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Afterstep 2.0 Beta Includes XML Graphics System
vaevictus writes "Afterstep just released its 2.0 Beta 1, after a long merge from its development branch. One of the most interesting new features is an XML-based graphics system, where any picture for any part of the WM can be a simple chunk of XML, which can do transformations, scaling, gradients and some other nice graphics mods. I've personally used this to cut my 1600x1200 image size from a 2.4mb PNG to a total of about 37kb. This leads to some very compact themes. If you're not familiar, AfterStep is one of the older WMs out there still in active development; all of you WindowMaker fans should check out the WM your WM branched off of, so long ago."
Looks pretty slick. But the window movement is bit shaky and the screen jitters sometimes.
We do not have a history of profitable operations. Our future SCOsource licensing revenue is uncertain.
i got some nice downloads off it, but here's a mirror.
s ed s/X/s/g
:D buwahahaaaa
echo "http://digitalXuXhi.com/aX2/www.afterXtep.org/"|
why'm i being a tool? cause only the people who want to visit will paste. mirrors take 10x the bandwidth with a link. so, if anyone translates my url into a link that gets modded over 1, i'll just remove the mirror
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
Seriously folks, it's about time WindowMaker merges back with AfterStep. Dividing the great AS WM is the sole reason why KDE and GNOME dominate at this point.
If the WindowMaker project rejoined AfterStep, AfterStep could actually become a viable window manager on it's own terms. As opposed to relying on the publicity of the GNUStep project, and WindowMaker for support in the first place.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
You mean something like this?
/> /> /> ......
<picture width="100" height="100">
<pixel>
<element x="0" y="0">
<component name="red" value="10"
<component name="green" value="255"
<component name="blue" value="10"
</element>
</pixel>
</picture>
Down with Saudi Arabia!!!
That's the good news. The bad news is the WM now eats up 300MB of memory, instead of 30.
Why don't they use SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)? It would be neat to use a SVG editor to produce a theme.
Dang, Afterstep might be becoming too advanced for my tastes. Time to switch to TWM!
On a more serious note, 8 years ago I used Afterstep. It was the easiest thing to hack through the config files and make it do what ever I wanted to with a minimum of fuss, real estate, processor time, or color space allocation (a big thing on a Sun Classic sporting only a CG3).
Between then an now I've lived with Enlightenment, Window Maker, Gnome, KDE and OSX, yet for my work box I still use Afterstep. Maybe it's because it has a minimal number of doodads to distract me from doing actual work?
One of the most interesting new features is an XML-based graphics system, where any picture for any part of the WM can be a simple chunk of XML, which can do transformations, scaling, gradients and some other nice graphics mods.
Oh, you mean like SVG?
I guess this could be justified if it were significantly lighter-weight than SVG. Otherwise, why not reuse?
I'd like to write more on the topic but I'm currently busy trying to compile my own light-bulb. I'll have a beta ready in less than two years, or sooner if I can get some more help from the open source community.
Linux rox!
ps - don't tell anyone I actually spend 90% my free time in Windows playing embarrassing adolescent video games.
So what does AfterStep do that WindowMaker doesn't? Its not very clear from the website.
WindowMaker CVS has antialiased fonts, and with a little bit of work on icons and tile backgrounds, my desktop looks great.
The menu editor/prefs utility is easy to use, the clip's desktop switching is perfect for what I want, theres nothing obvious about AfterStep that would make me want to switch back.
WindowMaker + GNOME apps/libs + ROX-Filer make up my ideal GUI environment.
As far as I know, theyre both written in C, as opposed to Objective-C for GNUStep, they both attempt to mimic some or all aspects of NeXTSTEP, and WindowMaker was created because the Afterstep crew was too anal about incorporating features that did not appear in the original NeXT system.
So now theyre adding features to Afterstep - dumping the whole idea behind what AfterStep was - 'Its strictly a clone of NeXTSTEP', and somehow this is a step (STEP?) forward?
So why switch from WindowMaker, when AfterStep is clearly just playing catch-up now?
That being said, there are a few rough edges in Window Maker, so perhaps competition from AfterStep will smooth them out.
I gots ta ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
I realise that Window Maker and the like are pretty much designed to be "minimalist", but they seem to be lagging very far behind KDE and GNOME in terms of interface design. For example, just looking at the AfterStep screen-shots on the site (before it gets Slashdotted, heh), i'm liking the way the system is designed, in general, but it looks hideous. The graphics used in the interface are jagged, the window frames and buttons are almost industrial in their simplicity and lack of creativity, and the icons still look like really bad GIFs. And, like i said, i'm a fan of Window Maker, and prefer it over any other window-manager, but it's guilty of this too. They all look like something you might see running on a Commodore or an Amiga.
I know that they're constantly being improved and updated, and i realise the importance of laying down a proper foundation before you go around making things look nice and anti-aliased and all that jazz, but i think a lot of the reason GNOME and KDE each have such a huge following is because they're very pleasant to look at. I think WM and AfterStep and the like could benefit very much from trying to add in a little "eye candy" here and there. You don't need any gimmicks, but i really don't think it would negate the intended minimalism of the system if there were just "themes" and icons and what-not of the same calibre as those you might find looking at Nautilus or Konqueror.
Regardless of all that, Window Maker will remain my favourite window-manager, and i'll continue to recommend it to those looking for a good UNIX interface. And the whole XML graphics thing sounds really neat, also. Just wish they were "up there", in terms of what i mentioned, with GNOME and KDE. :/
We don't have too many ppl working on AS.
I mean I do all the development, clipart design, support, and pretty much everything else.
I don't have no time whatsoever to work on web site, and it was rather dead for quite a while, and only recently got revived by Remmy. One of the purposes of releasing this beta was to attract more ppl to the project, and get some help.
You can take a look at my devel site on SourceForge:
http://afterstep.sf.net
and screenshots on
http://afterstep.sf.net/afterstep20beta/
Property of AfterStep Window Manager.