Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!apple!bionet!arisia!roo!janssen From: janssen@parc.xerox.com (Bill Janssen) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: virtual roots Message-ID: Date: 13 Dec 90 02:27:12 GMT References: Sender: news@parc.xerox.com Distribution: comp Organization: Xerox PARC, Palo Alto, CA Lines: 29 In-reply-to: toml@ninja.Solbourne.COM's message of 12 Dec 90 20:36:03 GMT In article toml@ninja.Solbourne.COM (Tom LaStrange) writes: [...] I have proposed something a little different. A WM_ROOT property on each top-level window indicating its "root" window. This would allow you to have multiple virtual roots. Each virtual root could then be reparented, iconified, moved etc. [...] This apporach would almost give you rooms capabilities. What is doesn't provide is sharing windows among virtual desktops. Actually, I thought about this when I did Rooms for X, and it turned out that things went *better* without the mechanism, just using the real root window, but unmapping and re-mapping the windows as needed when switching rooms. Among other things, alternate placements was reasonably easy to do. Similarly, tvtwm could (I believe) be implemented without a virtual root window, just by moving the windows when panning the desktop. I'm not sure what the real values of virtual roots would be, other than as an interesting thing to experiment with... Bill -- Bill Janssen janssen@parc.xerox.com (415) 494-4763 Xerox Palo Alto Research Center 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto, California 94304