give a more objective pov of the multiple instances discussion + elaborate on possible directions and scripts

1 files changed, 55 insertions, 15 deletions

diff --git a/docs/FAQ b/docs/FAQ
index 4a29663..b61107d 100644
--- a/docs/FAQ
+++ b/docs/FAQ
@@ -24,21 +24,61 @@ tools and scripts, by itself doesn't do many usefull things.  See README.
 The layout of uzbl (and derivatives) only contains what you really need to see.  we only have a statusbar, which even can also be disabled.  There are no buttons, but we do
 have lots of keybinding possibilities.
 
-### Why can uzbl-browser only show one page?
-Among uzbl hackers, there are 2 groups: some people prefer tabs, they use
-uzbl-tabbed.  The others stick to "one page per uzbl-browser instance" because
-it's a very flexible approach.  They believe "multiple instances management" is something that must
-be handled outside of uzbl by a separate/different program.  Here are some solutions:
-
- * Many window managers can handle this by default.  Xmonads tabbed layout, Wmii's stacked layout, fluxbox or kwin tabs and so on.
- * Uzbl supports acting as a GtkPlug to plug into GtkSockets (Xembed) so you can embed uzbl instances in other Gtk applications.
-   (This is also what uzbl-tabbed does)
- * If you want highest customizablity, you need the 3rd option:
-   You can also write a custom script.  The only thing you need to do is focus/maximize the instance you want,
-   keep the others out of sight and use tools like dmenu and wmctrl to switch instances.
-   This allows you to use application-specific properties (such as uzbl tag, name etc).
-   For more information about this approach, see docs/multiple-instances-management.
-   (If you want to work on such script, let us know and we might include it along with the other sample scripts)
+### Why can uzbl-core/uzbl-browser only show one page?
+It is nearly unanimously agreed that one page per uzbl-core is best.
+It allows a simple implementation of both uzbl-core and
+uzbl-browser, and it makes things more robust.
+But read the next entry...
+
+### How to have multiple pages in one window?
+So, given that uzbl-core and uzbl-browser only deal with one page at a time (see
+above), how can you have a window with multiple pages?
+
+Basically this is involves concerns on two sides:
+* window management: can I keep all pages together in 1 X window so
+  that I can move all at once to a different workspace, can I "split off"
+  pages into separate windows (i.e. move only one specific page/window to a
+  different desktop), can I integrate uzbl pages/windows into WM features?
+  (alt-tab, tiling layouts, taskbar, ...), etc
+* application-level: having a realtime overview of all page titles of all uzbl
+  instances, special representation styles which are tightly coupled to the
+  application such as treeviews that show from which you page you opened
+  others, or page state (loading etc)
+
+Uzbl itself can hardly be a limiting factor, as it supports/has:
+* Xembed (GtkPlug mode) so you can embed a uzbl-browser or uzbl-core into another window
+* an events system you can have realtime updates of window title, pageload state, etc.
+* command interface to programmatically change it's behavior.
+
+And then there is the style of representation (tabs, tree overviews, visual
+thumbnails etc) which can be handled from the WM side or the application
+side.
+
+There are multiple approaches, each with pros and cons and you can pick the one that suits you best.
+
+* Tabbing in the WM:  Xmonads tabbed layout, Wmii's stacked layout, fluxbox or kwin tabs and so on.
+* Visual overview in the WM: commonly used with dwm or Awesome's tiling layouts with master/slave areas.
+  The [dynamic zoom script](http://www.uzbl.org/wiki/dynamic_zooming) is useful here.
+* A container application whih embeds multiple uzbl-browsers and provide tablists, tree views, and more.
+  Examples:
+  - [uzbl-tabbed](http://www.uzbl.org/wiki/uzbl_tabbed) (officially supported)
+  - [uzbltreetab](http://www.uzbl.org/wiki/uzbltreetab)
+  - [uzbltab](http://www.uzbl.org/wiki/uzbltab)
+  - [suckless tabbed](http://tools.suckless.org/tabbed)
+* An application to mimic tabbing independently of WM support.
+  The only thing you need to do is focus/maximize the instance you want,
+  keep the others out of sight and use tools like dmenu/xbindkeys and wmctrl to switch instances.
+  This allows you to use application-specific properties (such as uzbl tag, name etc).
+  For more ideas on such an approach, see docs/multiple-instances-management.
+  Examples:
+  - [wmctrl-based](http://www.uzbl.org/wiki/metacity-tabs) (works on at least Metacity)
+  - [wmii] (http://www.uzbl.org/wiki/wmii)
+
+There are really a lot of options.
+On the wiki you'll find a lot of related scripts, some of them providing new
+workflows (do you really need open windows for all pages you intend to read, or is a list enough?
+[articlecue](http://www.uzbl.org/wiki/article_queue.py)), some providing integration with WM's such as
+[awesome](http://www.uzbl.org/wiki/awesome), and more.
 
 ### Okay, what can I actually do?  What commands are there?  How do I get more information?
   * Commands and other features are documented in README.  Read it.