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What Features Would Make a "Better" GUI?
Rudyatek asks: "When it comes to desktop OSs, there has been much talk about 'the end of the desktop', 'reinventing the GUI', etc. Usability has become increasingly important as we battle the ugly UIs of Windows and X11, and watch companies like Red Hat and Ximian try to improve them. But I'm curious if anyone has any clear ideas on what a truly 'better' UI would really be like? As a hobby OS programmer I have a great interest in alternative OS ideas, and this is one that I hear more complaining about than actual ideas. Anyone have ideas?"
Some of the most interesting window managers I've seen lately are those that are controllable from the keyboard, like ratpoison and ion. I've been using Ion just about exclusively for the past month and it is really quite good. You can arrange your windows the way you want once and save the configuration so you'll never have to waste time moving xterms around so you can see them all. And because all desktops are tiled, screen real-estate wastage is minimised.