Fluxbox 1.1.0 has been released. "Fluxbox is a windowmanager for X that was based on the Blackbox 0.61.1 code. It is very light on resources and easy to handle but yet full of features to make an easy, and extremely fast, desktop experience. It is built using C++ and licensed under the MIT-License." There's no official release announcement yet, but the code is on Sourceforge, as well as the release notes.
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Member since:2006-01-02
Member since:2005-07-08
'nuff said.
Not sure what the "Wall" is (Vista feature?) but exposé, although very pretty, isn't usable. You cannot rely on muscle memory to find a window; you have to visually identify the window. Windows change size and position and are rarely in the same place all the time, every time. Same with the dock since it changes size.
A lot of people think that "eye candy" is only to look good. Although it does look good I disagree that it has no functional value. Drop shadows help to differentiate windows and help people mentally break the limited space on your monitor apart into individual tasks or applications. The same goes for fading in and out as that can help you spot windows as they open and close, often something that can lead to confusion when things just "disappear".
Although it's kind of awkward at first "virtual desktops" are a key feature of any OS for me. The "Cube" visualization/metaphor helps here but for new users or people who simply don't multi-task it isn't really useful which I think is something has kept Apple and Microsoft from implementing itâuntil Apple did in Leopard anyway. This is a big deal to me with all the *nix window managers that I love. When you've got two monitors filled with windows for graphics applications, sound editors/mastering applications or anything else it's nice to be able to separate tasks or like-applications into different desktops. Keeps things clean and easy to work with.
Member since:2006-05-28
There is also the 3d cube effect:
http://desk3d.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php
It is a bit slow on my laptop
Member since:
2005-07-06
Any hope for Fluxbox supporting basic compositing stuff (at least wall-like and expose-like plugins)?
I know it goes a bit against the minimalism of the WM, but I loved Fluxbox a lot, and having it working with some *simple and useful* compositing would be killer stuff for me.