Avant Window Navigator 0.3.2: Form and Function on the Linux Desktop
by Kristin Shoemaker - Feb. 11, 2009Comments (1)- Related Blog Posts
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I tend to change desktop environments almost as often as I switch distributions. My newly acquired laptop came with the GNOME desktop environment, configured in a pretty generic manner. It's functional, sure, and its appearance can be altered easily.
Late last weekend, the Avant Window Navigator (Awn) and Avant Extras teams released Avant Window Navigator 0.3.2. I've used other dock applications in Linux, and while I've always liked the idea (and look), they were too rough around the edges for day to day use.
I've been running AWN in lieu of the lower GNOME panel for several days, and I'm really pleased. It's stable in my 64-bit Ubuntu install, and configuring the dock to behave (and look) as desired is simple. That's not to say there aren't quirks, but none have been deal-breakers.
Any window manager that can handle compositing should be able to run Awn. Awn also works with the standalone compositing managers such as Cairo Compositing Manager and xcompmgr, to extend support to those using window managers lacking built-in support. Awn, then, isn't limited to the GNOME environment (though developer Mark Lee says that the keyfile-based configuration is still unstable, and best results come when Awn's used with the GConf backend).
Is a dock functionally different than a static panel? No, not really. It's easier to change the look, feel, and feedback you get from the dock than it is a panel. There's an interactive element to it, there are a few more tweaks that can be done to make it work visually with the rest of the desktop, but applets, launchers and menus all act much the same way. There's a strong element of "because it can" with opting for Awn over the traditional panel, but it's not all form without function. The visual feedback on mouse overs (both in terms of icon behavior and tooltips) is useful and the dock draws attention to active applets where panels have the tendency to simply blend in.
Awn's 0.3.2 release features a checkbox to start the dock on login. For whatever reason, this didn't work for me. Adding Awn to my startup programs in GNOME launches the dock reliably, however. I also found (and this could be unrelated to Awn, though the issue began after I installed it) that Firefox would start without window decorations and borders (pressing F11 twice would bring them back). This is at core a compositor issue, and disabling legacy full screen support in Compiz Settings Utilities fixed the problem. It may be completely unrelated, or it may be that Awn's interaction with the compositor caused a hiccup elsewhere.
Awn looks great. But just as important, it's responsive, stable, and while there might be rough edges, they aren't so rough that I'll have to discontinue using it. The upcoming 0.4.0 release will see the applet and dock API completely rewritten, with some of the less critical (but slightly annoying) bugs in this release addressed (such as the inability to move the dock from the bottom edge of the screen).
It's a functional and sharp departure from the same old panel. It'll be interesting to see what Awn rolls out for 0.4.0.
