new tiled windows manager

rparmar · 12-11-2015, 07:19 AM

PROBLEM
The way Reaper currently handles the interface is limited; some basic customisation is not possible.

PROPOSAL
A new panel layout interface will allow any item to be placed anywhere on the screen, docked and tiled to optimally fill available space. There will be no "required" elements.

EXAMPLE ISSUES
How do I remove the toolbar from the unusual place at the top of the left pane, above the TCP? I can duplicate it across the top of the screen, under the menu bar, where it sits in most every other application. But I cannot remove the original. The result is that I have two of the same toolbar!

How do I left-align a toolbar at the top of the screen and remove excess whitespace? In particular, I may wish to tile the toolbar side by side with the transport. There is no way to do this.

How can I dock multiple panels, side by side, below the track panel? They can only dock in tabs, so only one at a time is visible.

How can I remove the TCP while retaining the toolbar? If I extend the track window to the left, it coves both. In fact, this works for me, but maybe not for others!

No doubt there are other limitations I have not come across, since I have not had Reaper long.

NOTES
This proposal has nothing to do with "theming", in the sense of changing colours and bitmaps. The current theming possibilities apply to each window or panel element and would be retained. Nor can this issue be solved with theming since the basic underlying panel design is unaffected by WALTER, near as I can make out.

SOLUTION
Divide the screen into rectangular panels, which are simple containers. Panels can be divided into further panels, horizontally or vertically. Every window should be dockable inside any panel, with orientation left, right, top, or bottom. (Or one can leave a window as floating.)

The interface to define panels and their containers could be a customisation option separate from the main interface, so that menus are not cluttered with these options. This might be the easiest to implement.

A more elegant solution would allow docking while moving a window on the screen, perhaps by holding down a key (one for each of NSEW, another to create a new sub-panel).

EXAMPLE
I have been spoiled by Samplitude. I don't have it running on my current computer to make screenshots. When you move a window to a dockable place overlays appear on each side, indicating where you can fix the window. They then intelligently resize to fit the available space.

ATTACHED
The actual image shows a screenshot. The desired image is a quick hack. These have been resized to meet the board limits, but you can still see the important elements. Toolbar and transport take up one horizontal section. Tracks span the width of the screen. The various windows dock below. (I have not restyled these for this hack.)

EvilDragon · 12-11-2015, 07:26 AM

You can't put anything in line with the transport, true.

But you CAN dock things next to each other, that's how I have it (see bottom):

https://i.imgur.com/k4Qmu8p.png

You need to open the toolbar docker, then dock your window into it, then attach the docker to main window. Then you can mess with their positioning.

rparmar · 12-11-2015, 07:31 AM

OK, I have all three windows in the docker, but only one is visible at a time, controlled by little tabs at the bottom. Is there another magical step? ;-)

Fergler · 12-11-2015, 07:34 AM

Blender is a good interface to look at for how it is done. It is essentially just a big rectangle, and you can divide said rectangle as many times as you want, and then divide -those- rectangles, all done using very logical and easy to follow on screen indicators.

Other daws do this too, like Sonar I believe.

EvilDragon · 12-11-2015, 07:34 AM

Yeah, you need to tear out one of the tabs and try positioning it where you want. You will see the blue rectangle getting WIDE (rather than sized as a tab), when you see that, drop it. Voila, side by side.

rparmar · 12-11-2015, 07:53 AM

Hmmm... somehow I now have two dockers in the bottom. Can't get a third no matter how hard I try! I must be picking up the wrong pixel. This feels like a Roguelike game.

EDIT: OK, got it. Some tabs let you drag, others don't. To create a new docker on the bottom you drag the blue square thing to the bottom, not beside the previous ones.

I can set up a toolbar docker at the top of the window. here I've created a toolbar for the transport functions, though I have no icons yet. Then I hide the actual transport. The only thing I am missing is an indication of my current position. Any way to get that here?

https://i.imgur.com/9lyE4nj.png

rparmar · 12-11-2015, 11:13 AM

OK better yet. I figured out the transport will also fit into a docker.

Here's what I have, using the RADO-V4 theme:

https://i.imgur.com/HTWx2L9.png

From top to bottom:

1. menu bar
2. docker including main toolbar and transport
3. track window, stretched to left so that it covers the "toolbar we cannot remove" and the TCP.
4. docker including main mix, marker manager, and item properties.

EvilDragon · 12-11-2015, 11:25 AM

Well there you have it.

rparmar · 12-11-2015, 12:05 PM

New problem. I have no way to resize each track vertically, since there is no way to grab the divider between tracks EXCEPT in the TCP. Grrrr....

So, I have to show a little bit of the TCP and have a little toolbar also. How about I put a button on it, to toggle the docker.

https://i.imgur.com/CVPJhWk.png

NOTE: There is yet another problem here, since toggling the docker toggles ALL of them. In fact, I want the transport and toolbar to remain. Just goes to show that hacks are always hacks. A logical system would be so much better to begin with!

BobF · 12-11-2015, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

You can't put anything in line with the transport, true.

But you CAN dock things next to each other, that's how I have it (see bottom):

https://i.imgur.com/k4Qmu8p.png

You need to open the toolbar docker, then dock your window into it, then attach the docker to main window. Then you can mess with their positioning.

What theme is that?

EvilDragon · 12-11-2015, 12:29 PM

First version of RADO v4.

rparmar · 12-11-2015, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

First version of RADO v4.

Ha! We both like that one apparently.

EvilDragon · 12-11-2015, 03:11 PM

You have the later version of it. I have the older one. Looks classier to me.

BobF · 12-11-2015, 06:03 PM

How do I fond the exact one ED is using? I downloaded the closest I could find. Very clean, just the right amount of contrast.

Overall very nice.

Fergler · 12-11-2015, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

Yeah, you need to tear out one of the tabs and try positioning it where you want. You will see the blue rectangle getting WIDE (rather than sized as a tab), when you see that, drop it. Voila, side by side.

No,the Blender example allows each module to be split in half and in half again as many times as wanted. Reaper works instead using 4 edges, of which the transport is irrelevant (if it's at the top, then it is always above everything else, for e.g.) and the modules you place are not dividable, with the exception it would seem of docks.