[CoreWM] Desktop Environment/Window Manager

[andersevenrud]

The Window Manager and Desktop Environment could use some new features and improvements

• Rework event handling in Menu
• Better scaling support ([UX] Touch, Mobile, Small screen/Scaled UI support #112)
• Better touch support ([UX] Touch, Mobile, Small screen/Scaled UI support #112)
• Resizable panels ([CoreWM] Resizable panels #221) [blocked by browser bug. investegating]
• Add aspect-ratio resizing to windows ([UI] Next-Generation GUI, Dialogs and Themes #136)
• Desktop Workspaces ([Misc] Questions, submissions, discussions and suggestions #49)
• Sortable/Gridable desktop IconView ([Misc] Questions, submissions, discussions and suggestions #49, [CoreWM] Sortable Desktop IconView #69)
• Widgets ([CoreWM] Widgets support #122, [Applications] CoreWM - Widgets #479)
• OSX style docker (Some features OS.jsv2 need :) #100) Solved by widget support
• Better "Touch Menu" (Touch Menu Touch Up's #346)
• Application filtering/searching in "Touch Menu" (Some features OS.jsv2 need :) #100) Replaced by search
• Multiple Panels configuration (Core Features, Packages and Themes #15)
• SVG Icon Theme support
• Renameable icons on desktop (shortcut renaming #384)
• Notification Message history icon

[junland]

@andersevenrud I was wondering if this might be possible, but when I wanted to create a new icon set using font-awesome, I saw that there was so many categories and icons in /src/client/themes/icons/ that it would almost be impossible to replace the current icon set with a custom one. (Maybe there a grunt command that I'm missing or something.) Anyways, was wondering if it would be possible to just take the icons that are used in the base OS.js instance (with default apps and WM) and place them into a "core icon" set and the the rest of the icons that are not used put them in a "extended" icon folder (With the appropriate sizes of course.).... TL;DR: Better / refine folder structure for icons so that its easier to pick out which ones are used on the default instance of OS.js. :)

[andersevenrud]

@junland OS.js uses GTK (Gnome) icon themes, hence the directory structure and the name of the icons. There's a plethora of icon packs, hence why I chose it.

Currently all icons used are PNG, but SVG is coming soon.

are not used put them in a "extended" icon folder

Something like this would be nice. I could make icon themes have a "parent" attribute, so that it builds it like you described when running the grunt [theme] command(s).

---

To get a list of all icons used, use this: https://gist.github.com/andersevenrud/793aa46063652afbc6eadb4dfa848d5f

This is the current list: https://gist.github.com/andersevenrud/46ab915c79238f42d59da31bd725c115

[andersevenrud]

@junland Updated the script and list so the output is sorted -- may be a bit easier on the eyes.

[andersevenrud]

@vlotho You can now edit the labels of your launcher shortcuts for the iconview.

[vlotho]

@andersevenrud add a notification history in the notification area.

[msaqibansari]

@andersevenrud Is there any hook to modify desktop context menu?

[andersevenrud]

@msaqibansari No, but I can add this now

[msaqibansari]

@andersevenrud how do i customize desktop context menu? do i modify CoreWM.prototype.openDesktopMenu() in /src/packages/default/CoreWM/main.js or any other way you suggest?

[andersevenrud]

@msaqibansari I just commited a new feature so you can hook into it:

OSjs.Core.getWindowManager()._on('wm:contextmenu', function(ev, wm) {
  API.createMenu([
  ], ev);
  return false; // Make sure original menu does not show
});

[andersevenrud]

@msaqibansari But if you want to modify core files the file and method you just mentioned is the correct one

[msaqibansari]

Thanks for your response.

One more thing i want to ask that i want to add a login page as the first page of the application. what changes i need to do to achieve this. Need your suggestion.

[andersevenrud]

@msaqibansari You need to create a 'Handler'. There are some included

https://os.js.org/doc/manuals/man-multiuser.html

[RyanRiffle]

Just curious but issue #221 is closed. Should this still be on here?

[andersevenrud]

CoreWM Desktop IconView can now load files and shortcuts etc from the actual filesystem! :)

Not 100% finished, but will be merged into master this week after I have polished everything.

https://github.com/os-js/OS.js/tree/new-corewm-iconview

[andersevenrud]

@khoaakt @msaqibansari The dekstop IconView now actually uses the VFS :)

[andersevenrud]

Closing this issue for now. The remaining tasks will get their own issue when I get started on it.

[samuk]

Could you give a rough idea of how long it will be before OSjs is useable on a mobile?

[andersevenrud]

@samuk Hard to say, really.

Since this is primarily a desktop platform, that is what I will focus on. But I got mobile support on my radar, and have made the groundwork for this (base touch handling, media queries and dynamic content, orientation detection etc.), but the Window Manager itself is missing functionality and does not have a UI optimized for smaller screens.

I'm working on this alone, so I'm kind of jumping back and forth between my TODOs... but this is a general prioritized roadmap I have (which I keep in my notes) that might give you an idea when you'll see more work on this:

• New backend and build system update (done, not merged yet)
• Better VFS Transports (done, not merged yet)
• Better documentation (almost done, not deployed, preview available)
• Better test integration (in progress)
• More work on GUI Elements and their APIs
• Start work on system module integration (hardware abstraction etc. )
• Small screen optimization for CoreWM
• Add viewport support to CoreWM to show only one "app" at a time

[samuk]

OK thanks.

So maybe 6-12 months? Or longer do you think?

[andersevenrud]

@samuk

So maybe 6-12 months?

I think that range would be a fair estimate