1) Introduction

XFwm is based on FVWM2, from Robert Nation and Charles Hines. Historically, XFCE was designed to work with FVWM, so when I decided to create a Window Manager for XFCE, I started from FVWM... The code of FVWM has been deeply modified and made simpler, every unused feature has been removed and some bugs have been fixed.

Now, XFwm is available, and it is exactly like I wanted : Good looking, light and efficient !
 

In XFwm, every window features a title bar and 4 little buttons beside the title bar.

Note : The gradient aspect of the the title bar is only available if you use a color depth higher that 8 bit. 256 colors and lower depths cannot display the gradient title bar.
 

	This button opens a little menu that provides basic window operations such as Move, Close Resize, Iconify, etc. Double clicking on this button will close the current window.
	This button acts like a switch. It sticks on unsticks the current window. A sticky window will remain on screen, even when you switch to another desktop.
	This little button iconifies the current window. If the application provides its own icon, this icon will be used. If it doesn't, a default icon will be displayed.
	This button "maximizes" the current window. A maximized window will occupy the entire display.

The "active" window is the one that has focus on. Other widows are considered as "inactive".

You can easily distinguish which window is active by looking at the titlebar :
 
 

	Denotes the active window (with the default color panel)
	Denotes any other inactive window

3) The color panels

The color schemes used in XFwm are the ones used for XFCE. Every time you change the colors in XFCE, all the windows will inherit the same color scheme.

This feature gives a very easy and intuitive way to configure your window manager at your taste without writing a single line of configuration file !

Select the configuration panel, and load or define your own color scheme.

Thanks to these parameters, you can easily change the look of the windows in XFwm :
 
 

From Xfce's Control Panel, you can also define the focus mode, if you wish to click to focus windows or let focus follows the mouse cursor.

4) The configuration file for XFwm

XFwm is already preconfigured. Although, most parameters can be overridden by creating or editing your own configuration file.

The configuration file can be one of the following files :
 

• .xfwmrc
• system.xfwmrc
• sample.xfwmrc

XFwm accepts the following syntax in its configuration files :
 
 

ActiveColor <c1> <c2> (*)	Define color for active windows	ActiveColor #c0c0c0 #ffffff
AddToFunc <fn>	Begins  or add to a function definition	AddToFunc Move-or-Raise "I" Raise  + "M" Move  + "D" Lower
AddToMenu <mn>	Begins  or  adds to a menu definition	AddToMenu "Utilities"  + "Xterm"         Exec  xterm -e tcsh
AnimateWin	Enable or disable window's animations	AnimateWin On  AnimateWin Off
AutoRaise (*)	Enable or disable autoraise of windows (when FocusMode is set to FollowMouse)	AutoRaise On AutoRaise Off
Beep	Make the computer beep	Beep
ClickTime <ct>	Specifies  the  maximum  delay  (in   milliseconds) between a button press and a button release	ClickTime 150
Close	Close the current window	Close
ColormapFocus	Colormap is assigned to the window that has the focus	ColormapFocus
CursorColor <c1> <c2> (*)	Define mouse cursor colors	CursorColor red white
CursorMove <n1> <n2>	Moves the cursor of n1%of screen vertically and n2%of screen horizontally	CursorMove 10 10
Delete	Sends a message to a window asking that  it remove itself	Delete
Desk <d1> [<d2>] (*)	Change to another desk/workspace	Desk <0>
DesktopSize <Hor>x<Ver>	Defines  the  virtual  desktop size in units of physical screen size.	DesktopSize 4x1
Destroy	Destroys  an  application  window	Destroy
DestroyFunc <fn>	Removes an uneeded function	DestroyFunc "Move-or-Raise"
DestroyMenu <mn>	Removes an uneeded menu	DestroyMenu "Utilities"
Echo <s>	Prints a string to stderr	Echo "Done"
Exec <c>	Executes a command	exec xedit
ExecUseSHELL <c>	Defines a shell as default for Exec	ExecUseSHELL bash
FlipFocus	Toggle focus between the last two focused windows	FlipFocus
Focus	Gives focus to a window	Focus
FocusMode (*)	Defines focus mode	FocusMode ClickToFocus  FocusMode FollowMouse
Function <fn>	Binds a function to a mouse or a key	Mouse 1 T A Function Move-or-Raise
GotoPage <x> <y>	Moves viewport to page (x,y)	GotoPage 3 2
IconFont <font>	Defines font used to display icons	IconFont -*-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Iconify	Iconify/Deiconify  a window	Iconify
InactiveColor <c1> <c2> (*)	Defines colors for inactive windows	InactiveColors grey77 black
Key <key> <context> <modif> <fn>	Binds a keyboard key to a specified functions	Key F11  A  SCM  WindowList
KillModule <m>	Kills a module	KillModule xfce
Lower	Lowers a window	Lower
Maximize	Maximizes a window	Maximize
Menu <m> <dbl-click-action>	Displays menu <m> or triggers action if user performed a double click	Menu "Utilities" Close
MenuColor <c1> <c2> <c3> <c4> (*)	Defines colors for menus	MenuColor red blue yellow green
MenuFont <font>	Defines menu font	MenuFont  -*-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Module <m>	Executes a module	Module xfce
ModulePath	Set Module path	ModulePath $PATH
Mouse <mouse> <context> <modif> <fn>	Binds a mouse button to a specified function	Mouse 1   R    A   Menu "Root" Nop
Move [<x> <y>]	Moves a window	Move
Nop	Does nothing	Nop
OpaqueMove (*)	If set, XFwm displays the contents of window during move	OpaqueMove On OpaqueMove Off
PopUp	Popup a menu or a submenu	Popup "Quit"
Quit	Ends XFce	Quit
Raise	Raises a window	Raise
RaiseLower	Raises or lowers a window	RaiseLower
Recapture	Recapture all windows	Recapture
Refresh	Refreshes the screen	Refresh
Resize [<x> <y>]	Resizes a window	Resize
Restart	Restarts XFwm	Restart
Stick	Makes a window sticky	Stick
Style <win> <s1> [,<s2> [,<s3> [<s4>]...]]	Gives a style to one or several windows	Style "XFce*" Sticky
TitleStyle <type> Gradient <c1> <c2> (*)  TitleStyle <type> Solid <c> (*)	Defines title bar style	TitleStyle Active Gradient blue grey77  TitleStyle Inactive Solid grey60
Wait <name>	Waits until window <name> appears	Waiit xterm
WindowFont	Defines font for window titles	indowFont -*-helvetica-bold-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
WindowList	Gives a list a all windows displayed on screen	Windowlist
XORvalue <n>	Changes the value with which bits are  XOR'ed  when doing  rubber-band window resizing

Note : (*) denotes parameters overridden by XFce at startup

Modifiers are :
 

N	No modifier
S	Shift
M	Meta
A	Any modifier

Contexts are :
 

R	Root window
W	Application window
T	Title
S	Sides
F	Frame
I	Icon
1-4	Title bar buttons
A	Any context

5) Default sample.xfwmrc file

MenuFont            -*-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
WindowFont          -*-helvetica-bold-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
IconFont            -*-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

CursorColor         red white
AnimateWin On
FocusMode ClickToFocus

Style "*"           DecorateTransient
Style "*"           BorderWidth 5

Style "XFce*"       Sticky
Style "XFbd*"       Sticky
Style "Popup menu*" Sticky
Style "Alert*"      Sticky
Style "Question*"   Sticky

AddToMenu "Exit"
+ "&Restart "       Restart xfwm
+ "&Quit "          Quit
+ ""                Nop
+ "&Cancel "        Nop

AddToMenu "Window"
+ "&Move"           Move
+ "&Resize"         Resize
+ "(De)&Iconify"    Iconify
+ "(Un)&Stick"      Stick
+ "(Un)Ma&ximize"   Maximize 100 100
+ ""                Nop
+ "&Close"          Delete
+ ""                Nop
+ "S&witch to..."   WindowList

AddToMenu "Root"
+ "New window"      Exec xterm
+ "Shuffle Up"      Next [*] focus
+ "Shuffle Down"    Prev [*] focus
+ "Refresh"         Refresh
+ ""                Nop
+ "&Backdrop..."    Exec xfbd -i
+ ""                Nop
+ "&Quit XFWM"      Popup "Exit"

# This defines the most common window operations

AddToFunc "windowops-or-die"
+ "M" PopUp "Window"
+ "C" PopUp "Window"
+ "D" Close

#     But Cont Mod Function
Mouse 1   R    A   Menu "Root" Nop
Mouse 2   R    A   Menu "Window" Nop

#     But Cont Mod Function
Mouse 0   1    A   Function "windowops-or-die"

Mouse 2   I    A   Menu "Window" Nop

Key Left  A    SC  CursorMove -1  0
Key Right A    SC  CursorMove +1 +0
Key Up    A    SC  CursorMove +0 -1
Key Down  A    SC  CursorMove +0 +1

Key Left  A    SM  CursorMove -10 +0
Key Right A    SM  CursorMove +10 +0
Key Up    A    SM  CursorMove +0 -10
Key Down  A    SM  CursorMove +0 +10

Key F1    A    M   Popup "Window"
Key F2    A    M   Popup "Root"
Key F3    A    M   Lower
Key F4    A    M   Destroy
Key F5    A    M   Next [*] focus
Key F6    A    M   Prev [*] focus
Key F7    A    M   Move
Key F8    A    M   Resize
Key F9    A    M   Iconify
Key F10   A    M   Maximize

Key L5    IW   N   RaiseLower
Key L5    IW   S   Lower
Key L5    IW   C   Raise
Key L7    IW   A   Iconify