Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mailrus!ncar!bierstat.scd.ucar.edu!morreale From: morreale@bierstadt.scd.ucar.edu (Peter Morreale) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: Help w/ resources, maybe what I want in R5... Message-ID: <7822@ncar.ucar.edu> Date: 28 Jun 90 20:55:20 GMT References: Sender: news@ncar.ucar.edu Reply-To: morreale@bierstadt.scd.ucar.edu (Peter Morreale) Organization: Scientific Computing Division / NCAR, Boulder CO Lines: 64 In article , warsaw@cme.nist.gov (Barry A. Warsaw) writes: |> |> I have some questions about using resources to specify the |> "personality" of my Athena based applications. If the answer to my [stuff deleted] |> xpostit as a special case. The only way to get xpostit to conform to |> my personal "Look" policy is to have this setting in my Xdefaults |> file: |> |> Xpostit*Command.Font: helvetica.b.12 |> |> For this limited example it may not seem like much, but it can get to |> be a big hassle with a large number of resources and/or applications, |> especially considering that I'm forced to check out each application's |> app-defaults file for those resource settings which might override my |> general ones. |> [stuff deleted] I alsos see this as a *huge* problem. And based on my understanding of setting resources (admittedly not complete) there isn't a *simple* way to overcome this either. Most of the users I consult with are more interested in getting their science done instead of learning a new "programming language" simply to obtain a more pleasant environment. There is a huge learning curve involved with X. The current resource setting scheme only adds to the learning curve. The end result is too often the user simply "putting up" with their current environment. My own .Xresources file contains 868 lines of "code". (And I have literally given up on several applications that I use *hourly*) The suggestion I offered (directly) to MIT was the construction of an interface to set resources for a particular client. I don't know if this is even feasible, but sumpthin which could "read" an X client and offer a graceful interface to the user for setting that client's resources. Perhaps it is time for an extension to resource handling. I suspect whatever is drawn up would impose limitations, but the "old" programmatic methodology could also exist... It seems like a logical progression to me. There seems to be a wide collection of useful clients (both MIT and contrib). It now seems like a prime time to provide a mechanism which allows *easy*, though perhaps limited, customization. Any thoughts X gurus? -PWM ------------------------------------------------------------------ Peter W. Morreale email: morreale@ncar.ucar.edu Nat'l Center for Atmos Research voice: (303) 497-1293 Scientific Computing Division Consulting Office ------------------------------------------------------------------