7. Manager Issues

7.1 Is Enlightenment ICCCM-compliant?

Yes, it features as total an ICCCM implementation as possible, namely:

• Misc: Titles, Colourmaps, Destruction Warnings, Adoptions, Focus, Gravity, Icons
• Hints: Destruction, Iconification, Sizing (Minimum, Aspect, Initial)
• Configuration: Borders, Overrides, Overlap Strategy
• Information: Shaped, Hints

7.2 How does window gravity work?

This probably one of the more important aspects of ICCCM, as the window tells the window manager which direction to "gravitate" towards when it is dealing with an overlap. North is towards the top of your window, and the rest of the compass follows accordingly. Therefore, if a window has no place to go and will be overlapped otherwise, it slides to that direction. If these programmes set this hint, and you hit the "Sweep" button, they will slide according to their preferences, not Enlightenment's. Set these properties by their application XResource files, and you will end up with a much more interesting and useful set up. The amount of time you spend to set up these applications once will be well worth the investment in the future, in the time you save moving them around to your tastes each time.

7.3 Is Enlightenment GNOME-compliant?

Yes. Here are the rundown of features Enlightenment makes use of:

• Application-chosen workspace (through X window properties)
• Uses GNOME Icons
• Windows: Maximization (H|V), Shaded, Hidden
• Layer Placement: Above Dock, Desktop Level, Dock Level, Below, Above, Normal

In a more qualitive exposition, Enlightenment doesn't attempt to manage the Panel, and lets it choose when to float over Enlightenment's desktop buttons and other artifacts, and when not to. GNOME applications are managed in a way they feel comfortable in reacting to, and get useful feedback from Enlightenment as to their effect on the desktop environment.

7.4 Is GNOME Enlightenment-compliant?

In certain respects, yes. But there are some major lacks of understanding in GNOME's reactions with the environment that Enlightenment provides it that need correction. Luckily, from the face of things, most of the things that need changing in GNOME are minor, surmountable for most, but still important.

• Right now, you cannot drag torn menus and other disassociated window particles across desktop boundaries. This decreases the value that torn menus provide a multi-desktop environment: namely the ability to have miniature roaming command centres that use up little screen space, already nicely packaged and with portable handles. Unless your Enlightenment setup specifically ignores the transient nature of these and associates some kind of window controls (buttons, bars, mouseovers) you cannot bypass this lack.
• GNOME's Panel automatically can be made to hide itself after a certain amount of time. When this time is up, however, it will only be found on the first desktop and no other, until you unhide it again and repeat the process. To unhide it again, you must make sure there is some visible area where the Panel's tab is resting for you to "pass over" in order for it get the needed hint that it should raise itself to full scrutiny. At this point, you may unhide it by pressing on it, as per usual. The only way around going back to the root window after the timeout currently is to make sure that no Enlightenment decorations or buttons obscure it completely, and that you keep it unfurled continuously with the Panel's auto-hide feature disabled.
• Imlib's settings that are used for Enlightenment's graphical rendering have a nice GUI interface in the Panel and it is very intuitive.
• GNOME applications will have their own developed themes in the future. While they are not Enlightenment themes, looks can be combined, and image caches can be shared from within the Imlib base that both use in order to conserve memory and enhance performance. In fact, this can also be said for any Gtk application that individually chooses to set itself a style which uses the same images.
• The GNOME Panel exercises the right to be "left alone" by Enlightenment, but the price for this is that Enlightenment cannot register it as a window for purposes of its arrangement policies. This means that some windows that you spawn that do not ask for "hands off treatment" as well will be placed or fitted over the GNOME Panel. There are problems associated with this. ( See above.)