Splitscreen and options on window menu <Enhancement>

[cheapy]

A user asked to be able to split the screen (ie resize and move current window) to fill half the screen using the mouse, rather than the keyboard to do it. Others chimed in that the current keyboard shortcuts are difficult and wanted me to ask you for something usable via mouse.

Perhaps a "Splitscreen" option could go on the window menu, maybe between Move and Size, since it does both, and it could be a pulldown menu with a Half screen section with 5 options, for Left, Right, Top, Bottom and Center. It could also have a Quarter screen section with 5 options for Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right, and Center.

As always, thanks for a great program. This has always been my favorite window manager. Efficient workflows are a thing of timeless beauty, that pay back every day.

PS: This could also be done with "Quarterscreen" and "Halfscreen" options separate instead of calling it "Splitscreen". That would be easy for people to understand, less ambiguous than "Splitscreen" which was the wording used by the requester.

[gijsbers]

The problem statement is far too unclear to be useful.

1. What is "split the screen"?
2. Using the mouse instead of the keyboard? So they can already do it with the keyboard? What exactly?
3. But they want to be able to do everything with the mouse?
4. Are "current keyboard shortcuts difficult"? Which ones are? Which ones aren't?
5. Can't they redefine their own keyboard shortcuts? Why not?
6. "Something usable with the mouse"? There are more than 80 keyboard shortcuts. And all, or most, or some (but which ones) of them should become available via the mouse?
7. You want user definable window context menus? Then we get something like:
8. Separate roll-up and roll-down keys bbidulock/icewm#584 (comment)

[cheapy]

I'm sorry for upsetting you. It was not my intention. It is difficult to describe what something should look and act like with words. I added the options I suggested to the main menu in the big pic. I used the menu options to arrange the windows in a grid of half and quadrant sized windows. This is not a great solution, but the user can quickly/easily click a selection from the menu to move and resize the current window into either a particular quadrant or half of the screen. The second, smaller pic is of the right click title bar menu that I was hoping to add the options to.

Another person suggested asking if you could implement a title bar menu entry that only showed up if a certain script was present, and then ran that script if selected- example: ~/.icewm/window-script.sh We could then run a nice little program to allow the user to point out where to put the window, and resize/move it there for them instead of adding options to the main menu.

[cheapy]

PS: Maybe a better term for the action of resizing and moving a window into a half or quadrant of the screen is to "Tile" that window. That would make sense on the menu. It would be easy and nicer if we had icons with a rectangle showing what the results would look like. I doubt it would be worth the effort to do it graphically. I hope this makes more sense, now.

[gijsbers]

Good. Now I understand it a bit better, I hope. So you propose either to add your Tile menu with the Half Screen and Quarter Screen below the Move and Size entries. Or you propose that if a certain menu file exists in the configuration directory, to add that menu in the window title bar context menu? Let's say between the Layer and MoveTo entries.

[Code7R]

Yeh, this "split screen mode" is a Windows 10 feature which assists users of wide screens on placing their windows. For a short while, the windows behave like there is a virtual border in the mid, this virtual border can actually be moved, but I rarely use that feature.

What is really useful is windows placement by button. Like, push Win-Left (or Win-Right) and the window is moved not to the next workspace but to the next HALF of the current workspace (unless it's in the right/left halff already).

So, for example, Win-Right moves the windows to the right half of the screen and maximimizes it there, and at the same time there is an assistant which shows a number of windows (similar to Quick-Switch shown in that half) where $USER can pick the window which who wants to be maximized in the left half.

[cheapy]

I would guess that adding the built in Tile menu would be more work for you as the IceWM Devs would need to create the code for each of those Tile menu options, etc.

The custom Titlebar menu option would shift the contents burden to us, and leave a custom option available for others to use in other ways. If you say it should be a script to run, that will be fine. We would need to know the required name of the script program and how it will know the text to use as a label, as we would want to feed it different values depending on the local language. We already have created a script that could be run to allow the user to tell it what to do with the window and then resize/move it.

Do you have a preference which option should be chosen? I've asked the antiX Devs the same question. I think either option should work for the Tile submenu in my example.

PS: Something I noticed, with the code I wrote (which could be used in the custom option), is that it should be tested to ensure the existing Maximize options still work. It will be frustrating for users if those options stop working.

[gijsbers]

An important criteria is which option best supports internationalization and localization.
Does antiX support that, or is it English only? And with respect to these two options?

[cheapy]

antiX is translated into many languages. Localization should be kept as normal as possible to minimize additional effort.

I have created a set of icons to make it easy even without words...

[cheapy]

I think it would be best built into IceWM adding sub menu "Tile" or "Tiling" under Move and Size on the Window Titlebar menu with the options and (if you like), the icons I provided. Then it would be available on all distros. I've been using it a few days now from the menu, and even from there it's very handy, getting used many times per day, and others are adding it to their menus and using it as well.

If it can't be built in similar to above, then please could you give us a hook to add a custom menu option on that menu so we can run our own script to add the enhancement for antiX users, adding that to antiX's IceWM and WinGrid packages.

[gijsbers]

Can you try this?

[cheapy]

Wow!  That was amazingly quick.  I'll compile it and try it tonight after work. Thanks so much!

[cheapy]

I compiled it and tested all of the Tile submenu options including using new windows, old windows, windows without titlebars (via right click on Taskbar), your horizontal and vertical tile options, and re-tiling manually ones tiled automatically.

All worked perfectly, thanks!

It was a GOOD day. Thanks very much.

[gijsbers]

Good. Can we consider your remarks about key bindings? Do they need to become easier? In what way?

[cheapy]

No, its not YOUR keybindings that are a problem, in general, it was just the NUMBER of keybindings in total I think overwhelm beginners.

We should find a way to generate and then on demand display a keyboard and keybindings graphically as a popup to make it easier to learn what is available, on what keys, and what they do. I don't see that as an IceWM problem, and to me, IceWM having the flexibility to make keys do so many things is a great advantage from a standpoint of getting normal tasks done efficiently. But alas, the newbies can't even find the keys it seems.

Anyway, these tiling options will help a lot making it easy for them to use a tiling methodology where appropriate without needing to remember as many keys.

Thanks again for helping, and providing these features in an excellent way.

[blur131]

Is there a way to map the new window placement options in the "tile" menu to keyboard bindings? I checked in the new "preferences" file and found nothing. Ie instead of clicking Tile>"left half" a user defined shortcut could be used instead. That would really make the new "Tile" feature useful.

[cheapy]

You could use xdotool and feed it the keystrokes. Create one for Left Half, and assign it to a key sequence in your keys file:
Alt+Space - window menu
y - Layer menu
Left - back to window menu
Down - to Tile menu
Right - to top of Tile menu
Enter for Left half option

[blur131]

Thanks, thats a good suggestion/workaround. While playing around with that I noticed that the Tile options do nothing when the window is Fullscreen. Is this intentional?

…

On Thu, 17 Feb 2022, BobC wrote: Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2022 23:25:45 From: BobC ***@***.***> Reply-To: ice-wm/icewm ***@***.***> To: ice-wm/icewm ***@***.***> Cc: blur131 ***@***.***>, Comment ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [ice-wm/icewm] Splitscreen and options on window menu <Enhancement> (Issue #74) You could use xdotool and feed it the keystrokes. Create one for Left Half, and assign it to a key sequence in your keys file: Alt+Space - window menu y - Layer menu Left - back to window menu Down - to Tile menu Right - to top of Tile menu Enter for Left half option — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS or Android. You are receiving this because youcommented.[AXW5BALM3NMTUMSVR6JPIRDU3VYWTA5CNFSM5J7THJRKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVB W63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOHYZS7RI.gif] Message ID: ***@***.***>

[gijsbers]

That would be a new feature. For the keybindings also consider #84.

[blur131]

Thank you! That opened my eyes up to icesh. I see now that the possibilities are endless.