2007-07-22

FVWM-Crystal Windows Manager

I always liked to have FVWM as my window manager. However, it lacks three important features I need on my desktop:

  • Taskbar
  • Notification area (AKA system tray)
  • Application launcher

The FVWM-Crystal window manager adds exactly these features to vanilla FVWM, along with other subtle goodies all over.

Lack of desktop icons has never been a problem to me. Launchers are best left in a corner, so there is no need to "show desktop" or "hide windows" in order to use icons.

Another nice thing about FVWM-Crystal is the ability to start a terminal just by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop. Even blank areas between launcher, workarea switcher and notification area would do, so there is no need to resize a maximized window to do this. Another nice thing is the ability to start a small terminal by pressing Alt + grave(`).

I know several users who have switched to FWVM-Crystal and are happy. :-)

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