Hi there,
I am running marco compton compositor externally. Which seems to be a good idea because it's fast. But when I alt+tab, it feels like win98 again.
Now while I could switch to a different compositor. Like compiz or something else. I would then have to make a compromise by giving up compton.
So what about working on skippy-xd project then?
It's a standalone application. And fairly simple and does most of what it should. I have just compiled it today from source, on ubuntu 18.04. And there were no errors. It seems to still work, in it's previous state. Although there might be some bugs, and certainly there is also specific bits of functionality missing in the code.
But it's a good starting point, for not much effort. Instead of re-inventing from scratch.
I suppose the other way would be just to improve marco's existing window picker (as shown in the desktop image above). To use more modern / larger icons. Which would be another way to go about it.
Skippy-xd - missing bits
Anyhow here is what I see is missing from skippy-xd:
The alt+tab keybindings are compiled in / hard-coded (which are ctrl+tab / ctrl+shift+tab). This prevents them from being changed by a dconf editor setting.
The window picker does not come up on multiple montors (a copy on all monitors). It will only appear in the center of the current active monitor. Perhaps because there is some system information missing, (that it cannot know which monitor is which).
On key release, it does not automatically dissmiss itself + switch to the selected window. Instead you have to then also press the Enter key. (Which should not be necessary).
(then if you really wanted to take it on). Then better / more seamless integration into marco / MATE. Instead of having it's own seperate daemon etc.
The most advanced version of skippy-xd to get, is a few commits ahead of the official one. The bast fork currently is at:
I’m about to make a feedback on the small icons and found this post. Generally, I’m happy with compton being fast and light, but uneasy that alt-tab switcher panel and the icons are too small. If only I can make them larger, then they are perfect.
Sorry, I’ve been really busy in the last few months and haven’t had a chance to update stuff in marco. I have several in-progress branches, at least one of which already has the larger icons. I won’t promise anything in terms of timeline, but just wanted to let you know that this is currently in my mind and I want to get back to fixing up marco some more.
Adding a desktop entry in the application switcher is a completely different feature. I would need to address it separately. I’m not sure yet how much work it would take
@vkareh
I’m not a programmer, that’s why I’m asking.
By the way, you may be able to say what is the difference between caja, nemo and nautilius. In the sense of using plugins like gnome-sushi, nemo-sushi and gloobus-preview.
Caja is fork of gnome2 nautilius and there i think gloobus-preview worked, for sure work with fork called nautilius-elementary.
By working I understand click space on file and get preview.
They use different plugin namespaces, so even though the code might “technically” be compatible (or might have been at some point) the plugins themselves need to be ported from one to the other.
From what I can see about gloobus-preview, it should work with either nautilus or nautilus-elementary, since they seem to both use the same plugin system. With access to the plugin source code, someone might be able to port it to work with caja. I’ve never used this plugin, but the code seems to be on https://launchpad.net/gloobus-preview (it looks pretty out of date, though)
