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Every time I use a tiling WM I think to myself "This would be incredible if I only used terminals and minimalist X apps (like xclock)". But the problem is web

by Touche 13y ago

Every time I use a tiling WM I think to myself "This would be incredible if I only used terminals and minimalist X apps (like xclock)". But the problem is web browsers feel extremely out of place in a tiling WM and I need web browsers so...

tikhonj 13y ago
Why do web browsers feel out of place? When I'm using a web browser, it's almost always either taking up a whole screen or exactly half of one--it may as well be tiled already! So when I switched to XMonad, using browsers still felt very natural. Perhaps it's just a cosmetic issue? For example, if you're using Chrome, you have to configure it to use system borders--otherwise it just looks wrong. I also set my Firefox up to be much more minimalistic, which looks much better with a tiling WM.
- pbogdan 13y ago
  Could you share any details about your setup?
  - tikhonj 13y ago
    I didn't really do much customization. For FireFox, I just used a different theme and got rid of all the UI bits I didn't use. For Chrome, I only set it to use system borders. I didn't even configure XMonad very much--the defaults are very well thought out. In practice, it looks like this: Firefox: http://jelv.is/xmonad-ff.png http://jelv.is/xmonad-ff.png Chrome: http://jelv.is/xmonad-chrome.png http://jelv.is/xmonad-chrome.png Tiled: http://jelv.is/xmonad-tiled.png http://jelv.is/xmonad-tiled.png The only real problem I've had is that form widgets are rather ugly. I think this should be easy enough to change, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
- ics 13y ago
  Completely agree– I absolutely love having my browser tiled. Every time I look up and realize I'm still in OS X and can't split my browser window something twitches and I contemplate booting up a VM so it doesn't happen again while I'm in the zone. I'd also be interested in seeing what modifications you've made though– I don't think I configured very much and even though I don't use Chrom(ium) as my primary browser I never really took issue with the way it looked. In Firefox I just hide everything and use Pentadactyl.
  - X-Istence 13y ago
    Take a look at ShiftIt, it's a Mac application that gives you keyboard shortcuts to move windows around. I absolutely love it, so I get to keep my OS X while having some of the features I miss from tiling window managers.
    - bodhi 13y ago
      Divvy's another good one for this, and you can define your own regions. Maybe this is possible with ShiftIt too? http://mizage.com/divvy/ http://mizage.com/divvy/
    - ics 13y ago
      I use Zephyros now (after going full neckbeard with my Slate config) but until I spend more time with the configuration it's still a couple extra keystrokes where in Xmonad I'd have already handled it. But at least we have some choices :)
- Touche 13y ago
  GTK look hideous in every tiling am I've tried. Xterm, xvclock, etc look gorgeous in that setting.
  - FireBringer 13y ago
    You have to manually set the gtk theme you want because you don't have a desktop environment to set it for you.
randallsquared 13y ago
The i3 window manager and a full-screen browser on one display works really well, in my experience. Shuffling it or other things to the other display is easy, as well. I'd liked the idea of tiling WMs, but the ones I tried all seemed clumsy until I happened upon i3, and it was like coming home: 90% of the defaults were exactly what I would have picked, and all the others were easily configurable in a text file.
freyrs3 13y ago
Both Chrome and Firefox run in a single window which you can focus full screen if you want, what's the problem? If there is a complaint about tiling window managers it's that applications like Inkscape or Gimp which have tons of floating windows tend to not render well. Though most WMs have solutions to this.
vezzy-fnord 13y ago
Try a more minimalistic one like uzbl or w3m.
staz 13y ago
I only use terminals and browser windows and have been using a tiling WM for years. Granted I don't use the hyper complex layout you see in some screenshots around the web (Actually I don't know if someone really use those or if it's just for show) I mainly split my screens into two or three parts. Using a tilling WM for this use case is perfect because I don't have to spend time resizing and moving my windows to take half the screen each time.

by Touche 13y ago

tikhonj 13y ago

Why do web browsers feel out of place? When I'm using a web browser, it's almost always either taking up a whole screen or exactly half of one--it may as well be tiled already! So when I switched to XMonad, using browsers still felt very natural. Perhaps it's just a cosmetic issue? For example, if you're using Chrome, you have to configure it to use system borders--otherwise it just looks wrong. I also set my Firefox up to be much more minimalistic, which looks much better with a tiling WM.

pbogdan 13y ago
Could you share any details about your setup?
- tikhonj 13y ago
  I didn't really do much customization. For FireFox, I just used a different theme and got rid of all the UI bits I didn't use. For Chrome, I only set it to use system borders. I didn't even configure XMonad very much--the defaults are very well thought out. In practice, it looks like this: Firefox: http://jelv.is/xmonad-ff.png http://jelv.is/xmonad-ff.png Chrome: http://jelv.is/xmonad-chrome.png http://jelv.is/xmonad-chrome.png Tiled: http://jelv.is/xmonad-tiled.png http://jelv.is/xmonad-tiled.png The only real problem I've had is that form widgets are rather ugly. I think this should be easy enough to change, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
ics 13y ago
Completely agree– I absolutely love having my browser tiled. Every time I look up and realize I'm still in OS X and can't split my browser window something twitches and I contemplate booting up a VM so it doesn't happen again while I'm in the zone. I'd also be interested in seeing what modifications you've made though– I don't think I configured very much and even though I don't use Chrom(ium) as my primary browser I never really took issue with the way it looked. In Firefox I just hide everything and use Pentadactyl.
- X-Istence 13y ago
  Take a look at ShiftIt, it's a Mac application that gives you keyboard shortcuts to move windows around. I absolutely love it, so I get to keep my OS X while having some of the features I miss from tiling window managers.
  - bodhi 13y ago
    Divvy's another good one for this, and you can define your own regions. Maybe this is possible with ShiftIt too? http://mizage.com/divvy/ http://mizage.com/divvy/
  - ics 13y ago
    I use Zephyros now (after going full neckbeard with my Slate config) but until I spend more time with the configuration it's still a couple extra keystrokes where in Xmonad I'd have already handled it. But at least we have some choices :)
Touche 13y ago
GTK look hideous in every tiling am I've tried. Xterm, xvclock, etc look gorgeous in that setting.
- FireBringer 13y ago
  You have to manually set the gtk theme you want because you don't have a desktop environment to set it for you.

randallsquared 13y ago

The i3 window manager and a full-screen browser on one display works really well, in my experience. Shuffling it or other things to the other display is easy, as well. I'd liked the idea of tiling WMs, but the ones I tried all seemed clumsy until I happened upon i3, and it was like coming home: 90% of the defaults were exactly what I would have picked, and all the others were easily configurable in a text file.

freyrs3 13y ago

Both Chrome and Firefox run in a single window which you can focus full screen if you want, what's the problem? If there is a complaint about tiling window managers it's that applications like Inkscape or Gimp which have tons of floating windows tend to not render well. Though most WMs have solutions to this.

vezzy-fnord 13y ago

Try a more minimalistic one like uzbl or w3m.

staz 13y ago

I only use terminals and browser windows and have been using a tiling WM for years. Granted I don't use the hyper complex layout you see in some screenshots around the web (Actually I don't know if someone really use those or if it's just for show) I mainly split my screens into two or three parts. Using a tilling WM for this use case is perfect because I don't have to spend time resizing and moving my windows to take half the screen each time.