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@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ This document explains how to use ratpoison.
@menu
* About:: What is ratpoison?
* Contacting:: How do I contact the ratpoison developers?
+* Concepts:: Window manipulation concepts
* General Use:: How does this thing work??
* Splitting The Screen:: When you want to see more than one window
* Keystrokes:: Key commands and functionality
@@ -90,6 +91,7 @@ This document explains how to use ratpoison.
+
@end menu
@node About, Contacting, Top, Top
@@ -106,7 +108,7 @@ that cripples EMACS and other quality pieces of software.
ratpoison was written by Shawn Betts (@email{sabetts@@users.sourceforge.net}).
-@node Contacting, General Use, About, Top
+@node Contacting, Concepts, About, Top
@chapter Contacting
ratpoison is hosted on @url{sourceforge.net}. To see the latest
developments in ratpoison go to
@@ -119,7 +121,38 @@ and for the list archives go to the ratpoison sourceforge.net project.
There is a #ratpoison irc channel on irc.openprojects.net.
-@node General Use, Splitting The Screen, Contacting, Top
+@node Concepts, General Use, Contacting, Top
+@chapter Concepts
+
+ratpoison is a @dfn{paned} window manager. Instead of allowing windows
+to have arbitary shapes at arbitary locations on the screen, the
+display is divided into panes like a real window. The panes are called
+@dfn{frames}, and windows are placed in them, maximised. ratpoison
+starts with one frame, which can be split into an arbitary number of
+smaller ones. You can move among them, making different ones the
+current. For more information, see @ref{Splitting The Screen}.
+
+Each frame has at most one window associated with it, which is visible
+in that frame. If you select a window that is associated with a frame,
+the focus will move to its associated frame, rather than moving the
+window to the current frame. If you select a window that is not
+associated with a frame, that window will be opened in the current
+frame and resized to fit that frame.
+
+If the window associated with a frame does not fill the frame
+completely, the various gravity commands control how it is placed.
+
+If no window was open in that frame before the current window was
+opened, the X root will be visible behind it.
+
+Transient windows (dialog boxes, splash screens, and the like) are
+handled specially. In order to understand the contents of a transient
+window, the previously focused window is often required. Take a search
+window, it is useful to be able to see the document you are searching
+as well as the search window. For this reason transient windows appear
+overtop (according to their gravity) of the previously focused window.
+
+@node General Use, Splitting The Screen, Concepts, Top
@chapter General Use
When ratpoison starts you should see an empty X server. To open an x