Suggested improvements for a system with only E16

The new alpha versions are for me ready to be shipped to the public, but some people says that it needs improvements.

So this thread is about suggested improvements for have in e16

Notes:

  • suggestions should match the generic public taste
  • should be useful / handy / needed, not trivial
  • should not saturate the system with more resources (unless is something very needed)
2 Likes
  1. Get menus and window borders as consistent as possible ..... even, if need be look for another solution if an app will not. I.e evaluate if it's worth it to keep.

  2. Turn off "shadows" by default in -enlightenment, -settings, -composite. They leave artifacts and create a messy feel.

  3. See if we can be rid of artifacts when opening Virtualbox --same as 2.

  4. Have a GUI option to access powertools i.e lockscreen, screensaver timings etc. Important for laptops!

  5. Solve windows sizing on smaller screens.

  6. Have a working "lock-screen" option in the cario-dock "logout" launcher, if it's possible or ... make our own ...or ultimately kick cairo-dock.

  7. Keep personal installed themes, settings and backgrounds when upgrading

  8. Use another default image-viewer, "geeqie" sucks big time -- "viewnior" is lighter and is a better fit IMO. As does audacious for music playback --- rythmbox is better and at least plays .flac files.

  9. There's definitely going to be more but these come to mind immediately.

2 Likes

for the first, will be needed a big hack of the perl script that does it, so its in fact a pretty trivial thing for the amount of work, unless there's a fluent perl writer around

for the second, that's not possible, you will have the same problem in any other window manager, since looks like a fashion now to remove the borders of the windows in the applications, that's a problem of the application themselves which has internally-programmed to have the borders removed

by other side, could be possible to create an emodule for e17+ that will force to add borders

Nice one, done :slight_smile:

i dont think so, the problem with it is that does a strange resizing when opening, but since its an issue with a very specific (and not common) application should be not a big issue

can you make a specific list of which ones? or better, let's start with a specific description for each one:

  • describe specific "need"
  • it is needed because of e16 or is a generic OS need?
  • do we have a tool (gui) that solves the problem or a specific one needs to be created?

@yoda @triantares @Rebel450 maybe we need to make a list of specific configurators / applications (needs) required for the new alphas, or required for e16 (in this thread is OK), maybe if we have specific needs like "keyboard configurator" for e16 we should include a specific package for extra features for only e16 desktop :thinking:

this is already solved in 3.7.6 (i think 3.7.5 too), for smaller fonts auto configurations, other than that is not exactly possible, e16 just like any other WM allows applications bigger than the desktop size

  1. lock is already integrated now as a hotkey, maybe we need a specific entry in the menus of applications?
  2. the cairo-dock "logout launcher" feature is pretty useless and doesn't works
  3. we want to keep cairo-dock since improves pretty much the entire desktop features and usability :slight_smile:

already done: (e16 conf is not restarted on reinstalls if the previous versions is newer than 3.7.5)

ok, viewnor looks like a better and simpler alternative

audacious is the default configured in the dock because is lighter and has preseleted radio stations to directly play, it is also a pretty good simple player, rhythmnbox is included by default to have a better "organized" music library (so we had always both options directly available), and you can configure the one or the other in the dock settings, so i assume this is good this way :thinking:

2 Likes

For the big-windows problem, since there's not much possible to do, I have added this feature:

a suggestion / tip appears in notification form, telling how to optimally resize / move a window:

image

image

it will appear in both e16 or e17 too (since its a very useful tip)

2 Likes

good job @triantares a lot of good points you listed...
I will think tomorrow if something is missing but the one I had in mind where alread in your complete list...

thanks !! I like composite effects, transparency etc but yes I had that problem that was forcing me to CTRL + ATL + END sometime to get rid of them...

Better turn them off even if they are "cool"

Oops I still got those " red lines staying on the screen after moving a window" with composite off ;_) Moving window around fixed it

So i turned composite back on as I like transparency effect

Umm, "red lines" suggests a resizing of the window and wasn't what I meant by the artifacts.
I can't say I've seen any of thos staying around.

BTW my trick to make them (black artifacts) dissapear was make another window fullscreen (F11) and back again.
And I didn't mean "composite" off, only ticking the raido box there to "shadows off"

1 Like

Actually it does work, only "lock-screen" doesn't.
It might be an idea to detach it by default and put it in one of the top corners.
The same goes for the clock feature i.e I detached and placed it somewhere on the top.

I think that's a very good idea, An extra elive-e16 configurator that would include the power settings would be cool.

Things like not going into suspend on lid close or configurable time out settings or go "lock screen" but never suspend or hibernation. etc, etc.
Laptops are used for sometimes very different things, especially in my case.

I would could it both. It's the desktop that has to control the system here.
A GUI tool is definitely needed so looking at the previous point: An Elive-conf-tool would be good.

Well how about going with the flow then and leaving windows borderless globally? :thinking:

Which one is it?
I'm certainly no fluent perl (or any other) writer but would like to have a look how it's done.

Not all, the 'save as' dialogue in scitex for example still oversized.
Will report a bit later more details,
it takes time to go all (!) through...

it is removed by default, i assume you are using an old (old!) cairo-dock conf, please try to update to a new default one :slight_smile:

apug
killall cairo-dock
elive-skel upgrade .config/cairo-dock
cairo-dock &

then we will have no borders at all and this is a bad thing for a WM, users wouldn't know how to close or minimize a window, etc.. basically a window without borders is because it has its own way to close / manage the window (like elicit, which has an X button to close it, or chrome, etc)

sudo scite /usr/share/e16/scripts/e_gen_menu

its a bit complex and to make it work in the same way should include many extra things, not easy at all! i woulnd't do it...

just for your test, try to download and use the original one, you can see how improved the menus are for elive: https://git.enlightenment.org/e16/e16.git/tree/scripts

Nope, not using the default -- it's a bit plain IMO but that wasn't the point.
More of a point to offer options for clock and (if wanted) the shutdown menu.

Ah, yes, I always use CTLR, w or q for closing or CTRL, ALT, i for minimizing or F11 for fullscreen for that.
Which brings me to a continual nuisance with "scite" and the reason why I don't like it.... why doesn't it adhere to the common linux way of closing? I mean ALT, F4 is old, old Windowsy. :disbelief:

1 Like

mmh, not sure to understand

its the point in the sense that the default provided conf doesn't include the logout widget, which is a bit useless (and probably not well working) since is already correctly implemented from the WM itself (so from the menus), so if the user wants in the dock should be enabled by himself

about the clock, new conf includes it in conky, which is a lighter alternative "always showing up"

the hotkeys pdf includes a big list of most useful keys :slight_smile: (the most useful ones are in a different color)

I don't want docky. It takes up too much room and all the info in it, is not that usefull IMO. So I put the detached"clock" up in the right hand corner here.

Actually, the only function that does not work in the logout menu is "lock-screen" due it using gnome-screensaver.

tks ! I updated conky, that I like even if it take room, personal taste, I don't care on my 32 inch screen, I am happy to now have time/date there

I like the lightness and simplicity of conky... Nothing fancy but low ressource and efficient.

If you find a conky weather gadget, I will may be consider removing cairo dock from my screen LOL Personal project, I will google...

now I am getting familiar with /home/yoda/.conkyrc the config file...

Have the print screen app installed:
api xfce4-screenshooter

Did you tried the Elive print screen and Shift Print screens CUSTOM APP ?
I like them... Simple and efficient... It save the picture in the Screenshot folder and in the Clipboard, ready to paste.

But
what I like about xfce-screenshooter is that it has a GUI that some people will like.
And " Manjaro implementation" has some custom feature going furter and allowing us to click something to host it and create https://imgur.com/ link on the spot ! I didn't know about imgur, but it is used a lot.... Reddit people use it.

It allow to put a picture there and juste paste the link on Reddit or other social media platform...

So the Manjaro implementation is cool....

Yes but @Franc did not seem to know or have that feature and since @Rebel450 mentioned to use:
api xfce4-screenshooter so it must not be installed yet. So, general default users will need to use this feature going forward. Coming from Windows long ago. I try print button first by 2nd nature but some people may not have that feature button on their keyboard.

That would be nice to have! I like the weather gaget too! A want but not a need.