Metacity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 Metacity running on GNOME |
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| Developer(s) | GNOME Team |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 2.4.2 4th October 2002 |
| Stable release | 2.26 (18 March 2009) [+/−] |
| Preview release | [+/−] |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Linux, Solaris, BSD, other Unix-like |
| Platform | GNOME |
| Type | X window manager |
| License | GNU General Public License |
Metacity (pronounced /məˈtæsəti/, rhyming with "capacity" with the stress on the second syllable[1]) is a compositing window manager used by default in the GNOME desktop environment.[2] The development of Metacity was started by Havoc Pennington and it is released under the GNU General Public License.
Before the introduction of Metacity in GNOME 2.2, GNOME used Enlightenment and then Sawfish as its window manager. Although Metacity is part of the GNOME project and designed to integrate into the GNOME desktop, it does not require GNOME to run, and GNOME can be used with different window managers provided that they support the part of the ICCCM specification that GNOME requires.
Metacity uses the GTK+ graphical widget toolkit to create its user interface components, which makes it themeable and makes it blend in with other GTK+ applications.
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[edit] Philosophy
Metacity's focus is on simplicity and usability rather than novelties. Its author has characterized it as a "Boring window manager for the adult in you. Many window managers are like Marshmallow Froot Loops; Metacity is like Cheerios."[3] Due to its lack of configuration options, people in favour of Metacity say that GNOME is aimed at new computer users who do not need the extreme options and functionality of Sawfish or Enlightenment.[4] Havoc Pennington wrote an essay explaining why he wrote Metacity and simplified the GNOME desktop.[5] Some applications to give more control over windows are Devil's Pie and Brightside. However, these applications cannot overload or override Metacity's key bindings.
[edit] Themes
Despite the incomplete state of Metacity theme development documentation, many themes have been written for Metacity. A huge number of such themes can be downloaded from GNOME's art site, art.gnome.org. A popular theme engine is Clearlooks, which has been GNOME's default since version 2.12.[6]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Description of the RPM package". http://rpmfind.net/linux/RPM/ximian/gnome-2-snapshot/redhat-72-i386/metacity-2.4.3.0.200210290744-0.snap.ximian.1.i386.html. Retrieved on 2006-10-17.
- ^ "GNOME 2.2 Gains Muscle and Polish". http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1157715,00.asp. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
- ^ "README of Metacity". http://git.gnome.org/cgit/metacity/tree/README. Retrieved on 2009-05-09.
- ^ "Innovations in window management". http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/01/19/166244&tid=130&tid=132. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
- ^ "Free software and good user interfaces". http://ometer.com/free-software-ui.html. Retrieved on 2006-10-17.
- ^ "GNOME Art – window borders". http://art.gnome.org/themes/metacity/?sort_by=rating&thumbnails_per_page=12&view=list&order=DESC. Retrieved on 2006-10-17.
[edit] External links
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