Moblin Compiz Plugins

A key element of the new user interface and interaction model we are developing for Moblin will be the use of composited window management, context aware and reactive WM layers overlayed over application windows and rich OpenGL based applications. To acheive this, compiz and compiz-fusion plugins will be used for many of the basic features (winrules, ccp, png, svg, imgjpeg, regex to begin with), most of which already exists in these two projects. In addition to these, there are some new UI design concepts we are targeting that will require the development of some new, Moblin focused, compiz plugins. This project will be the umbrella under which these Moblin compiz plugins will be developed and maintained.

For starters, we have already begun the development of the following plugins:

Four Corners

The "four-corners" (fc) compiz plugin is intended to be the primary contextual navigation mechanism in Moblin 2. There four (4) "buttons" rendered above the rest of the screen (alpha blended/composited), each providing the key mechanisms to invoke and interact with the capabilities of the device. The current plan is to have the following 4 triggered features:

1. A context aware sharing application (NW corner, "Utah")
2. An Application Switcher/Launcher (NE corner, "Colorado")
3. An Application defined (or default if undefined) context menu (SW corner, "Arizona")
4. A status indicator applet (SE corner, "New Mexico")

Access Layer

Plugin for alternative input methods, such as on screen keyboard

Layer Manager

Manages layered presentation of the various Moblin core applications and add on applications

You can get the source of all the Moblin compiz plugins currently under development via git using the command below:

$ git clone git://git.moblin.org/moblin2/moblin-compiz-plugins.git