AfterStep is a

stacking window manager A stacking window manager (also called floating window manager) is a window manager that draws and allows windows to overlap, without using a compositing algorithm. All window managers that allow the overlapping of windows but are not compositing ...

for the

X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The X protocol has been at ...

. The goal of AfterStep's development is to provide for flexibility of desktop configuration, improved aesthetics and efficient use of system resources, and was used in such distributions as

MachTen MachTen is a Unix-like operating system from Tenon Intersystems. It is based on 4.4BSD and the Mach kernel, and features the X Window System and GNU programming tools. It runs only as a classic Mac OS application program (in a virtual machine) ...

. AfterStep originally was a variant of

FVWM The F Virtual Window Manager (FVWM) is a virtual window manager for the X Window System. Originally a twm derivative, FVWM is now a window manager for Unix-like systems. History In 1993, during his work analyzing acoustic signatures for the ...

modified to resemble

NeXTSTEP NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT, founded by Steve Jobs, in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its ...

, but as the development cycle progressed, it diverged from its FVWM roots. In 2000, Linux website TuxRadar selected AfterStep as one of the year's best window managers, praising it as "fast and reliable, with a huge range of configuration options and the ability to create some spectacular themes".

Features

Features of the AfterStep window manager include: * Stacking windows * Written in C * Window decorations include borders and titlebars * Titlebars have buttons for menu, minimize, maximize and close * Active applications can be displayed in a taskbar via the winlist module * Uses the

GTK+ GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free software cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and proprietary s ...

toolkit * Support for modules * Support for multiple desktops * Desktop switching via a

pager A pager, also known as a beeper or bleeper, is a Wireless communication, wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays Alphanumericals, alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response p ...

module * Dependent on

Perl Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Though Perl is not officially an acronym, there are various backronyms in use, including "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language". Perl was developed ...

and

ImageMagick ImageMagick, invoked from the command line as magick, is a free and open-source cross-platform software suite for displaying, creating, converting, modifying, and editing raster images. ImageMagick was created by John Cristy in 1987, and it ...

Modules

AfterStep includes several modules such as: * Pager - a visual tool for managing and cycling between multiple desktops * WinList - a simple

Taskbar The taskbar is a graphical user interface element that has been part of Microsoft Windows since Windows 95, displaying and facilitating switching between running computer program, programs. The taskbar and the associated Start menu, Start Menu were ...

displaying active applications * Wharf - docking tool that manages

Applet In computing, an applet is any small application that performs one specific task that runs within the scope of a dedicated widget engine or a larger program, often as a plug-in. The term is frequently used to refer to a Java applet, a program ...

Dockapps Dockapps are computer program, computer programs that have a tiny graphical user interface, graphical interface, the size of an icon (computing), icon. They typically reside in a part of the user interface known as the Dock (computing), dock, along ...

and launches application. AfterStep also supports virtual screens, and relies on a set of text-based configuration files for customizing its appearance. AfterStep is maintained by a small community of developers with Sasha Vasko serving as project manager.

References

External links

Official website
*
AfterWiki Main PageAfterStep AppletsWindow Manager for X: AfterStepRob's AfterStep PageAfterStep 1.3.1
article by Guylhem Aznar in Linux Journal {{DEFAULTSORT:Afterstep Free X window managers Software using the MIT license Window managers that use GTK

Features

Modules

See also

References

External links