As you're all too aware of, I own a netbook, and I run Arch Linux, so I'm always trying to optimise my experience by tweaking things here and there. One thing that caught my eye was the Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface, which has 6 major parts:
- Desktop switcher - switches between netbook/desktop modes.
- Go Home applet - displays the desktop window, which is the launcher window under UNR.
- Human Netbook Theme - Ubuntu's infamous dirt-brown colour branding.
- Maximus - Maximises and optionally removes decorations from windows. Remembers settings.
- Ubuntu Netbook Remix Launcher - The main interface, displayed instead of the normal desktop.
- Window Picker Applet - An alternate window switcher that shows the full title of a maximised window, and the other windows as icons.
Being a power user, I wanted #4 and #6. I don't use Maximus, but I found I could get its effects from hacking my Metacity theme. Exactly how I'll leave for another time.
Instead, I did some work on Window Picker Applet. Here are the results, at the middle-top of the screen.
If you're using Window Picker Applet now, you'll notice something is amiss: how can my notes be active, and yet my VIM terminal in the back still shows in the title bar? Try it now: open and maximise a window, and then open a smaller window in front of it.
The problem here is that Window Picker Applet 0.4.21 (I haven't tested later ones yet) assume that the front/active window is the only one that matters. Since I don't use Window Picker Applet with any of the other netbook remix stuff, this made working with multiple windows a bit irritating, as if people like me hadn't been accounted for.
I've written a fix for this.
Read more »
