Looking for volunteers to take over maintainance

[zakkak]

In 2014 I took over the maintenance of this plugin and the day that I can no longer maintain it (mainly because I no longer use Gnome) has come.

I would like to request volunteers willing to take over to reply to this issue or contact me through email.

The repository has been transferred to the workspace-grid organization and new maintainers will be added as collaborators there.

Please note that in order to become a maintainer you need to somehow demonstrate that you qualify for it (e.g. by submitting a PR)

[tom-james-watson]

Thank you for maintaining over the years - gnome is pretty much unusable without a workspace grid!

[mzur]

For anyone interested I can offer Workspace Matrix as an alternative (with less features). Unfortunately I don't have any spare time to maintain Workspace Grid as well, sorry. Does anyone have a complete list of the features of Workspace Grid? If the two extensions do not differ too much, maybe Workspace Matrix can be improved so it can replace Workspace Grid.

[mikehardy]

@zakkak just a thanks from me as well, cheers
@mzur I will give Matrix a try but it does seem as though 2 things doing NxN layout is 1 thing too many if there is no real philosophical separation. Maybe that's the path forward. Thanks for you as well :-)

[Dr-Xperience]

I am pretty noob in GObjects and stuff. I used to be C++ developer. Currently working on Node.js and Typescript for past 1.5 year. I will be happy to help in anyway possible.

[mzur]

Okay, I'd like to make a list of the features. Once the list is complete, I can make a poll for which of those features are used the most. If there is a popular feature of Workspace Grid that Workspace Matrix does not have, I might add it to the roadmap. I might not be able to work on it anytime soon but maybe somebody else is willing to contribute, too. Once everybody is statisfied with the set of features, Workspace Matrix could become some kind of "Workspace Grid 2".

Workspace Grid + Workspace Matrix

• Configurable number of rows and columns of workspaces
• 2D layout of the workspaces in the workspace switcher popup

Workspace Matrix

• Workspace thumbnails in the workspace switcher popup
• Configurable scale of the workspace thumbnails in the workspace switcher popup

Workspace Grid

• Shrink workspace icons if the workspace switcher popup becomes too wide/high
• Wrap around switching of workspaces globally
• Wrap around switching of workspaces in the same row/column
• Workspace labels in the workspace switcher popup
• 2D layout of the workspaces in the activity overview

Did I miss anything?

[mikehardy]

If I'm voting, it's for wraparound switching. And I would quickly become used to whichever style if there was only one style (I have switched between the two styles myself before). The graphical stuff to me is "interesting" (which is to say, I can impress people looking over my shoulder with how cool it all looks) but I am constantly flipping through screens via command line and I wrap-around all the time

But I also do quite a bit of open source so I get that unless I make a PR, it's up to who ever does make a PR :)

[Dr-Xperience]

My most used features are

• 2D layout of the workspaces in the activity overview
• Workspace labels in the workspace switcher popup

Oh I didn't read the PR request in the comment. I will make the necessary changes and will make a PR request in time.

[mzur]

Just so you know: I wanted to have a complete list of the features before I start a poll. This isn't the poll, yet 😉

@Dr-Xperience If you want to continue development on Workspace Grid we don't need to have this discussion about Workspace Matrix at all. I'd be content if Workspace Matrix remained the more focussed alternative with less features.

[Dr-Xperience]

@Dr-Xperience If you want to continue development on Workspace Grid we don't need to have this discussion about Workspace Matrix at all. I'd be content if Workspace Matrix remained the more focussed alternative with less features.

@mzur Just so you know Sir, I am complete noob in the extension space. It probably will take me some extra time in getting things done 😨

[mzur]

I am complete noob in the extension space.

So was I a couple of months ago. It's not too hard to learn if you already know JavaScript. The only thing we need to decide right now is whether you (and maybe others) want to continue maintenance of Workspace Grid or if we want to join forces and establish Workspace Matrix as a successor of Workspace Grid.

[TheBlackKoala]

I'm up for joining a team to maintain workspace-grid.
I don't have any experience in gnome-extensions or any real experience in javascript but i've almost got a masters in computer science and i read most of the code when gnome updated to 3.30 and it seems quite straight forward and nothing too complicated, it's just changing the gnome system calls every time a new update comes along.

Also i'm very proficient at copying and pasting from others work: Computer programming to be officially renamed googling stackoverflow

[mzur]

Okay so there seem to be two volunteers who would continue maintenance of Workspace Grid so far. Nevertheless, I created a poll for the desired features of a 2D workspace extension. I think the results might be interesting in any case. I'll leave the poll open for a few weeks and see if there have been "enough" answers by then. Please answer the poll only once.

Answer the poll.

[mzur]

Thanks to @ebeem, Workspace Matrix is now almost on par with the features of Workspace Grid. The only missing feature is the integration in the activity overview which we are discussing in mzur/gnome-shell-wsmatrix#13. With these new features, Workspace Matrix could become a replacement for Workspace Grid in future versions of GNOME.

I'm open for suggestions on how the development/maintenance of Workspace Grid and Workspace Matrix should continue. I share the opinion of @mikehardy that two extensions attempting to do the same thing are one extension too many.

Here are the results of the poll so far. I'll leave it open for the time being.

Feature	Votes
Configurable number of rows and columns of workspaces	81 (89%)
2D layout of the workspaces in the workspace switcher popup	56 (62%)
Workspace thumbnails	52 (57%)
2D layout of the workspaces in the activity overview	40 (44%)
Wrap around switching of workspaces in the same row/column	30 (33%)
Workspace labels in the workspace switcher popup	27 (30%)
Wrap around switching of workspaces globally (e.g. from last to first)	23 (25%)
Configurable scale of the workspace icons/thumbnails in the workspace switcher popup	22 (24%)
Shrink workspace icons/thumbnails if the workspace switcher popup becomes too wide/high	22 (24%)

[zakkak]

That's great @mzur.

I think a table showing whether the corresponding feature is available in ws-matrix and workspace grid is even more useful/impressive :) .

Feature	Votes	ws-grid	ws-matrix
Configurable number of rows and columns of workspaces	81 (89%)	Yes	Yes
2D layout of the workspaces in the workspace switcher popup	56 (62%)	Yes	Yes
Workspace thumbnails	52 (57%)	No	Yes
2D layout of the workspaces in the activity overview	40 (44%)	Yes	No (see mzur/gnome-shell-wsmatrix#13)
Wrap around switching of workspaces in the same row/column	30 (33%)	Yes	Yes
Workspace labels in the workspace switcher popup	27 (30%)	Yes	Yes
Wrap around switching of workspaces globally (e.g. from last to first)	23 (25%)	Yes	Yes
Configurable scale of the workspace icons/thumbnails in the workspace switcher popup	22 (24%)	No	Yes
Shrink workspace icons/thumbnails if the workspace switcher popup becomes too wide/high	22 (24%)	No	No

I agree that having two extensions that do almost the same thing doesn't make much sense.
I believe the best thing to do is to archive workspace-grid and redirect traffic to ws-matrix.
People willing to work on workspace-grid could instead focus on improving ws-matrix.

In case you believe workspace-grid is a better naming than ws-matrix I can give @mzur the ownership on gnome-extensions.

[mzur]

I believe the best thing to do is to archive workspace-grid and redirect traffic to ws-matrix.
People willing to work on workspace-grid could instead focus on improving ws-matrix.

This could be done in two ways:

1. Just redirect users to Workspace Matrix.
2. Establish Workspace Matrix as "Workspace Grid 2". I could transfer my repository to the new workspace-grid organization.

I like the name Workspace Grid better but I don't know if an extension can be renamed at gnome.extensions.org.

[TheBlackKoala]

I have just installed workspace matrix to check it out and will confirm that it has almost all of the functionality that workspace-grid has so i would suggest we all go to workspace-matrix.

[zakkak]

@mzur I sent an invitation to you so that you can transfer ws matrix to this organization if you want.

Regarding extensions.gnome.org we can ask the admins through email to transfer the workspace-grid ownership to your account so that you can then upload workspace-grid 2 there if you like. (That's how we did it with @mathematicalcoffee back then).

Please let me know what you prefer.

[thekswenson]

@TheBlackKoala : how is the performance of workspace matrix on your setup? I notice a significant difference between the smoothness of the grid over the matrix. Is this possible?

[TheBlackKoala]

@thekswenson it's not quite as smooth but not by much - i have the thumbnails disabled.

[ebeem]

@thekswenson @TheBlackKoala
we have done some major performance tweaks on thumbnails lately, please try the PR #27 and let us know how well it works for you

[mzur]

@zakkak Thanks for the invitation. I gave this some more thought and I think I prefer to keep the separation between Workspace Grid and Workspace Matrix as it is, for now. That way there should be less confusion for the users and (I hope) less administration work for me. I joined your organization anyway because I still like to keep a transfer of Workspace Matrix to this organization as an option. Also, I could help with sunsetting of Workspace Grid (adding a notice to the readme, closing or transferring open issues) if this is ok with you.

[thekswenson]

@ebeem
MUCH better, thanks!

[mfrasca]

Looking for volunteers to take over maintainance

hi @zakkak , did we find new maintainers for workspace grid? Please count me as available, but also how do you think we should continue?

I installed the other tool, and after a few days of trying if I liked it, I decided I don't, and removed it. Anyway, I prefer discussing the issues under their own names.

[zakkak]

hi @zakkak , did we find new maintainers for workspace grid?

Hi @mfrasca, I believe the consensus was that ws-matrix is a good replacement and people moved to it.

Please count me as available, but also how do you think we should continue?

I think the best way is by creating PRs that fix thinks. After a couple of successful PRs any contributor that would like to take-over will be promoted to a maintainer.

I installed the other tool, and after a few days of trying if I liked it, I decided I don't, and removed it. Anyway, I prefer discussing the issues under their own names.

Before investing time on workspace-grid please consider whether what you don't like in ws-matrix can be fixed.

[mfrasca]

please consider whether what you don't like in ws-matrix can be fixed.

in my opinion, wsmatrix does not compare in any way to the old workspace-grid. but I'll make the effort two open a few issues there, each of which is a 'no-go' in my opinion. I am currently not using it.

[SKelem]

My biggest request is that, for a 4x4 array of workspaces, that the taskbar summary it not appear as a 16x1 row that takes up so much space that it pushes the important options (logout, shutdown, switch user, etc) off-screen. I don't see a configuration item for what appears on the taskbar. A 1x1 icon that, when clicked, shows the 4x4 summary would be great!

[pplanel]

So new maintainer? @zakkak lets talk?

[zakkak]

@pplanel sorry for the late reply. As mentioned in the first comment:

Please note that in order to become a maintainer you need to somehow demonstrate that you qualify for it (e.g. by submitting a PR)

Also note that working on https://github.com/mzur/gnome-shell-wsmatrix might be more beneficial for everyone.

[hwpplayer1]

Hi there!

I have no experience, but i want to get involved.

Thanks, happy hacking!

[zakkak]

@hwpplayer1

As mentioned in the first comment:

Please note that in order to become a maintainer you need to somehow demonstrate that you qualify for it (e.g. by submitting a PR)

Also note that working on https://github.com/mzur/gnome-shell-wsmatrix might be more beneficial for everyone.

[hwpplayer1]

@zakkak Thanks for clarification, i wrote in short, I know and/or i can handle Git/GitHub and other platforms, i mean while writing source code, i'll need some help.

For a quick solution, i'll be interested in documentation and translation.

Thanks, happy hacking!

[zakkak]

@hwpplayer1 you are better of helping in https://github.com/mzur/gnome-shell-wsmatrix then. This project is not maintained anymore.

Thanks