AfterStep is a Window Manager for X that emulates the NEXTSTEP look and feel, which many adepts will tell you is not only the most visually pleasant interface, but also one of the most functional and intuitive out there.
From the man page:
AfterStep is a continuation of the BowMan window manager which was originally put together by Bo Yang. BowMan was based on the fvwm window manager, written by Robert Nation. fvwm was based on code from twm. And so on... It is designed to emulate some of the look and feel of the NEXTSTEP user interface, while adding useful, requested, and neat features. The changes which comprise AfterStep personality were originally part of BowMan development, but due to a desire to move past simple emulation and into a niche as its own valuable window manager, the current designers decided to change the project name and move on. BowMan development may continue, but we will no longer be a part of it.
Again quoting from the man page:
However, the flexibility of fvwm was not traded off. The
initiation file, ~/.steprc, recognizes most of the
fvwm 1.24r
commands. Virtual screens and the pager are still intact.
fvwm
modules should work just fine.
No. Compatibility with fvwm-2 is not planned.
The latest version is available at http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/zamboni/afterstep/FAQ.html.
The initial version of the FAQ was written by Frank Fejes ( frank@ssax.com) and Jonathan B. Leffert ( j-leffert@uchicago.edu). Major additions were made by Kragen Sittler ( kragen@tcsi.com). The FAQ is currently maintained by Diego Zamboni ( zamboni@cs.purdue.edu). Most of the questions and answers have been provided by the people participating in the AfterStep mailing lists ( http://www.eosys.com/mailing-list/AfterStep.html).
This is a low volume (moderated) list for announcements of general interest to all AfterStep users (e.g. new releases). You may submit announcements to be moderated via afterstep-announce@eosys.com.
The purpose of this list is to provide a forum in which users of the AfterStep X11 window manager can discuss issues related to to using AfterStep. Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to, the installation and configuration of AfterStep and related modules and applications.
This list contains the same messages as the AfterStep mailing list. However, the messages are saved up (not transmitted individually) and sent out as a bundle. This decreases the number of separate messages received from the list, but makes it more difficult to reply to a specific message.
This list is a forum to discuss ongoing development issues related to AfterStep. If you want to participate in the development of AfterStep, please join this forum.
This list contains the same messages as the AfterStep-Dev mailing list. However, the messages are saved up (not transmitted individually) and sent out as a bundle. This decreases the number of separate messages received from the list, but makes it more difficult to reply to a specific message.
For subscribing to any of these lists, send a message to
<listname>-request@eosys.com containing:
subscribe
You can find more information, and archives of all the lists, at http://www.eosys.com/mailing-list/AfterStep.html, maintained by Ed Orcutt ( edo@eosys.com), and from where these descriptions were taken.