    X-Desk v1.4
    Monday, April 28, 1997

    INDEX
    
    1)  What is X-Desk?
    2)  Distribution
    3)  New features for v1.4
    4)  Installation
    5)  X-Desk Settings
    6)  Usage Notes
    7)  Bugs
    8)  License Agreement
    9)  Notes

1)  What is X-Desk?

X-Desk is a free Windows 95 desktop manager that
allows your workspace to be divided into six
'virtual desktops'.  X-Desk allows you to
unclutter your workspace by running relatively
few applications on each virtual-desktop instead
of running all of the applications on a single
desktop. This program would be most useful to
those who typically run several applications at
once and find that their workspace is difficult
to navigate because of so many application
screens and icons floating around.  Navigation
between desktops is provided by pop-up menus in
the Win95 taskbar icon area or by using selected
hot-keys.  

2)  Distribution

This software is free of charge and may be freely
distributed (Freeware).


3) New Features for Version v1.4

    1)  Hot-keys can be used to switch from
        desktop to desktop.
    2)  Applications running on the current
        desktop can be moved to any other
        desktop.
    3)  A menu option is available to move all
        applications from desktops two through
        six to desktop one.
    4)  Various X-Desk user-defined preferences
        can now be set. 
    5)  In popup menus, application icons
        are now displayed adjacent to text
        describing the application.


4)  Installation

    1)  If necessary, uninstall previous version
        of X-Desk. 
    2)  Extract the files from the .zip archive 
        into a temporary directory (if you
        already haven't).
    3)  From the temporary directory, run
        'Setup.exe' and follow the on-screen
        instructions.
    4)  By default, X-Desk will install a
        shortcut to the executable in your
        StartUp folder so that X-Desk will
        automatically load whenever you start a
        new Windows 95 session.


5)  X-Desk Settings

New for version 1.4 are user-defined options that
govern the operation of some of X-Desk's behavior
as a desktop manager.  When X-Desk is started, a
2x3 grid icon will appear in the Win95 taskbar.
Right-clicking the taskbar grid icon displays
X-Desk's main pop-up menu.  Selecting
'Settings...' from the menu displays a dialog box
enabling the setting of several X-Desk options.
These options are described below: 

-- 'Hot-Key Behavior'
    (O)  'Switches to new desktop'
        The hot-keys directly take the user from
        one desktop to another, depending on the
        exact hot-key pressed.
    (O) 'Shows Pop-up menu'
        The hot-keys display a pop-up menu
        (similar to that activated by
        right-clicking the taskbar grid icon) in
        the upper left corner of the screen from
        which the user selects the desktop to
        switch to.
    --  'Meta Key'
        The Meta key is the first key of the
        hot-key combination.  X-Desk allows you
        to choose between ALT and CTRL keys as
        the meta key.
        (O) 'CTRL'
            The hot-keys for this option are
            CTRL+ARROW_KEY, where ARROW_KEY is
            any of the four keyboard arrows (UP,
            DOWN, LEFT, and RIGHT).
        (O) 'ALT'
            The hot-keys for this option are
            ALT+ARROW_KEY, where ARROW_KEY is any
            of the four keyboard arrows (UP,
            DOWN, LEFT, and RIGHT).
        
-- 'Left-(Double)Click Behavior'
        (O) 'Left-Double-Click advances desktop'
            Left-Double-Clicking the taskbar grid
            icon causes the current desktop to
            switch to the next desktop (e.g. from
            2 to 3, 3 to 4...). 
        (O) 'Left-Click Advances desktop'
            Left-Clicking the taskbar grid
            icon causes the current desktop to
            switch to the next desktop (e.g. from
            2 to 3, 3 to 4...). 
        (O) 'Left-Click displays shortcut menu'
            Left-Clicking the taskbar grid icon
            displays a simple pop-up menu from
            which the user selects one of the six
            desktops.
            
---     [x] 'Always Show "Always On Top" Windows'
            Some applications (like application
            launchers, for instance) are meant to
            be visible to the user at all times.
            Selecting this option will (I hope)
            keep applications with this property
            visible on ALL desktops.  Depending
            on the application with this
            property, selecting this option may
            or may not be successful in keeping
            the application visible on all
            desktops.  If in doubt as to whether
            to use this option, unselect it.


6) Usage Notes

When X-Desk is started, a 2x3 grid appears in the
taskbar icon area, each member of the grid
representing one of six desktops.  The currently
active desktop is highlighted in yellow, while
the remaining five desktops are in gray.  The
desktops are numbered from left-to-right,
top-to-bottom (i.e. desktop 1 is in the upper
left corner of the grid, desktop 6 in the lower
right).  Resting the mouse pointer on the grid
displays the current desktop number. 

        
-- Navigating Between Desktops with Pop-up Menu:  

Right-clicking the mouse on the taskbar grid icon
causes X-Desk's main pop-up menu to appear.
The pop-up menu items show the available
desktops to switch to (Desktop 1, Desktop 2, ...,
Desktop 6).  If one or more applications are
running on a desktop, a right-facing triangle (>)
appears next to the menu item, indicating that a
sub-menu is available for this menu item.  If no
right-facing triangle is present, no applications
are running on that desktop (the desktop is
empty) , and you may switch to the empty desktop
by simply selecting the menu item. 

Selecting a menu item with a right-facing
triangle displays a sub-menu listing applications
running on that desktop.  Selecting one of the
applications in the sub-menu switches to the
desktop containing the application and activates
that application. 

Additionally, a menu option entitled 'All
Desktops' on the main pop-up menu allows the user
to view applications running on all six of the
desktops.  Selecting an application on this menu
switches to the desktop that contains the
selected application (assuming the application is
not on the current desktop) and activates that
application.  Also, in the 'All Desktops' pop-up
menu, each application listed is followed by a
number in parentheses, indicating the desktop
that the application resides on. 


-- Moving Applications Between Desktops:

Applications on the current desktop can be moved
to any of the other five desktops by selecting
the current desktop (indicated by an 'X' to the
left of Desktop menu item) in the popup menu
described previously.  Assuming there are one or
more applications on the current desktop, the
sub-menu of the current desktop menu item
displays a list of the applications.  For each
application, a sub-menu can be activated with the
heading 'Move To...', followed by a list of
desktops. Selecting one of the desktops moves the
application from the current desktop to the
menu-selected desktop.  Applications can only be
moved from the current desktop to other desktops.   


-- Moving All Desktop Applications to Desktop 1:

There may be times when it is desirable to move
the applications of all desktops to a single
desktop, such as when ending your Windows
session.  To move applications from all desktops
to desktop 1: a) make desktop 1 the current
desktop; b) select 'Move All Here' from the
'Desktop 1' pop-up sub-menu. The menu option
'Move All Here' of the 'Desktop 1' sub-menu is
only displayed when desktop 1 is the current
desktop AND there is at least one application on
desktops two through six.


-- Navigation Between Desktops Using Hot-Keys:

Depending on the hot-key option chosen in the
X-Desk settings (described previously), the
hot-keys can be used to directly switch to
another desktop or to display a pop-up menu from
which a new desktop is chosen. With the 'Switches
to new desktop' selected in the 'Settings...'
dialog, the hot-keys switch to a new desktop
according to which hot-key was pressed and which
desktop is currently active. Using the taskbar
grid icon as a reference, the LEFT and
RIGHT-arrow hot-keys (modified with the Meta
key) are used to switch the desktop laterally in
the grid, while the UP and DOWN-arrow keys switch
the desktop vertically in the grid.

With the 'Shows pop-up menu' selected in the
'Settings...' dialog, pressing any of the four
hot-keys will display a pop-up menu in the upper
left corner of the screen.  The pop-up menu
displayed is an abbreviated version of the X-Desk
main pop-up menu, displayed by right-clicking the
taskbar grid icon.  The operation of this menu is
as previously described.


7)  Bugs

X-Desk may not work well with *all* applications.
Although the author has successfully used X-Desk
v1.4 with numerous applications, it is impossible
to verify if X-Desk is compatible (i.e. works as
intended) with every conceivable Windows
application.  X-Desk may experience problems with
non-typical applications, such as application
launchers, or other desktop managers. However,
the author has not detected any instances in
which X-Desk v1.4 causes a system to 'freeze' or
otherwise to perform in a drastically abnormal
manner. However, your milage may vary.  

The only documented bug occurs when using
hot-keys to navigate between desktops.  In order
for the hot-keys to be recognized by X-Desk, a
window (any window) must have the keyboard
'focus' (e.g. a window's title bar is highlighted
and keyboard entry is directed to that window).
It is possible under some circumstances that no
window will have the keyboard focus.  In this
instance, X-Desk cannot recognize hot-keys and
will not react to the hot-keys.  The only way
around this is to force the input focus to
different window.  This can be done by clicking
any window (or, say, the taskbar) to change the
input focus to a window that can receive
keyboard input. Alternatively, hitting the
ALT+TAB key combination will also change the
input focus and should do the trick.  The above
problem occurs very infrequently and should not
pose much of a problem for the typical user.      

8)  License Agreement

THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY
OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE.  IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE
TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING INCIDENTAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF
THE PROGRAM, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY
OF SUCH DAMAGES. 

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS LICENSE,
UNDERSTAND IT AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS TERMS
AS THE COMPLETE AND EXCLUSIVE STATEMENT OF THE
AGREEMENT BETWEEN US, SUPERSEDING ANY PROPOSAL OR
PRIOR AGREEMENT, ORAL OR WRITTEN, AND ANY OTHER
COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN US RELATING TO THE SUBJECT
MATTER OF THIS LICENSE.


9) Notes

A special thanks is in  order to those who have
used X-Desk v1.3 and have offered their
suggestions for improvements to X-Desk.  Many of
these suggestions (in one form or another) have
made their way to v1.4.  

Since the author has other things to do besides
play around with X-Desk, this is likely to be
X-Desk's last release.  Nevertheless, if there
are any major (and I mean major) bugs found in
v1.4, I might consider updates to version 1.4 -
but for bug fixes only.

Questions, comments or installation problems may
be directed to:

Darby Riley
darbyr@seas.ucla.edu

