Haiku has very original layout and window manager. But it’s not very practical and don’t support productivity.
I often have problem with window maximalization or window disapears. I have to click docker, and then choose icon Falcon or WebPositve.
If there was normal button bar like in WinXP or many Linux’s window managers, It will be much easier and don’t consume so much time.
Haiku is more user friendly than most Linuxes, but this menu layout is archaic in some areas. Maximilization and minimalization buttons could speed up my productivity.
There is a Maximize button on the right. Hold down Shift to Maximize even more. All ampty space on the entire yellow tab (where the Program’s name is shown) is a Minimize “button” with a double-click, and a Hide “button” with a right-click.
It’s different. But once you get the hang of it, you will find it the friendliest interface around. Whenever I am on a different machine, I am always asking “why can’t this be like Haiku?”
The Deskbar is also well documented. If you like a Windows-like look, you just drag it to the bottom. See the link Lelldorin suplied above
The problem appears then there’s more than one window. I forgot how to navigate effectively those windows. I use 640x480 resolution, and my mouse is not perfect (cheap optic led mouse). Most users are accustomed to bottom window bar, maximalization and minimalization button, and sometimes show desktop/hide all windows.
I don’t know, that there’s such option. Most new users will think it can’t be changed.
The user guide is right there on the desktop. Its first item is about the GUI (the link michel posted). There, after an introductory paragraph, minimizing a window with a double click on the tab is item 2. The zoom button is item 4.
As a new user, what do you think can be done to make this (and more) stuff known? That is, without making it behave exactly like other systems and thus devoid of sense as we would just have the same thing with a different name?
I may not be in “most users” category, but in my main system, which is not Haiku, the window list (in fact app list) is hidden, and window bars just have a close button, no minimize button, no maximize button, no zoom button. It’s not even something new.
I’m not able to learn how to handle this BeOS inspired gui layout. If there is more than one window on a screen, I move windows that I not needed at the moment, outside desktop area. When I need this window I have to click many times.
I want easy, one click solution. Just like in WinXp. It’s not that I am big Windows fan, I replece WinXP to Linux in 2008. Most of distributions use this layout, and it’s logical strategy. Why I should replace Linux to Haiku, if most of the distros use WinXp clone layout?
You can create two layouts, BeOS and WinXp in the same system. At the begining of installation process, user will be asked which layout he want. Or layout can be change after instalation.
I tried to move Deskbar with mouse cursor to left buttom corner of the screen. The bar is big, not slim like in Forza’s screenshot. I also want to maximilize and minimalize by one click in window bar. There’s also lack of menu with maximilization and minimalization options for specific window (Falkon, WebPositive, txt editor). All in all, I cannot live without WinXp clone layout.
You might want to read about things like stacking, tiling, moving the tab location, and right-clicking on the yellow tab to move windows behind other windows.
Haiku has some defaults that are not my preferred either (mouse acceleration enabled by default, too long pause for key repeat, spatial windows for folders) but I had no problem to configure these. Otherwise I prefer to use different systems as it was intended and find the default layout quite good.
I think only the mouse acceleration is bad because it’s already present in the installer without being able to change it, but it might be biased by using it in VirtualBox. I don’t remember how it felt on a real hardware because it was quite a few years back (Haiku performed really well btw, and wasn’t crashy like Ubuntu was - though mostly due to the Nvidia chipset on the motherboard).
Also Haiku is a system with a good structure that is not overcomplicated unlike Linux which is now a full blown labyrinth (mostly due to systemd and related things). I can’t really use modern Linux anymore like I used. At least I’ve found some workarounds, for example systemd launching my script and then I can pretend it’s the good old rc.local But getting the right unit incantation wasn’t easy despite following an official guide…
But getting the right unit incantation wasn’t easy despite following an official guide…