X-Git-Url: https://git.decadent.org.uk/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=ionconf%2Fnode2.html;h=891f2df10f7670959e44d67c388554b6b360225f;hb=428266c577f55bd77cf036ed0d2af379613471e4;hp=daebdf487a17e78f6bd16082fd506ac2f0a24715;hpb=a35ba2541b8601953ae94f779a85ae70de19cd11;p=ion3-doc.git diff --git a/ionconf/node2.html b/ionconf/node2.html index daebdf4..891f2df 100644 --- a/ionconf/node2.html +++ b/ionconf/node2.html @@ -28,31 +28,31 @@ original version by: Nikos Drakos, CBLU, University of Leeds @@ -63,99 +63,91 @@ original version by: Nikos Drakos, CBLU, University of Leeds

-This document is an ''advanced user'' manual for Ion, the X11 window manager, -and version 3 specifically. It is an attempt attempt at documenting what is -in Ion's configuration files, how to configure Ion by simple modifications +This document is an ``advanced user'' manual for the X11 window manager +Ion, version 3. It is an attempt at documenting things that go into Ion's +configuration files, how to configure Ion by simple modifications to these files and how to write more complex extensions in Lua, the lightweight configuration and scripting language used by Ion.

-Readers unfamiliar with Lua is advised to first glance at the Lua manual at +Readers unfamiliar with Lua might first want to first glance at some +Lua documentation at

http://www.lua.org/docs.html -

- -

-and perhaps some tutorial pages at the lua-users wiki: + HREF="http://www.lua.org/docs.html">http://www.lua.org/docs.html, or +
http://lua-users.org/wiki/LuaTutorial, -

-http://lua-users.org/wiki/LuaTutorial

-Back in this document, first in chapter 2 some key -concepts and relations are explained. These include the module system -and Ion's object and class hierarchies. While it might not at first -occur that knowing such things would be necessary to configure -a program, this material is essential because of the object-oriented -nature of most of Ion's scripting interface. +although this should not be strictly necessary for basic modifications +of configuration files for anyone with at least some familiarity with +programming languages.

-The new user, fed up with the default key bindings and eager to just -quickly configure Ion to his liking may question the reasons for -exposing the ''heavy'' internal OO structure in the scripting and -configuration interface. I'm not the one to blame him for that. -Sure it would be faster to configure Ion to everyone's liking -if a simpler binding configuration interface was provided. Such an -interface would, however, also be far more limited and make writing -extensions more complicated and the advantages from using a real -scripting language would be partly lost. One more advantage from -a rich scripting and configuration interface is that it allows -implementing scripts to read alternate configuration file formats, -ones that could be, for example, modified by external configuration tools. +Back in this document, first in chapter 2 some key +concepts and relations are explained. These include the module system, +and Ion's object (or ``region'') and class hierarchies. While it may +not be necessary to study the latter for basic copy-paste modifications +of configuration files - for that you should not really need this +manual either - it is, however, essential to for more extensive +customisation, due to the semi-object-oriented nature of most of +Ion's scripting interface. Knowing the different object types also +helps dealing with the different binding ``contexts'' (see +Section 3.3) that to some extent mirror these classes.

-In chapter 3 the very basic Ion configuration know-how -is provided. All the different configuration files and their locations -are explained and instructions are given to allow the reader to -configure bindings and so-called ''winprops''. Chapter 4 -explains the notion of drawing engines and graphical styles and how to -write new looks for Ion and more advanced aspects of Ion's scripting -interface are documented in chapter 5 (a work in -progress). +The new user, fed up with the default key bindings and eager to +just quickly configure Ion to his liking, may therefore just want +to skip to Chapter 3, and attempt to work from therefore. +That chapter provides the very basic Ion configuration know-how +is provided: all the different configuration files and their locations +are explained, instructions are given to allow the reader to +configure bindings and so-called ``winprops'', and the statusbar +templates are also explained.

+Next, Chapter 4 explains the notion of drawing engines +and graphical styles and how to write new looks for Ion. More advanced +aspects of Ion's scripting interface are documented in Chapter +5. Finally, most of the functions provided by Ion's scripting interface -are listed and documented in the Function reference in chapter -6. At the end of the document is an alphabetical -listing of all these functions. - -

+are listed and documented in the Function reference in Chapter +6. At the end of the document an alphabetical +listing of all these functions may be found.