WindowLab

Article summary

7 Linux WindowLab is an X window manager for Unix-like systems. It is based on aewm and retains that window manager's lightweight aesthetic. In many aspects, WindowLab has looked to the Amiga's user interface for inspiration without cloning it completely. Its top-level menu bar is accessed by a right click as on the Amiga and it follows Fitts's law of usability in that once the mouse enters the menu area it is constrained there in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Unlike on the Amiga, the menu bar is not controlled by applications; it is a global launcher menu which is populated by a dot file in the user's home directory containing a list of menu titles and commands. WindowLab follows a click-to-focus but not raise-on-focus policy - when a window is clicked it gets focus, but it is not redrawn to obscure other windows. This allows one, for example, to switch to a terminal to enter commands while keeping documentation visible in a web browser. A compositing window manager will allow this also, with a transparent terminal layered above the browser window, but WindowLab's solution is far less demanding of system resources.…

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