in that screenshot here:

http://cinderwick.ca/files/configs/myDe … 0-openbox/


thayer williams ~ cinderwick.ca

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#28 2008-11-11 00:07:38

chilebiker
Member
From: Zurich, Switzerland
Registered: 2006-07-18
Posts: 161

Re: Who uses openbox without a panel? Can I pick your brain?

For me the ideal solution is fbpanel and its autohide function. Even though I mostly use keybindings to start programs, I like to have shortcuts in the panel. Together with the 1 pixel margin I have several ways to access my programs - it's all about choice, isn't it?


Don't panic!

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#29 2008-11-11 04:26:39

Intrepid
Member
Registered: 2008-06-11
Posts: 254

Re: Who uses openbox without a panel? Can I pick your brain?

These are all good choices.  I suggest using noteo to assist in notifications.  I set up notifications for Pidgin, and all of my notifications are translucent thanks to noteo.  As for a tray, well, trayer works well with openbox.  To see which windows are open, use the window list command or access it through the menu.  It provides much more informative than most panels.  You could also try using a dock like AWN or Kiba-dock.  Or use a small, fluxbox-like panel like bm-panel.  Then again, I switched from this interface to using Awesome, which by default loses window titlebars for a very visible task list and has a tray.

Last edited by Intrepid (2008-11-11 04:27:52)


Intrepid (adj.): Resolutely courageous; fearless.

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#30 2008-11-11 05:59:59

hk2717
Member
From: China
Registered: 2007-09-13
Posts: 217

Re: Who uses openbox without a panel? Can I pick your brain?

I think many of you are just talking about panels with or without a task (window) list.:/

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#31 2008-11-11 08:57:55

onearm
Member
From: Anywhere but here
Registered: 2006-07-06
Posts: 359
Website

Re: Who uses openbox without a panel? Can I pick your brain?

I've been using openbox without a panel for quite some time. Before I used pypanel, then tint and then visibility but I dropped them all. It's just easier to me to do win+${desk_number} to switch to that desktop (or with alt+scroll wheel to move for and backward).
Alt+tab is more than enough because I don't open that many windows on the same virtual desktop, 4-5 is the maximum I ever reached. And I never understood why people need a list of open windows in that desktop, or in all desktops, I do remember at all time what and how many windows I have opened.

For notifications, as the others have said, stalonetray or trayer are perfectly apt to do this job, the dock can stay in the lower-left or right corner of the screen where rarely there is something important that can't be covered.
For running apps there is the openbox menu, or binding gmrun to alt+f1 or binding those multimedia keys on the keyboard, if any, to the most used applications or, even, binding the most used applications to a couple of keys (I have alt+f for firefox, alt+m for my music player, alt+t for a terminal and that's all I really need).

Mostly what I miss about panels is when I had tint with just the list of windows and beside it there was a small conky one-liner that showed me temps and usage statistics of the system while now I have to switch to a clean desktop or hide all windows to see my conky but I can live with it.


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#32 2008-11-12 03:46:59

jcs
Member
Registered: 2008-10-08
Posts: 29

Re: Who uses openbox without a panel? Can I pick your brain?

Thanks for all the replies. I'm trying out 1px margins with key bindings for common programs. I am running the openbox dock containing only the docker systemtray in the bottom right corner (w/autohide). Seems like a setup that will work for me.

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#33 2009-09-15 17:08:28

cit30
Member
Registered: 2009-08-19
Posts: 24

Re: Who uses openbox without a panel? Can I pick your brain?

I often like to use openbox without any panel, and in that situation a simple Alt-v to shuffle my open windows is just fine. However, sometimes I want a panel to see the time, wicd status, volume applet, chat status, etc.

I don't like auto hiding panels because they tend to pop up at inappropriate times. My solution is to toggle the panel on and off, as needed, with Ctrl-s and Ctrl-a, respectively.

My keybindings look like this:

</keybind>
<keybind key="C-a">
  <action name="execute"><execute>pkill lxpanel</execute></action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="C-s">
  <action name="execute"><execute>lxpanel</execute></action>

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#34 2009-09-15 17:14:38

tomk
Forum Fellow
From: Ireland
Registered: 2004-07-21
Posts: 9,839

Re: Who uses openbox without a panel? Can I pick your brain?

cit30 - ancient thread. As per Forum Etiquette, please do not post in threads that have been inactive for six months or longer.

Closed.

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