How to put borders around jwm tasklist items?

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wayover13
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon 27 Feb 2006, 18:31

How to put borders around jwm tasklist items?

#1 Post by wayover13 »

Ok. I'm not currently a Puppy user, though I've fiddled with it over the years--both as a live distro as well as an installed one. So though I'm pretty familiar with its operation and construction, the current query relates to jwm as installed on my Arch Linux system. I turn to this forum because it seems like this is the most likely place to get jwm configuration help (last jwm query I made on Arch forums got no replies, so I think not many Arch users are running jwm any more).

What I want to do relates to what I think is called the tasklist. That is the area where a representation of currently-open and running applications can be found--usually ones that are minimized. I have such a tasklist in the bar at the bottom of my window (I have a bar at the top as well, since this configuration is meant to be a sort of mock-up of gnome 2, but there is no tasklist there).

The problem I have is that open and running running applications found in the tasklist are not clearly segregated from one another. I see there a list of names indicating what programs are represented, but there are not clear demarcations between them--say, like a line of some sort. I hope what I am describing will be clear.

In any case, I know it is possible to cause jwm to put some sort of border around each of these items in the tasklist, which should help to more clealry demarcate those items. An example of a tasklist with the sorts of borders I am describing can be seen at the bottom of the screenshot at http://s46.photobucket.com/user/timcrig ... r.png.html.

So what sort of configuration change do I need to make--to, I presume, my .jwmrc file--in order to get those borders around tasklist items to appear? Input on this issue will be appreciated.

wayover13
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon 27 Feb 2006, 18:31

#2 Post by wayover13 »

Here's a better screenshot showing the tasklist with items segregated using borders around each: http://puppylinux.dreamhosters.com/vers ... tons1a.png

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MochiMoppel
Posts: 2084
Joined: Wed 26 Jan 2011, 09:06
Location: Japan

#3 Post by MochiMoppel »

Depends on your JWM version. In any case you can edit file /root/.jwmrc-tray and change the <Traystyle> section. There is no border setting, but giving the tabs a different color than the desktop background can make them better distinguishable. I'm using an older version (see screenshot), but if you use version 2.3 or newer you should set decorations="motif" instead of the default "flat". This should make a difference.
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wayover13
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon 27 Feb 2006, 18:31

#4 Post by wayover13 »

Yes, setting decorations="motif" certainly helps, MochiMoppel. Thanks for suggesting that. It causes a sliver of lighter color to appear between each item, which is a lot more usable than the previous look. Aesthetically I would still like to have as well something like the border that appears in your screenshot and the others I posted. That said, I can't get involved at the moment in a lot of aesthetic fine-tuning and may just wind up sticking with this improvement.

This is jwm version 2.3.5, btw.

PS I may be facing issues related to accreted configuration files since I've been nursing this system along as I continually upgrade it over the years. It seems the standard is now to have a few .jwmrc files that define these sorts of things, while this system dates to a time when .jwmrc was the only config file. Plus, I just appropriated and modified, when first setting this up, someone else's .jwmrc, getting it to give the look I wanted by slash and burn trial and error. So my config file is a bit of a dog's breakfast. Those two factors may be causing some of my difficulties.

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