[ale] Window Managers for X

[Ken Cochran]

Hi, this thread on window managers has me wondering too...
Right now I'm running fvwm95 but I'd like to change to something
else more up-to-date.  I've looked at the likes of window-maker,
fvwm2 and icewm.

What I like about what I have (fvwm95 v2.0.43a):

- There's a taskbar, analogous to that in MSwin.

- It shows me the pixel positions & sizes of windows if I
  left-click (button 1?) on a title bar (window position) or
  border/corner (window size).

- There is an xload window in what appears to be analogous to
  OSX's Dock, among other things there.

What I don't like about it:

- It seems rather "long in the tooth" & I'm *sure* there has to
  be Something Better nowadays.

- The taskbar is shared among all desktops.  I'd like for each
  desktop to have its own taskbar.

- I can't find any documentation about how to configure it.  For
  that matter, neither can I find documentation on how to configure
  any other window manager.  :(  How about even a glossary of terms?

What I'm looking for:

- Widely available, maintaned & supported/supportable and
  *documented*.  (So far *everything* I've looked at falls flat on
  its face wrt documentation.  Am I asking too much for some docs?)

- Not so "big" - e.g. light on resource utilization; a "desktop
  environment" such as GNOME, KDE, or even XFCE is probably
  overkill.  (But KDE looks pretty good, hmmm...  Khtml browser
  support would be nice.)

- Ability to display the sizes & positions of windows, etc.  (See
  2nd point, above.)

- Multiple desktops, with a taskbar that goes with each desktop

- Familiarity, e.g. can be made to look & work reasonably similar
  to MSWin or OSX/Aqua (especially Aqua :).

- and of course the "usual" niceties like lack of clutter &
  "usability" (whatever passes for these things nowadays I guess...)

The site http://www.xwinman.org/ is some (but not enough) help,
nice resource though.  Maybe I'm just asking for too much {sigh}.

-kc