Customization - can these be done? if not, where do I begin?

winterflaw · 2016-01-14 12:07:31

Hi.

I've recently bought a new laptop and finally moved over to Linux. Having tried all the major distros and interfaces in VMs, I've moved to Debian8/XFCE.

I would however like to make some changes to XFCE, but it may be some of these changes can already be made (and I've missed how).

For those which cannot already be made, any pointers as to where to start looking in the source code would be appreciated.

The changes I have in mind;

1. Double clicking a window drag border maximizes the window in the direction of that border (up and down borders maximize vertically, left and right borders maximize horizontally)

2. Clicking on the title bar, to drag, does not raise the window (currently it does)

3. Double clicking anywhere in a window raises the window (Amiga-like)

4. Double clicking the title bar toggles maximization (currently it only maximizes - it does not toggle)

5. Window drag borders need to be thicker (i.e. configurable)

6. Window title font needs to be bigger (i.e. configurable)

ToZ · 2016-01-14 15:16:30

winterflaw wrote:

I've moved to Debian8/XFCE.

What version of Xfwm is shipped with Debian 8 or are you running?

xfwm4 -V

1. Double clicking a window drag border maximizes the window in the direction of that border (up and down borders maximize vertically, left and right borders maximize horizontally)

This works for me with the exception that it doesn't snap to the screen edge but rather to the edge of the nearest other window (try it in a situation where there is only one window on the screen vs multiple windows). None of the settings seem to affect this behaviour. Not sure if this is by design or a bug.

2. Clicking on the title bar, to drag, does not raise the window (currently it does)

Use the right mouse button to drag windows without raising them.

3. Double clicking anywhere in a window raises the window (Amiga-like)

I've never used an Amiga so I'm not sure what exactly you mean, but double-clicking in a window should raise it provided Settings Manager > Window Manager > Focus:
- "Click to focus" is enabled
- "Raise window when clicking inside application window" is enabled
- or "Short delay" if "Automatically raise window" is enabled.

4. Double clicking the title bar toggles maximization (currently it only maximizes - it does not toggle)

It should toggle. Make sure that you have a Settings Manager > Window Manager Tweaks > "Hide Title..." is not enabled so you have the title bar visible to double click again.

5. Window drag borders need to be thicker (i.e. configurable)

See: https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11808. As an option, use a window manager theme with thicker borders, use the keyboard shortcuts, or resize using the top left or right corners of the window (easier to grab).

6. Window title font needs to be bigger (i.e. configurable)

Settings Manager > Window Manager > Style Tab > Title Font.

winterflaw · 2016-01-14 15:37:14

ToZ wrote:

What version of Xfwm is shipped with Debian 8 or are you running?
xfwm4 -V

4.10.1

I'm behind a bit, I think? 4.12 is the latest?

1. Double clicking a window drag border maximizes the window in the direction of that border (up and down borders maximize vertically, left and right borders maximize horizontally)
This works for me with the exception that it doesn't snap to the screen edge but rather to the edge of the nearest other window (try it in a situation where there is only one window on the screen vs multiple windows). None of the settings seem to affect this behaviour. Not sure if this is by design or a bug.

Nothing at all happens for me. Perhaps due to 4.10.

2. Clicking on the title bar, to drag, does not raise the window (currently it does)
Use the right mouse button to drag windows without raising them.

Thanks!

3. Double clicking anywhere in a window raises the window (Amiga-like)
I've never used an Amiga so I'm not sure what exactly you mean, but double-clickClick to focus raises on single click.
ing in a window should raise it provided Settings Manager > Window Manager > Focus:
- "Click to focus" is enabled
- "Raise window when clicking inside application window" is enabled
- or "Short delay" if "Automatically raise window" is enabled.

Ah - to be more exact, I mean to say that double clicking *and only double clicking* should raise. Single clicking should do nothing.

4. Double clicking the title bar toggles maximization (currently it only maximizes - it does not toggle)
It should toggle. Make sure that you have a Settings Manager > Window Manager Tweaks > "Hide Title..." is not enabled so you have the title bar visible to double click again.

Actually, oddly, right now, titlebar double click is doing absolutely nothing at all =-) I've checked - it's set to maximize. I'll look into this some more. Maybe I changed something somewhere else...

5. Window drag borders need to be thicker (i.e. configurable)
See: https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11808. As an option, use a window manager theme with thicker borders, use the keyboard shortcuts, or resize using the top left or right corners of the window (easier to grab).

Well, I'd like it to be right, so maybe I can do something about it.

6. Window title font needs to be bigger (i.e. configurable)
Settings Manager > Window Manager > Style Tab > Title Font.

Yes - the font changes size, but the *title bar* does not, so the font as it becomes bigger has more and more of its letters above and below the title bar (i.e. out of sight).

Addendum : I don't think much of the forum's posting preview error reporting - "/quote was found without a matching quote". It's like getting an compiler error without a line number =-)

ToZ · 2016-01-14 19:09:15

Yes, 4.12 is the latest.

1. Possibly. I don't have 4.10 handy right now to check. I'll get back to you.

3. I don't believe the double-click to raise option exists. However, if you go to Window Manager Tweaks > Focus and:
- set "Focus Model" to "Focus follows mouse"
- uncheck "Automatically raise windows when they receive focus"
...you can get similar behaviour where moving the mouse from window to window changes focus but only clicking in the window raises it. Not sure if that might do.

4. Look at Settings Manager > Mouse and Touchpad > Behaviour and make sure the double-click time and distance are reasonable. I think the defaults are 400ms and 5px. I also recall there being a bug about this that affected the double-click.

6. I see. I didn't increase enough for it to start clipping. That would be the xfwm4 theme then. The height of the titlebar is controlled by the theme and is hard-coded into the xpm files. See: https://wiki.xfce.org/howto/xfwm4_theme.

Addendum: Good analogy. I think its just the software used here. In the past I've used firefox extensions (this one I think) that inserted the codes, but I now I just brute-force my way through it.

ToZ · 2016-01-14 19:15:11

ToZ wrote:

1. Possibly. I don't have 4.10 handy right now to check. I'll get back to you.

Yep - doesn't exist in 4.10. Must have been added in a later version.

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#1 2016-01-14 12:07:31

Customization - can these be done? if not, where do I begin?

#2 2016-01-14 15:16:30

Re: Customization - can these be done? if not, where do I begin?

#3 2016-01-14 15:37:14

Re: Customization - can these be done? if not, where do I begin?

#4 2016-01-14 19:09:15

Re: Customization - can these be done? if not, where do I begin?

#5 2016-01-14 19:15:11

Re: Customization - can these be done? if not, where do I begin?

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