WindowLab is an

X window manager An X window manager is a window manager that runs on top of the X Window System, a windowing system mainly used on Unix-like systems. Unlike MacOS Classic, macOS, and Microsoft Windows platforms (excepting Microsoft Windows explorer.exe shel ...

for

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...

systems. It is based on aewm and retains that window manager's lightweight aesthetic. In many aspects, WindowLab has looked to the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

's user interface for inspiration without cloning it completely. Its top-level

menu bar A menu bar is a graphical control element which contains drop-down menus. The menu bar's purpose is to supply a common housing for window- or application-specific menus which provide access to such functions as opening files, interacting wi ...

is accessed by a right click as on the Amiga and it follows

Fitts's law Fitts's law (often cited as Fitts' law) is a predictive model of human movement primarily used in human–computer interaction and ergonomics. The law predicts that the time required to rapidly move to a target area is a function of the ratio betw ...

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 computing, a hidden folder (sometimes hidden directory) or hidden file is a folder or file which filesystem utilities do not display by default when showing a directory listing. They are commonly used for storing user preferences or preservi ...

in the user's

home directory A home directory is a file system directory on a multi-user operating system containing files for a given user of the system. The specifics of the home directory (such as its name and location) are defined by the operating system involved; for ...

containing a list of menu titles and commands. WindowLab follows a

click-to-focus In computing, focus indicates the act of selecting an element of a graphical user interface. Text entered at the keyboard or pasted from a clipboard is sent to the component which has the focus. Moving the focus away from a specific user interface ...

but not

raise-on-focus In computing, focus indicates the act of selecting an element of a graphical user interface. Text entered at the keyboard or pasted from a clipboard is sent to the component which has the focus. Moving the focus away from a specific user interface ...

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 A compositing window manager, or compositor, is a window manager that provides applications with an off-screen data buffer, buffer for each window. The window manager Compositing, composites the window buffers into an image representing the screen ...

will allow this also, with a transparent terminal layered above the browser window, but WindowLab's solution is far less demanding of system resources. A window can be brought to the front in a number of ways; by clicking on a window's title in the taskbar, clicking on the center title bar widget, by cycling through windows with the

Alt+Tab Alt or ALT may refer to: Abbreviations for words * Alt account, an alternative online identity also known as a sock puppet account * Alternate character, in online gaming * Alternate route, type of highway designation * Alternating group, mathema ...

key combination, or by double clicking anywhere in the title bar. Open windows may also be cycled by clicking & dragging across the tiles in the taskbar area. The developer states that many users find this faster than

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

Exposé Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to: News sources * Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism * '' The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website Film and TV Film * ''Exposé'' (film), a 1976 thriller film * ''Exposed'' (1932 ...

feature. An unusual trait of WindowLab is that a window's entire title bar is constrained to the screen; a window can't be partially dragged out of the display area except toward the screen bottom. This keeps the title bar widgets always accessible, and also mimics the Amiga's sliding "screens" functionality. A window may be resized from any edge by holding down the alt key and dragging from either the window's interior (to enlarge) or exterior (to shrink). WindowLab has simplified task switching and app launching and no clock/calendar, status indicators or theming engine (although fonts and colors can be changed via command line options).

References

External links

*
WindowLab on Archlinux's wikiWindowLab on Ubuntu's wiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windowlab Free X window managers

See also

References

Further reading

External links