3 ms·

The biggest productivity boost for me happened after I started using a Tiling WM (i3). I started out of necessity when I felt I have reached the maximum optimiz

The biggest productivity boost for me happened after I started using a Tiling WM (i3). I started out of necessity when I felt I have reached the maximum optimization with XFCE DE. I just didn't want to organize my windows manually again. Now browsers are all in 1st workspace. Text editors are all in 2nd. 4th is for chat apps. 6th for reading and documents like excel, pdf etc, 8 for image editing like GIMP, KRITA, Inkscape. 9th for entertainment! Makes your computing life predictable and easier is all. A tiling window managers lets you: - Map different apps to different workspaces. - Open apps directly into specific workspaces. - Tiling of apps to suit your needs. - Utilizing maximum screen real estate (Uggghhh GNOME). - Have peace with no more endless search for a window cos you don't know where the app is. Alt+tab Alt+tab Alt+tab Alt+tab Alt+tab Alt+tab!!! - Have stable workflow cos they move slowly and less workflow breaks. Functional bugs could be reduced if you use old WMs like i3. - Less bloat. - First class citizen of the keyboard shortcuts workflow. - There is one for everyone - https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Window_manager#Tiling_window_managers https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Window_manager#Tiling_windo... I also don't think Tiling WM's are for everyone though. If you use <4 apps open at a time, maybe you don't need one. But if you have a browser open, a text editor, a terminal, A bunch of chat apps like Slack, Discord, Telegram. Then your email client... it is already crazy. But then you open your file manager to open bunch of files and then you have have those documents. It can get out of hand. Even if you are rebooting only once every couple of months or so, you will still eventually have to redo all the organization again. Also if you do get interested in using a tiling WM, don't just jump right away (in Linux). Use it with a DE of your preference. I used XFCE and it worked well along with i3wm. It took a couple of months to remove my DE in full and embrace Tiling WM life. But it was well worth it. :)

JNRowe 5y ago
I believe one of the best explanations for the power of tiling WMs is "Tags are not workspaces"¹. It describes that beyond your way of working there is a parallel way which exists with no extra work. I think this is also true for different layouts. You can happily work with simple equal size window layouts, but you can also have per-project or per-app layouts should you wish. The software grows naturally with you, or if you prefer the other functionality just stays out of your way. ¹ https://github.com/w0ng/wongdev.com/blob/master/content/dwm-tags-are-not-workspaces.md https://github.com/w0ng/wongdev.com/blob/master/content/dwm-...
tannhaeuser 5y ago
Not using a tiling WM, but especially on small notebooks I'm so desperate for compact decorations and a global Mac-like menu that I've even prolonged life of my old XPS 13 w/ Ubuntu 16.04 using Ubuntu Advantage/extended security maintenance (their old gnome2-based desktop with Unity). At least there's some hope using KDE Plasma eg. [1]. [1]: https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/plasma-look-like-ubuntu-gnome.html https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/plasma-look-like-ubuntu-...
- approxim8ion 5y ago
  KDE has a global menu applet on their panel as well, to be used in conjunction with appmenu-gtk. KWin will also let you set how much (or how little) window decorations you want if at all. I'm very happy with it.

JNRowe 5y ago

I believe one of the best explanations for the power of tiling WMs is "Tags are not workspaces"¹. It describes that beyond your way of working there is a parallel way which exists with no extra work. I think this is also true for different layouts. You can happily work with simple equal size window layouts, but you can also have per-project or per-app layouts should you wish. The software grows naturally with you, or if you prefer the other functionality just stays out of your way. ¹ https://github.com/w0ng/wongdev.com/blob/master/content/dwm-tags-are-not-workspaces.md https://github.com/w0ng/wongdev.com/blob/master/content/dwm-...

tannhaeuser 5y ago

Not using a tiling WM, but especially on small notebooks I'm so desperate for compact decorations and a global Mac-like menu that I've even prolonged life of my old XPS 13 w/ Ubuntu 16.04 using Ubuntu Advantage/extended security maintenance (their old gnome2-based desktop with Unity). At least there's some hope using KDE Plasma eg. [1]. [1]: https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/plasma-look-like-ubuntu-gnome.html https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/plasma-look-like-ubuntu-...

approxim8ion 5y ago
KDE has a global menu applet on their panel as well, to be used in conjunction with appmenu-gtk. KWin will also let you set how much (or how little) window decorations you want if at all. I'm very happy with it.