[Xmonad] Re: I don't notice when someone talks to me via Gaim

[Benedikt Schmidt]

Kai Grossjohann <kai at emptydomain.de> writes:

> I use Gaim for instant messaging.  I use guifications so that I am
> notified when someone sends me a message.  But this is not enough for
> me.
>
> I think what I want is this:
>
>   - All Gaim windows go to a specific workspace.
>
>   - Whenever someone talks to me via Gaim, then I get a notification
>     about this that is unobtrusive but not transient.
>
> I am requesting the first one because sometimes I lose a chat window (in
> the sense of forgetting where it is).  That is, I go to the buddy list,
> double click on a contact and nothing happens.  That's because the chat
> window for that contact is already open.  But I don't know where the
> chat window is.  In one case, it was one of five windows in a "full"
> layout workspace.

Same problem here, not only with gaim, but also with kpdf in presentation
mode. Kpdf looks for file updates and if the file is updated, it closes
the old presentation window and opens a new one, but in the current
workspace.

> For the second one, I am not sure what to do.  Perhaps the workspace
> name in the workspace list should flash?  Or I should get an indicator
> in the status bar that a Gaim message is waiting for me?

I got a patch to X11-extras and xmonad that adds support for
XUrgency hints. I use a different color for workspaces with
urgent windows in the statusbar.
I'm using it for some about two weeks and it seems to work
pretty well. Should have the time to clean it up next week.

Benedikt