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Multiple workspaces satisfy this need for me a lot better. In fact, I'm pretty sure that they were invented with the idea of "having multiple monitors without h

Multiple workspaces satisfy this need for me a lot better. In fact, I'm pretty sure that they were invented with the idea of "having multiple monitors without having multiple monitors". A key detail is that I can organise windows on-screen however I want with ease, while also having windows on another workspace organised with a completely different layout. And I usually have 10 workspaces available. Scrolling WMs are too "linear", so jumping to arbitrary locations becomes harder. E.g.: I can jump from workspace 1 to workspace 7 in O(1), but on a scrolling WM there's no equivalent action to jump right such a large, arbitrary distance. Mind you, scrolling WMs still sound nice. If you don't _want_ multiple workspaces (or maybe just one or two), they'll likely work out better. They sound like a superb solution for a living room display or touch-only devices. In fact, I'm looking forward to experimenting with niri on my mobile phone.

NayamAmarshe 2y ago
I hear you but I feel that there's more to it than that. Workspaces while useful, are still more of a closed-door where once you've switched to a workspace, the other ones just disappear as if they don't exist. Scrolling fixes that problem because I can quickly use my touchpad to scroll through multiple windows, that can be set to 70% of the total width. This means I can actually see what the other apps are doing in realtime. This is different because scrolling WMs 'make you feel' like you're using multiple monitors, since switching to the other windows is very similar. Scrolling WMs still have workspaces though, so that's not going anywhere but it's one of those 'see it to believe it' things. Scrolling WMs really changed my perspective.
dawser 2y ago
I confess I am the author of one of these PaperWM-like scrollers for Hyprland, hyprcroller (https://github.com/dawsers/hyprscroller https://github.com/dawsers/hyprscroller). I used almost every DE and tiling window manager before I arrived to PaperWM, and when I moved to Hyprland because of its simplicity and the control it gave me, I had to write a scrolling layout because of how much I missed PaperWM. - Having a scrolling layout doesn't prevent you from using workspaces, you have both. I use workspaces, some of which are scrolling with rows and columns depending on the task associated to them. - Jumping to arbitrary locations also takes just one keystroke (and no mouse). For example, hyprscroller supports marks. Set a mark to a window, and you can jump (and get immediate focus) to that window with a key combination. You can move to your editor, e-mail program etc, with one key press, even if they are in different workspaces and not seen on the screen (kind of like in vim) - You don't need to browse through stacks of hidden windows, they can all be at their preferred size and "seen" at the same time. Once you accept the paradigm, it is very fast, and there is support for overview modes where you can see all your windows scaled to fit the monitor. - You can automatically resize a set of windows to fit your monitor with a key stroke, allowing you to have all your currently needed windows (editor, docs, browser) visible at the same time, while you don't "lose" the rest, they are simply outside of the monitor area, a keystroke away, and keeping their original size. It changed the way I work so much I had to write my own plugin as soon as I moved to Hyprland. You basically forget about the mouse and resizing/moving windows.

NayamAmarshe 2y ago

I hear you but I feel that there's more to it than that. Workspaces while useful, are still more of a closed-door where once you've switched to a workspace, the other ones just disappear as if they don't exist. Scrolling fixes that problem because I can quickly use my touchpad to scroll through multiple windows, that can be set to 70% of the total width. This means I can actually see what the other apps are doing in realtime. This is different because scrolling WMs 'make you feel' like you're using multiple monitors, since switching to the other windows is very similar. Scrolling WMs still have workspaces though, so that's not going anywhere but it's one of those 'see it to believe it' things. Scrolling WMs really changed my perspective.

dawser 2y ago

I confess I am the author of one of these PaperWM-like scrollers for Hyprland, hyprcroller (https://github.com/dawsers/hyprscroller https://github.com/dawsers/hyprscroller). I used almost every DE and tiling window manager before I arrived to PaperWM, and when I moved to Hyprland because of its simplicity and the control it gave me, I had to write a scrolling layout because of how much I missed PaperWM. - Having a scrolling layout doesn't prevent you from using workspaces, you have both. I use workspaces, some of which are scrolling with rows and columns depending on the task associated to them. - Jumping to arbitrary locations also takes just one keystroke (and no mouse). For example, hyprscroller supports marks. Set a mark to a window, and you can jump (and get immediate focus) to that window with a key combination. You can move to your editor, e-mail program etc, with one key press, even if they are in different workspaces and not seen on the screen (kind of like in vim) - You don't need to browse through stacks of hidden windows, they can all be at their preferred size and "seen" at the same time. Once you accept the paradigm, it is very fast, and there is support for overview modes where you can see all your windows scaled to fit the monitor. - You can automatically resize a set of windows to fit your monitor with a key stroke, allowing you to have all your currently needed windows (editor, docs, browser) visible at the same time, while you don't "lose" the rest, they are simply outside of the monitor area, a keystroke away, and keeping their original size. It changed the way I work so much I had to write my own plugin as soon as I moved to Hyprland. You basically forget about the mouse and resizing/moving windows.