On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 02:02:34PM +0100, Johannes Brakensiek wrote:
>
> 1. Integrate apps on a short-term basis. (Updated) themes for Gtk, Qt,
> keyboard shortcuts, support for drag ’n drop per default (!). (It
> works, look at Josh’s PikoPixel.)
As to drag'n'drop.
Even on a Mac, while I know it exists, I almost never use it.
I certainly don't use it under Linux.
How many people do use it? Just how important is it?
When I used Mac, I used it heavily, because it did useful and interesting things.
It rarely works well on Windows, and ultra-very-rarely does it do anything sensible on web and *nix. So I don't expect it there most of the time.
I know my Parents don't on their Mac, probably not being aware it exists,
or possibly because they don't live in Finder, but start the apps they
use from the Dock.
Starting apps has little to do with dragging a picture file into Mail.app to attach it. Or dragging an image from the web into an avatar image view to set my IM avatar. If I drag and drop text between apps (something usually impossible to do on other platforms, and non obvious on Mac), it tends to work. And because drop doesn't steal focus, I can usually drop multiple things one after the other. Cmd+tab not interrupting drags helps too. Helpful is the ability to trigger "mission control" UI while dragging.
How's for dragging rows out of apps' tableviews and getting files, or images, or text? It sometimes unexpectedly works, especially if the tableview row is backed by a file. I think (not sure) it worked with iTunes, Final Cut Pro, iPhoto, maybe more.
Dropping a file onto a text box (or terminal!) and getting file path is also useful.
Or pasting an image onto a folder's Get Info (after clicking on it) to update a folder's icon. (I mention paste as on other platforns that's also rare to see as doing useful things in unexpected places. Also, mechanism is on dev side similar to drag'n'drop.)
I mean, Mac did drag and drop right and most first party apps do interesting, useful or at least cute things with drag and drop. Many third party ones do, too. Sometimes UI widgets (textboxes, image views) do that too. Mac is doing it so well that d'n'd is a major reason why I stuck to it as my productivity platform, and were my job not primarily web- and backend-related (hence Chromebook being more than enough), I'd likely be using a Mac of some sort as my daily driver. As is, it's Chromebook+i3-on-Linux for work, Windows for evening gaming relaxation.
Try to consciously discover things, and observe what WM behaviours make d'n'd more useful. You might discover something useful.
Most *nix DEs disappointed me in this regard, but do I want d'n'd? Absolutely yes.