I have implemented the plug-in system and have created a panel interface for other developers to code against when (if) developing a panel plug-in for DexiosDE. This project is far from a release state, not yet usable for general use, but it's getting there. I was thinking about having even the desktop and window manager be their own plug-ins, but that may have to be for after DexiosDE's release. I'll be implementing more interfaces for other plug-in uses as i think of them.
Following my previos post, after doing a lot of searching and some studying on how the X window system works, i've come across a way to make my own desktop environment without the need for IceWM. I have found a few window managers that rely on Qt4, and since i develop software with Qt4 also, i'ma start building myself one from scratch using the Qt4 library. As i understand it, a desktop environment is merely a client that communicates with the X server. The Qt4 program would be the client, of which the display manager runs on start up, and from there the program takes over. How simple!
I have started a project page for DexiosDE. You can visit the page for more information on the concept of the desktop environment. I feel the concept is most fitting for a Linux distro that is aimed towards Christian developers, but also for any developer, and Qt4 will make it possible.