Re: Launchpad and the GNOME panel

[Doug Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>]

Justin Maurer wrote:
> 
>  > What I was thinking is that if Micah's launchpad could be made to
> work
> > with the GNOME panel it could give us the benefits of At Ease without
> > dumbing down the standard user interface of GNOME.
> 
> this sounds like "creeping featurism" to me. however, it would be
> relativley easy to do. of course, I think the windowmaker wharf/dock
> would be a better way to do it (it is much simpler).

I like and use WindowMaker too, but I was thinking that GNOME was a
better choice in that it runs over any window manager and is included in
many (and probably will be in more) distributions as an item installable
along with the OS.  If we work with GNOME it might ease the burden of
installation for the end-users.  I'm thinking how all of our ideas, once
realized, can most easily be put into operation by the local educators
and administrators.

Far from being creeping featurism, I think my suggestion (if feasible)
would simplify the launchpad by not requiring yet another icon displayer
to have students choose from.  The launchpad functionality would become
essentially a filter of sorts for panel icons.  This would work with
WindowMaker's wharf or Afterstep's dock as well, but I was hoping for as
general an application as possible.  Of course, we're talking about
Micah's launchpad; he should have something to say about whether this is
an idea he'd like to pursue.  But I think it could neatly combine two
ideas that fit together quite well.

-- 
Doug Loss                 It is impossible to imagine Goethe
Data Network Coordinator  or Beethoven being good at billiards
Bloomsburg University     or golf.
dloss@bloomu.edu                H. L. Mencken