Hauke Fath wrote:
> At 15:19 Uhr -0600 10.12.2006, Tim & Alethea Larson wrote:
>> My favorite would be one that does a Mac-like shared menubar, but I
>> don't know if one exists.
>>  I don't know if that's technically even
>> possible with X.
> 
> The X window manager manages windows (including window decoration); it has
> no hand in where&how an application draws its menus. You'd have to look
> (and hack) into each and every X toolkit for that.
> 
> The situation is similar with Java where the application has to cooperate
> to give you a global menu bar.

The more I think about it the more I agree that you're right. 
Developing a standard API for apps to communicate with wms for shared 
menuing might not be so hard, but getting all the toolkits to build it 
in so that it can be offered as an option, then rebuilding all the apps 
to use it...that would be a big job.  :)

Even if you did that, would X itself need hacking to support 
transferring menu info between local servers and remote clients?  I know 
it's designed to transfer UI events to the client and UI updates to the 
server--but methinks something would have to change if the wm started 
providing an integral part of the UI (menus) for the app.  But I never 
claimed to know much about X.

Anyway, I've strayed far enough off-topic, so I'll stop now.


Tim

-- 
Tim & Alethea
christtrek.org