[sugar] frame gets in the way when alt-tabbing

Mikus Grinbergs mikus at bga.com
Mon Sep 22 16:58:21 EDT 2008


>> One of the first things I did upon getting my G1G1 was to go into
>> one of the .py files and __NOOP__ the "autoraising" of the Frame.
>> That gave me Sugar screen behavior that was under *my* control.
>> Now, Sugar has again started to interfere with what I am doing --
>> by raising the Frame when I alt-tab.  I HATE THAT!  I HATE THAT!
>
> I think the idea is to use the frame to show you which windows you can
> alt+tab between, such as is done in Gnome or other WMs.

The way I work appears to be completely different.  On Gnome I keep 
maybe a dozen virtual desktops open, and don't populate any of them 
with more than two "work windows".  That allows me to reference a 
mental image of "what's where" -- and I just switch workplaces, 
instead of attempting to use alt-tab.


The Sugar environment is more limited.  I have learned through 
experience NOT to keep a large number of activities open.  [The RAM 
limitation is severe, even when I am at home and can use a hard-disk 
swap partition with my XO.]  So I have NO NEED to be shown "which 
windows I can alt+tab between" -- ideally, I should be able to do 
the actual alt-tab in LESS time than it would take me to bring up 
the Frame and interpret what it shows.


Yes, I object to having the Frame slow down alt-tab.  But that which 
really puts me off is having the Frame change the visual appearance 
of what I am working with.  [If I *need* the Frame for anything, I 
will switch my attention to it -- but if all I am doing is going to 
a new screen in order to continue with my line of thought, I DO NOT 
WANT any distractions to interfere (such as having the Frame obtrude 
onto the screen).]  It is not having control over "what the screen 
is being used for" that I hate.


My point is that typically there are so few "windows" that the user 
can easily perform repetitive alt-tab, and stop when he sees (on the 
WHOLE screen) where he wants to be.  [Since there is a key dedicated 
to bringing up Journal when needed, I sometimes patch homemodel.py 
to not even show Journal during alt-tabbing.]


mikus




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