Making JWM desktop look more modern, MX linux like

This topic has 12 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated Jun 3-10:23 am by PPC.

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May 28, 2019 at 10:03 am #22187

Member

PPC

I’ve been following ManyRoads’s efforts to homogenize antiX desktops and spent a few hours trying to make my least favourite antiX 17.3 desktop – JWM – more appealing, turning it into one of my favourite desktops… ever!

I was inspired by https://notabug.org/adnan360/jwm-config
That website offers even more personalization, adding lots of things to JWM. Really really good work. I thank adnan foe what he/she has done.

The result of my efforts does is not as appealing as the original, but comes close to it, in antiX, without having to install anything. Just edit two jwm config files, restart the desktop and you are done.

How to:

1.-
From Control Centre – edit JWM configuration files.

2.-
Backup the contents of .tray and .jwmr (not necessary but I highly advise you to do this)

3.-
Edit “.tray” (Note: feel free to delete the line that reads “<Pager/>” if, like me, you don’t like to use more than one desktop):

<JWM>

<!-- Additional tray attributes: autohide, width, border, layer, layout, valign -->
<Tray x="0" y="-1" height="28" layer="above" valign="bottom">

   <!-- Additional TrayButton attributes: label, icon, popup -->
   <TrayButton  label=" " icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/categories/32/xfce-graphics.png">root:1</TrayButton>
		<Spacer width="5"/>
		
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/apps/32/terminal.png">exec:lxterminal</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/apps/32/file-manager.png">exec:spacefm</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/apps/32/web-browser.png">exec:desktop-defaults-run -b</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/places/32/user-desktop.png">showdesktop</TrayButton>
		<Spacer width="10"/>

   <!-- Additional TaskList attribute: maxwidth -->
   <TaskList maxwidth="125"/>

   <!-- Additional Pager attributes; width, height -->
		
   <Pager/>

   <!-- Additional Dock attribute: none -->
   <Dock/>

   <!-- Additional Swallow attribute: height, width -->
   <!-- <Swallow name="xload" height="28" width="30"> xload -update 2 -jumpscroll 1 -nolabel -bg black -fg green -hl black </Swallow> -->
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/media-eject.png">exec:unplugdrive.sh</TrayButton>
   <!-- Additional Clock attributes: format, height, width, zone -->
   <Clock format="%k:%M  "></Clock>
	<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/gnome-session-logout.png">exec:desktop-session-exit</TrayButton>

</Tray>

</JWM>

4.-
Edit the “.jwmr”:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<JWM>

<!-- Initialize the applications used in conjunction with JWM -->
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/startup</Include>

<!-- The root menu, if this is undefined you will not get a menu. -->
<!-- Additional RootMenu attributes: onroot, labeled, label -->
<RootMenu height="20">

   <!-- The backbone antiX menu -->
   <Include>$HOME/.jwm/menu</Include>

   <Separator/>
   <Menu label="Terminar Sessão..." icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/application-exit.png">
     <Restart label="Reiniciar JWM" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/view-refresh.png"/>
     <Program label="Terminar Sessão" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/application-exit.png">desktop-session-exit</Program>
   </Menu>
</RootMenu>

<Include>$HOME/.jwm/keys</Include>
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/theme</Include>
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/tray</Include>
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/preferences</Include>

	
		<TrayButton  label=" " icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/categories/32/xfce-graphics.png">root:1</TrayButton>
		<Spacer width="5"/>
		<!-- Config note: You can add your apps for quick launch area. -->
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/apps/32/terminal.png">exec:lxterminal</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/apps/32/file-manager.png">exec:spacefm</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/apps/32/web-browser.png">exec:desktop-defaults-run -b</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/places/32/user-desktop.png">showdesktop</TrayButton>
		<Spacer width="10"/>

		<!-- Config note: You can uncomment this to get a pager (multiple desktops) -->
		<!-- <Pager labeled="true"/> -->

		<TaskList maxwidth="256"/>

		<Spacer width="10"/>
		<Dock/>
		
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/media-eject.png">exec:unplugdrive.sh</TrayButton>
		<Clock format="%H:%M"><Button mask="123">exec: calcurse</Button></Clock>
	
	<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/gnome-session-logout.png">exec:desktop-session-exit</TrayButton>
		
	
	<!-- Visual Styles -->
	<WindowStyle>
		<Font>Sans-11:bold</Font>
		<Width>5</Width>
		<Height>26</Height>
		<Corner>4</Corner>
		<Foreground>#DDDDDD</Foreground>
		<Background>#555555</Background>
		<Outline>#000000</Outline>
		<Opacity>0.5</Opacity>
		<Active>
			<Foreground>#FFFFFF</Foreground>
			<Background>#0077CC</Background>
			<Outline>#000000</Outline>
			<Opacity>1.0</Opacity>
		</Active>
	</WindowStyle>
	<TrayStyle group="false" list="all">
		<Font>Sans-9</Font>
		<Background>#333333</Background>
		<Foreground>#FFFFFF</Foreground>
		<Outline>#000000</Outline>
		<Opacity>0.75</Opacity>
	</TrayStyle>
	<PagerStyle>
		<Outline>#222222</Outline>
		<Foreground>#555555</Foreground>
		<Background>#333333</Background>
		<Text>#FFFFFF</Text>
		<Active>
			<Foreground>#0077CC</Foreground>
			<Background>#004488</Background>
		</Active>
	</PagerStyle>
	<MenuStyle>
		<Font>Sans-9</Font>
		<Foreground>#FFFFFF</Foreground>
		<Background>#333333</Background>
		<Outline>#222222</Outline>
		<Active>
			<Foreground>#FFFFFF</Foreground>
			<Background>#0077CC</Background>
		</Active>
		<Opacity>0.85</Opacity>
	</MenuStyle>
	<PopupStyle>
		<Font>Sans-10</Font>
		<Foreground>#AAAAAA</Foreground>
		<Background>#222222</Background>
		<Outline>#222222</Outline>
	</PopupStyle>

	<!-- Virtual Desktops -->
	<!-- Desktop tags can be contained within Desktops for desktop names. -->
	<Desktops width="4" height="1">
		<!-- Default background. Note that a Background tag can be
			  contained within a Desktop tag to give a specific background
			  for that desktop.
		 -->
		<Background type="solid">#111111</Background>
	</Desktops>

	<!-- Double click speed (in milliseconds) -->
	<DoubleClickSpeed>400</DoubleClickSpeed>

	<!-- Double click delta (in pixels) -->
	<DoubleClickDelta>2</DoubleClickDelta>

	<!-- The focus model (sloppy or click) -->
	<FocusModel>click</FocusModel>

	<!-- The snap mode (none, screen, or border) -->
	<SnapMode distance="10">border</SnapMode>

	<!-- The move mode (outline or opaque) -->
	<MoveMode>opaque</MoveMode>

	<!-- The resize mode (outline or opaque) -->
	<ResizeMode>opaque</ResizeMode>

	<!-- Key bindings -->
	<Key key="Up">up</Key>
	<Key key="Down">down</Key>
	<Key key="Right">right</Key>
	<Key key="Left">left</Key>
	<Key key="h">left</Key>
	<Key key="j">down</Key>
	<Key key="k">up</Key>
	<Key key="l">right</Key>
	<Key key="Return">select</Key>
	<Key key="Escape">escape</Key>

	<Key mask="A" key="Tab">nextstacked</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="F4">close</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="#">desktop#</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="F1">root:1</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="F2">exec:rofi -show run</Key>
	<Key mask="4" key="R">exec:rofi -show run</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="F3">root:1</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="space">window</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="F10">maximize</Key>
	<Key mask="CA" key="Right">rdesktop</Key>
	<Key mask="4" key="Tab">rdesktop</Key>
	<Key mask="CA" key="Left">ldesktop</Key>
	<Key mask="CA" key="Up">udesktop</Key>
	<Key mask="CA" key="Down">ddesktop</Key>
	<Key mask="CA" key="D">showdesktop</Key>
	<Key mask="4" key="D">showdesktop</Key>

	<Key mask="CA" key="T">exec:qterminal</Key>
	<Key mask="CA" key="E">exec:pcmanfm-qt</Key>
	<Key mask="4" key="E">exec:pcmanfm-qt</Key>
	<Key mask="" key="F12">exec:rofi -show run</Key>

	<!-- Connect to external monitor / choose screens -->
	<Key mask="4" key="P">exec:~/.local/share/jwm-config/screens.sh</Key>
	<Key mask="" key="XF86Display">exec:~/.local/share/jwm-config/screens.sh</Key>

	<Key mask="4" key="F4">exec:~/.local/share/jwm-config/power.sh</Key>
	<Key mask="CAS" key="R">exec:jwm -restart</Key>
	<Key mask="CA" key="L">exec:xlock -mode blank</Key>
	<Key mask="4" key="L">exec:xlock -mode blank</Key>

	<!-- startup -->
	<StartupCommand>
		lxqt-notificationd &
	</StartupCommand>

</JWM>

5.- Save the edited files

6.- Choose the style “Shades of Gray”

7.- Right Click the volume icon and choose a ligher theme (I like “BlueBar”)

8.- Restart Jwm from the menu.

Problems/ To do’s:
– fonts don’t look very good…
-I haven’t found a way to make the “windows” key start the root menu without installing a file, suggested in the site that inspired this effort…
– I still have to clean up the files a bit, they still have the keybindings from the original files, and parts that I moved between files.
– I didn’t add any description to the icons ( that shows up when you over the mouse pointer over the icons) but that was only so these changes can be multilingual.
– I also want to add a “find applications” icon (to use dmenu – already installed out of the box- to look for applications). I didn’t add this because I use j4-demu, that works much better, but does not come out of the box. Also, new users would really not know what to do when the taskbar disappears and dmenu appears. I was a bit surprised the first time I tried dmenu- it’s not a application that runs like most people are used to…
-I added, for my own personal use, a icon to upgrade antiX, next to the icon, similar to MX’s updater, once again, that’s something you have to “install” (if you want to, search the forum for my script, it’s out there somewhere…)
– the “DT” from the site Distro Tube offers scripts to add a menu to jwm that displays recent executed applications, I may try that, also changing many more things.
– I’ll try using jgmenu- a great looking menu that has the ability to search for installed application. But that’s for my own personal use. Here I wanted to show a customization that does not involve installing anything…

Not “homogeneous” choices that I’ve done, that differ from the IceWM:
I changed some icons (the eject button that comes in antix 19 a2 does not make any sense to me, this old icon looks much better) moved the Eject usb icon next to clock, where I’m used to it, and added a Exit button after the clock, like MX has…

Suggestion to the Dev team:
Some variation of this would be a great JWM default setting for the next antiX version.

In case anyone can help with using the windows key to start the menu, all help is welcome!

This topic was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by PPC.
This topic was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by PPC.
This topic was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by PPC.

Attachments:

screenshot-jwm-shades-of-gray.jpg

May 28, 2019 at 1:03 pm #22195

Anonymous

Helpful

Right Click the volume icon and choose a ligher theme

thanks, I had never ventured deep enough into the volumicon prefs to notice that “Icon Theme” control

help with using the windows key to start the menu

a quick websearch “jwm keybind rootmenu” found this: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=505855

<keyboard>
  ...
  <keybind key="Super_L">
    <action name="ShowMenu">
      <menu>root-menu</menu>
    </action>
  </keybind>
  ...
</keyboard>

May 28, 2019 at 1:36 pm #22196

Anonymous

Helpful

Suggestion to the Dev team:
Some variation of this would be a great JWM default setting for the next antiX version.

sudo apt install git
mkdir ~/gitz (or your choice of location)
cd ~/gitz
git clone https://gitlab.com/antiX-Linux/desktop-defaults-jwm
^—> Congratulations, you are now (poised to be) part of the Dev team !
(oversimplified, the above steps won’t provide the ideal workflow, but the point stands)

For anyone wanting to introduce simple/minor changes, but doesn’t want to “bother with” installing git…
you can visit gitlab.com, create an account and, in-browser, fork a project repository // edit files // submit pull requests

PPC, I haven’t checked ~~ possibly some of the affected files (files you’ve modded) are provided by other packages. In case you don’t find a given file present among those within the “desktop-defaults-jwm-antix” package, here how to determine which package it is in//from:

locate somefile
(if multiple copies are found, disregard those pathed under ~/ or /home/* because those were probably populated from copies provided in /et/skel/ on the distribution iso)
then
dpkg-query -S /path/to/somefile

May 28, 2019 at 1:47 pm #22197

Anonymous

Helpful

you can also contribute (not just pull requests, bug reports are contributions too!) to the upstream JWM project
https://github.com/joewing/jwm

For projects of interest, it’s usually enlightening to click-n-read the “Issues” and the titles/descriptions of open “Pull Requests”
and
Insights -> Network https://github.com/joewing/jwm/network
by hovering points in the graph, you can discover descriptions of tweaks/changes which have been implemented in various forks (and haven’t been pull request-ed into the main project)

May 28, 2019 at 4:14 pm #22201

Member

manyroads

Helpful

Great work gents! I love it. I have to say that I am developing into a true antiX fan.

Pax vobiscum,
Mark Rabideau - http://many-roads.com
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken
dwm & i3wm ~Reg. Linux User #449130
20 Jan 2021 ~ "End of an Error"

May 29, 2019 at 2:23 am #22215

Anonymous

Helpful

@PPC

Good work but, it needs some more work.
Original is better in my opinion.
Sorry for nitpicking.

May 29, 2019 at 4:30 am #22227

Member

PPC

Helpful

@Skidoo: thanks for all the info, I’ll probably send my files to the GIT. Now, the instructions you found about the Windows Key/Super Key were for Openbox, not JWM, but thanks anyway. I found the solution to that little problem

@Noclue: nitpick all you want 🙂 this is a work in progress I wanted to share. The different colors in the clock area were bugging me, I worked it out. The gradient is using in the application that’s currently selected, it’s not a “bug”, it’s a feature. See the new pic, I believe it looks “cool”, better than the single color I started with…

@Manyroads: Thanks!- think of this as a poor man’s version of a “new” antiX desktop/DE- you don’t even have to download a single file, just copy and paste the contents of 2 text files and click a couple of buttons 🙂

Using the Super Key/Windows key to start the menu (and not as a modifier):
if you want to use the windows key to start the menu (it is displayed right near the mouse pointer, a bit like fluxbox does).
Please note that if you do this, the super key no longer works as a modifier…
I’m aware this may not work in all computers, but it did in both of mine… Just add, at the end of the keybings in .jwmrc, this line:
<Key keycode=”133″>root:1</Key>
If the keycode 133 does not work for you, use the terminal to run xev and instead of “133” use the keycode that comes up in the terminal when you press the windows key. Easy 🙂

Clicking the clock on the bar and getting a calendar:
You don’t even have to install anything… Replace the original entry about the clock by this:

<!-- Additional Clock attributes: format, height, width, zone -->
 <Clock format="%H:%M">
<Text>#FFFFFF</Text>
<Button mask="123">exec:yad --calendar --width=400 --no-buttons  --title=Calendar --mouse</Button></Clock>

Using JWM in antiX 19 A2:
Follow a similar procedure as above with one difference:

– delete all the contents of “.tray” and save the empty file (all the configuration about the tray is now only in .jwmr)
– delete all contents of “.jwmr” paste this, and save the file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<JWM>

<!-- Initialize the applications used in conjunction with JWM -->
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/startup</Include>

<!-- The root menu, if this is undefined you will not get a menu. -->
<!-- Additional RootMenu attributes: onroot, labeled, label -->
<RootMenu height="20">

   <!-- The backbone antiX menu -->
   <Include>$HOME/.jwm/menu</Include>

   <Separator/>
   <Menu label="Terminar Sessão..." icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/application-exit.png">
     <Restart label="Reiniciar JWM" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/view-refresh.png"/>
     <Program label="Terminar Sessão" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/application-exit.png">desktop-session-exit</Program>
   </Menu>
</RootMenu>

<Include>$HOME/.jwm/keys</Include>
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/theme</Include>
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/tray</Include>
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/preferences</Include>

	
<!-- Additional tray attributes: autohide, width, border, layer, layout, valign -->
<Tray x="0" y="-1" height="28" layer="above" valign="bottom">

   <!-- Additional TrayButton attributes: label, icon, popup -->
   <TrayButton  label=" " icon="/usr/share/icons/numix-bevel-antix/32x32/apps/windows.png">root:1</TrayButton>
		<Spacer width="5"/>
		
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/5961_Defunct_x86.0.png">exec:dmenu_run -l 10 -i -b -fn 10×20 -nb black -nf white -sb grey -sf black</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/Terminal.png">exec:lxterminal</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/system-file-manager.png">exec:spacefm</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/web-browser.png">exec:desktop-defaults-run -b</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/places/user-blue-desktop.png">showdesktop</TrayButton>
			<!-- The next line runs skippy-xd Expose like task switcher. Install the 59kb deb file from https://code.google.com/archive/p/skippy-xd/downloads or feel free to delete the next line if you do not want to use it -->	
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/cs-workspaces.png">exec:skippy-xd</TrayButton>
		<Spacer width="10"/>

   <!-- Additional TaskList attribute: maxwidth -->
   <TaskList maxwidth="125"/>

   <!-- Additional Pager attributes; width, height -->
		
  

   <!-- Additional Dock attribute: none -->
   <Dock/>

   <!-- Additional Swallow attribute: height, width -->
   <!-- <Swallow name="xload" height="28" width="30"> xload -update 2 -jumpscroll 1 -nolabel -bg black -fg green -hl black </Swallow> -->
		<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/numix-bevel-antix/32x32/actions/media-eject.png">exec:unplugdrive.sh</TrayButton>
 <TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/numix-bevel-antix/32x32/apps/cs-network.png">exec:connman-gtk</TrayButton>
 
   <!-- Additional Clock attributes: format, height, width, zone -->
 <Clock format="%H:%M">
<Text>#FFFFFF</Text>
<Button mask="123">exec:yad --calendar --width=400 --no-buttons  --title=Calendar --mouse</Button></Clock>

	<TrayButton label="" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/xfsm-logout.png">exec:desktop-session-exit</TrayButton>

</Tray>
	
	<!-- Visual Styles -->

	<WindowStyle>
		<Font>ubuntu-11:bold</Font>
		<Width>5</Width>
		<Height>26</Height>
		<Corner>4</Corner>
		<Foreground>#DDDDDD</Foreground>
		<Background>#555555</Background>
		<Outline>#000000</Outline>
		<Opacity>0.5</Opacity>
		<Active>
			<Foreground>#FFFFFF</Foreground>
			<Background>#0077CC</Background>
			<Outline>#000000</Outline>
			<Opacity>1.0</Opacity>
		</Active>
	</WindowStyle>

	<TrayStyle group="false" list="all">
		<Font>ubuntu-9</Font>
		<Background>#333333</Background>
		<Foreground>#FFFFFF</Foreground>
		<Outline>#000000</Outline>
		<Opacity>0.75</Opacity>
	</TrayStyle>

<PagerStyle>
		<Outline>#222222</Outline>
		<Foreground>#555555</Foreground>
		<Background>#333333</Background>
		<Text>#FFFFFF</Text>
		<Active>
			<Foreground>#0077CC</Foreground>
			<Background>#004488</Background>
		</Active>
	</PagerStyle>
	
	<MenuStyle>
		<Font>ubuntu-9</Font>
		<Foreground>#FFFFFF</Foreground>
		<Background>#333333</Background>
		<Outline>#222222</Outline>
		<Active>
			<Foreground>#FFFFFF</Foreground>
			<Background>#0077CC</Background>
		</Active>
		<Opacity>0.85</Opacity>
	</MenuStyle>
	
	<PopupStyle>
		<Font>Sans-8</Font>
		<Foreground>#AAAAAA</Foreground>
		<Background>#222222</Background>
		<Outline>#222222</Outline>
	</PopupStyle>

	<!-- Virtual Desktops -->
	<!-- Desktop tags can be contained within Desktops for desktop names. -->
	<Desktops width="4" height="1">
		<!-- Default background. Note that a Background tag can be
			  contained within a Desktop tag to give a specific background
			  for that desktop.
		 -->
		<Background type="solid">#111111</Background>
	</Desktops>

	<!-- Double click speed (in milliseconds) -->
	<DoubleClickSpeed>400</DoubleClickSpeed>

	<!-- Double click delta (in pixels) -->
	<DoubleClickDelta>2</DoubleClickDelta>

	<!-- The focus model (sloppy or click) -->
	<FocusModel>click</FocusModel>

	<!-- The snap mode (none, screen, or border) -->
	<SnapMode distance="10">border</SnapMode>

	<!-- The move mode (outline or opaque) -->
	<MoveMode>opaque</MoveMode>

	<!-- The resize mode (outline or opaque) -->
	<ResizeMode>opaque</ResizeMode>

	<!-- Key bindings -->
	<Key key="Up">up</Key>
	<Key key="Down">down</Key>
	<Key key="Right">right</Key>
	<Key key="Left">left</Key>
	<Key key="h">left</Key>
	<Key key="j">down</Key>
	<Key key="k">up</Key>
	<Key key="l">right</Key>
	<Key key="Return">select</Key>
	<Key key="Escape">escape</Key>

	<Key mask="A" key="Tab">nextstacked</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="F4">close</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="space">window</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="F10">maximize</Key>
	<Key mask="CA" key="D">showdesktop</Key>

	<!-- Connect to external monitor / choose screens -->
	<Key mask="4" key="P">exec:~/.local/share/jwm-config/screens.sh</Key>
	<Key mask="" key="XF86Display">exec:~/.local/share/jwm-config/screens.sh</Key>
	<Key mask="CAS" key="R">exec:jwm -restart</Key>

<!-- TO USE SUPER kEY &WINDOWS KEY TO SUMMON THE ROOT MENU. @133@ IN MY KEYBOAR IS SUPER KEY. RUN XEV AND PRESS THE SUPER KEY AND USE THE KEY CODE THAT THE TERMINAL WINDOW SHOWS -->
<Key keycode="133">root:1</Key>

	<!-- startup -->
	<StartupCommand>
	desktop-session-wallpaper
	exec:desktop-session-wallpaper
/usr/local/bin/desktop-session-wallpaper
	</StartupCommand>

<!-- shades of grey -->

<WindowStyle>
	
	</Active>
	
		<Foreground>grey44</Foreground>
		<Background>grey22:black</Background>
	<Outline>black</Outline>
	
</WindowStyle>

<ClockStyle>
	<Font antialias="false">smoothansi</Font>
	<Font>ubuntu-11</Font>
	<Background>grey33</Background>
	<Foreground>white</Foreground>
	
	<Foreground>grey44</Foreground>
		<Background>grey22:black</Background>
		
</ClockStyle>

</JWM>

Change 1:
I added a search icon, using dmenu that comes out of the box. It’s ugly but a handy way to search installed apps. J4-menu is better. This search menu does not, for example allow you to properly run Synaptic…

Change 2:
I really love skippy-xd. Its a tiny program that makes swapping tasks a joy for our sight. I added a icon for it. If you want install skippy-xd from https://code.google.com/archive/p/skippy-xd/downloads (I used a file that I pulled from the deb in MX’s repo, but it no longer works on antiX 19 A2). This is optional, and also the only file you have to install to “transform” JWM (obvious skippy-xd, once installed can be run on any desktop, not just JWM).
If you don’t want, just delete the line related to skippy-xd.

Conclusion: the attached picture is very near to what you get in antiX 9A2 using this last configuration. In my opinion it looks modern, similar to MX. I believe a newbie, looking at the screenshot would not say that antiX looks like a lightweight distribution. If you want to add even more eye candy install compton, and launch it. It does not drain that many resources, but I wanted to get a great looking distro that runs as light on system resources as I can. Well, I was pleased with the end result. I got antiX looking just the way I wanted, and even with “ungoogled chromium” displaying the forum, and the calendar, it’s well below 300 meg of RAM. That’s less than what a middle weight distro like MX needs to run on idle… And I’m not even that much of a computer geek, I know next to nothing about programming…

As always, all input is welcome.

EDIT:
One JWM feature that may come in handy while moving windows is the window that pops up with the window that’s being dragged position X an Y cordinates. But it looks ugly and I never needed that feature. You can turn it off by adding in “.jwmr” this line, for example, near the end of the file:

<MoveMode coordinates="off">outline</MoveMode>

This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by PPC.
This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by PPC.
This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by PPC.

Attachments:

screenshotA2.jpg

May 29, 2019 at 10:06 am #22269

Anonymous

Helpful

@PPC

… nitpick all you want …

Remember one thing about me — I ALLWAYS am nitpicking, ‘complaining’ … but, never with some bad thoughts in my mind.

I just wanna make ALL people open their eyes and see the facts — what they do with it, doesn’t matter.

I’m not trying to force anybody using anything for whatever reason they might have.

I only get irritated when people can’t or don’t wanna see the obvious.

P.S.
Sorry for nitpicking. 😉

P.P.S.
However, I just can’t resist. 🙂 🙂 🙂

May 29, 2019 at 10:52 am #22274

Member

PPC

Helpful

Anonymous wrote:

@ppc

… nitpick all you want …

Sorry for nitpicking.

No problem, Noclue, but I won’t spend anymore time with this customization 🙁
I found no way to change the clock color- for some reason it’s stuck in the same colors as non active windows…
The window decoration situation that you pointed out is not normal- Chromium has it’s owm window decoration theme. Non active windows decoration is the same as active windows, but only with black background.
Thinking that the blue of the active window is rough in the eyes, I changed the active window title color to be black, only white letters (non active windows have grey letters). So the window titles match more closely the names in the window list on the bar.
Also I found a way to present only the icons of the running applications on the bar (windows 7 – 10 like), but I don’t like that, I like reading the titles, but, if someone wants to try the color changes and the window list changes, drop me a line and I’ll put that here…
I did what I wanted to do- I have JWM with the interface I like, and that looks (to me) very modern. Coupled with skippy, and if you want to, compton (and dunst, for notifications), users have, almost out of the box a feature rich desktop that feels almost MX’s XFCE and runs in little more than 100 Mb of Idle RAM (way less than half of MX idle RAM).
I could even change JWM window decoration to look like MX’s default- I came close to that, but I can’t make the close button change color when the window is active (I can only change all the title and window decoration colors at the same time, and I don’t like red text 🙁 ).
If someone looks at the file and finds a way to make the clock letters white, it would be nice… I have only one more “to do”- make the “PrintScreen” key fire up the app that saves screen grabs… It’s probably easy, but I’m too tired right now to finish that…
Now my heart is torn between Fluxbox and the much more good looking and easy to customize JWM…

P.S.- If someone tries this JWM costumization, please leave your input here, suggestions or advices how to get more stuff done in JWM.

May 29, 2019 at 12:13 pm #22277

Anonymous

Helpful

@PPC

noClue! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 😉

Thank you for understanding my point!

May 30, 2019 at 5:33 am #22321

Member

PPC

Helpful

Hi, everyone, one final entry about this JWM costumizationm in antiX 19A2… To work in previous antiX versions you have to change the icons for every single icon- you can use those from my orinal antiX 17.X post…

Computers sometimes bug me. Restarted my computer and out of the blue, now the clock was in the right color!?

So, for everyone out there, and even for a future me that forgot how I managed to mod JWM, here’s the final .JMWR file.
Once again- follow the procedures indicated in the OP (back up everything first), delete all of “.tray” file contents and saving it, and then deleting all of “,jmwr” file contents and pasting this, and then saving it.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<JWM>

<!-- Initialize the applications used in conjunction with JWM -->
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/startup</Include>

<!-- The root menu, if this is undefined you will not get a menu. -->
<!-- Additional RootMenu attributes: onroot, labeled, label -->
<RootMenu height="20">
	<!-- The backbone antiX menu -->
	<Include>$HOME/.jwm/menu</Include>
	<!-- Added to the end of the menu (more menu entries can be added) -->
   <Separator/>
   <Menu label="Terminar Sessão..." icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/application-exit.png">
     <Restart label="Reiniciar JWM" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/view-refresh.png"/>
     <Program label="Terminar Sessão" icon="/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Cupertino-mini/actions/32/application-exit.png">desktop-session-exit</Program>
   </Menu>
</RootMenu>

<Include>$HOME/.jwm/keys</Include>
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/theme</Include>
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/tray</Include>
<Include>$HOME/.jwm/preferences</Include>

<!-- TRAY -->
<!-- Additional Tray attributes: autohide, width, border, layer, layout, valign -->
<Tray x="0" y="-1" height="28" layer="above" valign="bottom">
	<!-- Additional TrayButton attributes: label, icon, popup -->
	<!-- TRAY BUTTONS - INCLUDING THE MENU BUTTON, all icons to the left of the tasklist-->
		<TrayButton  label=" " popup="Menu" icon="/usr/share/icons/numix-bevel-antix/32x32/apps/windows.png">root:1</TrayButton>
		<Spacer width="5"/>
		<TrayButton label="" popup="Search Applications via keyboard (ESC exits, Enter selects app)" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/5961_Defunct_x86.0.png">exec:dmenu_run -l 10 -i -b -fn 10×20 -nb black -nf white -sb grey -sf black</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" popup="Terminal" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/Terminal.png">exec:lxterminal</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" popup="Space File Manager" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/system-file-manager.png">exec:spacefm</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" popup="FireFox Browser" icon="/usr/share/icons/numix-bevel-antix/32x32/apps/firefox.png">exec:firefox</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" popup="Desktop" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/places/user-blue-desktop.png">showdesktop</TrayButton>
		<!-- The next line is for "skippy-xd"- a Expose like task switcher. Install the 60kb deb file from https://code.google.com/archive/p/skippy-xd/downloads or feel free to delete the next line if you do not want to use it -->	
		<TrayButton label="" popup="Task Switcher" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/cs-workspaces.png">exec:skippy-xd</TrayButton>
		<Spacer width="10"/>

<!-- TASK LIST - displays the names of all running windows. Choose maxwidth of 25 to see only the icons or 325 for viewing "normal" long windows names-->
<!-- Additional TaskList attribute: maxwidth -->
   <TaskList maxwidth="325"/>

   <!-- Additional Dock attribute: none -->
   <Dock/>
   <!-- Additional Swallow attribute: height, width -->
   <!-- <Swallow name="xload" height="28" width="30"> xload -update 2 -jumpscroll 1 -nolabel -bg black -fg green -hl black </Swallow> -->
	<!-- TRAY BUTTONS - icons to the right of the tasklist-  eject, connman-->
		<TrayButton label="" popup="Eject USB devices" icon="/usr/share/icons/numix-bevel-antix/32x32/actions/media-eject.png">exec:unplugdrive.sh</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" popup="Network settings (Connman)" icon="/usr/share/icons/numix-bevel-antix/32x32/apps/cs-network.png">exec:connman-gtk</TrayButton>
   <!-- CLOCK -->
   <!-- Additional Clock attributes: format, height, width, zone -->
		<Clock format="%H:%M">
		<Text>white</Text>
		<Button mask="123">exec:yad --calendar --width=400 --no-buttons  --title=Calendar --mouse</Button></>
	<!-- TRAY BUTTONS - icons to the right of the clock- Exit-->
	<TrayButton label="" popup="Exit Session" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/xfsm-logout.png">exec:desktop-session-exit</TrayButton>

</Tray>
	
<!-- VISUAL STYLES- OR THEMES -->

<!-- WINDOW visual theme-->
	<WindowStyle>
		<Font>ubuntu-11:bold</Font>
		<Width>5</Width>
		<Height>26</Height>
		<Corner>4</Corner>
		<Foreground>#969696</Foreground>
		<Background>#555555</Background>
		<Outline>#000000</Outline>
		<Opacity>0.5</Opacity>
		<Active>
			<Foreground>#DDDDDD</Foreground>
			<Background>#333333:#AAAAAA</Background>
			<Outline>#333333</Outline>
			<Opacity>1.0</Opacity>
		</Active>
	</WindowStyle>

<!-- TRAY visual theme-->
	<TrayStyle group="false" list="all">
		<Font>ubuntu-10</Font>
		<Background>#555555</Background>
		<Foreground>white</Foreground>
		<Outline>#000000</Outline>
		<Opacity>0.75</Opacity>
	</TrayStyle>

<!-- CLOCK visual theme-->
<ClockStyle>
	<Font antialias="false">smoothansi</Font>
	<Font>ubuntu-10</ont>
	<Text>white</Text>
	<Foreground>white</Foreground>
	<Background>#555555</Background>
</ClockStyle>

<!-- UNUSED- PAGER visual theme-->
<PagerStyle>
		<Outline>#222222</Outline>
		<Foreground>#555555</Foreground>
		<Background>#333333</Background>
		<Text>#FFFFFF</Text>
		<Active>
			<Foreground>#0077CC</Foreground>
			<Background>#333333:#AAAAAA</Background>
		</Active>
	</PagerStyle>

<!-- MENU visual theme-->
	<MenuStyle>
		<Font>ubuntu-9</Font>
		<Foreground>#FFFFFF</Foreground>
		<Background>#333333:#FFFFFF</Background>
		<Outline>#222222</Outline>
		<Active>
			<Background>#0077CC</Background>
			<Foreground>white</Foreground>
			<Background>#333333:#AAAAAA</Background>
		</Active>
		<Opacity>0.85</Opacity>
	</MenuStyle>

<!-- POPUP DECORATIONS-->	
	<PopupStyle>
		<Font>ubuntu-9</Font>
		<Foreground>white</Foreground>
		<Background>#222222</Background>
		<Outline>#222222</Outline>
	</PopupStyle>

<!-- Virtual Desktops -->
	<!-- Desktop tags can be contained within Desktops for desktop names. -->
	<Desktops width="4" height="1">
		<!-- Default background. Note that a Background tag can be
			  contained within a Desktop tag to give a specific background
			  for that desktop.
		 -->
		<Background type="solid">#111111</Background>
	</Desktops>

<!-- shades of grey - some extra decorations from that theme-->
<WindowStyle>
	</Active>
		<Foreground>grey44</Foreground>
		<Background>grey22:black</Background>
	<Outline>black</Outline>
</WindowStyle>

<!-- Double click speed (in milliseconds) -->
	<DoubleClickSpeed>400</DoubleClickSpeed>

<!-- Double click delta (in pixels) -->
	<DoubleClickDelta>2</DoubleClickDelta>

<!-- The focus model (sloppy or click) -->
	<FocusModel>click</FocusModel>

<!-- The snap mode (none, screen, or border) -->
	<SnapMode distance="10">border</SnapMode>

<!-- The move mode (outline or opaque) and show/hide coordinates when moving a window -->
	<MoveMode>opaque</MoveMode>
	<MoveMode coordinates="off">outline</MoveMode>

<!-- The resize mode (outline or opaque) -->
	<ResizeMode>opaque</ResizeMode>

<!-- KEY BINDINGS - this definitions are used in conjunction with those in the .keys file -->
	<Key key="Up">up</Key>
	<Key key="Down">down</Key>
	<Key key="Right">right</Key>
	<Key key="Left">left</Key>
	<Key key="h">left</Key>
	<Key key="j">down</Key>
	<Key key="k">up</Key>
	<Key key="l">right</Key>
	<Key key="Return">select</Key>
	<Key key="Escape">escape</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="Tab">nextstacked</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="F4">close</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="space">window</Key>
	<Key mask="A" key="F10">maximize</Key>
	<Key mask="CA" key="D">showdesktop</Key>
	<Key mask="CAS" key="R">exec:jwm -restart</Key>
	<!-- TO USE SUPER kEY /WINDOWS KEY TO SUMMON THE ROOT MENU. "133" IN MY KEYBOARD IS SUPER KEY. RUN XEV AND PRESS THE SUPER KEY AND USE THE KEY CODE THAT THE TERMINAL WINDOW SHOWS -->
	<Key keycode="133">root:1</Key>
	<!-- TO USE Print screen key to get a screen shot. IF "111" or "107" DON'T NOT WORK FOR YOU, RUN XEV AND PRESS THE SUPER KEY AND USE THE KEY CODE THAT THE TERMINAL WINDOW SHOWS -->
	<Key keycode="107">exec:antixscreenshot.sh</Key>
	
<!--THE FOLLOWING ALWAYS HAS TO BE THE LAST LINE!!!-->
</JWM>

Just for kicks, the screenshot below shows how the task bar looks like displaying only icons, and not icons and text.

Changes:
-I ended up adding “pop up” descriptions to every quickstart icon (being careful to explicitly warn possible users how to exit dmenu search menu).
-Windows and Print Screen keys work as usual, but they may not work in all keyboards. If so, read the comments, in the last few lines of the file, you see how to change those keybinding to work for you…
-The theme works the same all around- selected menu entries, the focused running window and the corresponding entry in the taskbar are all highlighted in the same gradient (don’t forget using the recommended shades-of-grey theme).
-The background of currently running applications in the taskbar was left black so, if you are using the “icons only” taskbar, the user (me 🙂 can tell, at a glance what are the quick start icons and the running apps icons… I noticed, after the fact, that MX did a very similar choice.

@Noclue- thanks for the nickpicking… any new suggestions? If so, I’ll probably use them only for me, and not post new files here… but who knows?

Bye for now,

Attachments:

JWM-final.jpg

May 30, 2019 at 6:08 pm #22329

Member

manyroads

Helpful

Nice work @ppc.

June 3, 2019 at 10:23 am #22503

Member

PPC

Helpful

Hi, I brought back this thread to life just to to add a correction and some extra info:

Correction (if you don’t do this, JWM bar will not display your tray icons (like volume, etc):
In my previous entry I should have said, in the part concerning the deletion of the “tray” file contents, that you should delete everything and leave only the following content:

<Dock/>
</Tray>>

Some extra nice information on JWM features:

1- you can use JWM to create a kind of simple “dock”. It’s easy, just add, before the last line of .JMWRC something like this, to get a horizontal left “dock” that auto hides:

<Tray layout="vertical" autohide="left" insert="right" valign="center" halign="left" width="84" height="400">
		<TrayButton label="" popup="Terminal" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/Terminal.png">exec:lxterminal</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" popup="Space File Manager" icon="/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/32x32/apps/system-file-manager.png">exec:spacefm</TrayButton>
		<TrayButton label="" popup="FireFox Browser" icon="/usr/share/icons/numix-bevel-antix/32x32/apps/firefox.png">exec:firefox</TrayButton>
		
</Tray>

Problem/Bug: just noticed that if you restart JWM, after applying this customization, for some reason (???) it will not load your wallpaper. You’ll have to restart or, run the wallpaper script…

2- Also: new windows decoration:
antiX 19A2 already include, Out Of The Box, icons from Arc Theme, similar to MX’s.
To use these window decorations, once again, add in .JWMRC, before the last line:

<ButtonClose>/usr/share/themes/Arc-Dark/unity/sheet_style_close_focused.svg</ButtonClose>
<ButtonMin>/usr/share/themes/Arc-Dark/unity/minimize_unfocused_prelight.svg</ButtonMin>
<ButtonMax>/usr/share/themes/Arc-Dark/metacity-1/max-icon.svg</ButtonMax>
<ButtonMaxActive>/usr/share/themes/Arc-Dark/metacity-1/max-icon.svg</ButtonMaxActive>

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