4 ms·

Xmonad + bluetile = making tiling windowing accessible to new users

59 points by dons 17y ago

Periodic 17y ago
I like the idea of making tiling window management more accessible. I'd be very happy if we saw more of this move into the mainstream window managers and operating systems. For example, when I open two terminals in OS X they have a habit of opening one on top of the other, when I invariably would rather have them side-by-side. More intelligent window placement will eliminate a lot of mundane window-management work for the user, leading to a more pleasant computer experience. If you haven't tried a tiling window manager, I suggest you do, and this looks like a great way to start.
- windsurfer 17y ago
  Compiz has a "smart" window placement mode where it tries to place the window in the least "dense" location on screen, preferably empty space. It fills the screen in a left-right then top-bottom search.
- joshu 17y ago
  BTW for Mac try SizeUp
  - roryokane 17y ago
    (See http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/ http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/ for info and a screencast.)
- loup-vaillant 17y ago
  Well said. A window manager should, well, manage your windows. Most of them are actually "window control systems".
keenerd 17y ago
It is still not nearly as pretty nor as user friendly as the mouse based tiling window manager that is built into Blender. The difference between bluetile and Blender is a bit like the difference between win3.1 and osx. They are so many years ahead of the game.
- dons 17y ago
  Interesting. I'd not even Blender brought up in this context. I found this, http://www.blender.org/development/architecture/window-manager/ http://www.blender.org/development/architecture/window-manag... but it doesn't mention tiling.
  - keenerd 17y ago
    http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Blender_Windowing_System http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Blender... > Blender does not allow the windows to overlap, as they may in other programs. This is why Blender's interface is known as a non-overlapping window interface. Download Blender, and try the things on this page. You will be blown away by the slickness and animations. There are also keyboard shortcuts for all of this, but we are talking about mouse driven tilers.
kevbin 17y ago
Xmonad is a revelation for anyone who spends most of their day on the computer. It takes about a week or two to adapt, but it's a great productivity enhancement. Its really a kind of desktop construction kit: I find myself making layouts that suit my work, mood, and hardware. Like emacs or hypercard, it has that "quality without a name" thing about it. It changed the way I think about user interfaces: there are opportunities for the ideas from xmonad and xmonad-contrib to be applied to window and view management on all sorts of devices and environments. I'm glad to see someone's really thought about and implemented a way to introduce others to this great piece of software.
- benatkin 17y ago
  Your comment made it to their twitter account, which is shown on their blog. So, starting on the comments page, you can click the link to the story, click the link in the sidebar to get to your comment, and click "parent" to get back to the comments page. :) http://twitter.com/xmonad/status/6423056573 http://twitter.com/xmonad/status/6423056573
  - camccann 17y ago
    Isn't ending up back where you started the whole point of using a Y combinator? Fortunately xmonad is written in a language with lazy evaluation, otherwise the recursion would never terminate and we'd overflow the stack. Sorry, too much functional programming on the brain...
kentosi 17y ago
I wonder how this would this work for windows that can't be maximized, such as dialogue boxes. Does anyone have any experience using tiling managers here?
- dons 17y ago
  Typically rules are provided in the window manager for "transients" and dialogs to have their geometry respected.
- randallsquared 17y ago
  If you watch the video, there's a window in it that was designed to be a certain size (even though it's part of bluetile!), and it doesn't handle being shoved into an alien format well. Overlapping text, weirdly changing button shapes, etc.

59 points by dons 17y ago

I like the idea of making tiling window management more accessible. I'd be very happy if we saw more of this move into the mainstream window managers and operating systems. For example, when I open two terminals in OS X they have a habit of opening one on top of the other, when I invariably would rather have them side-by-side. More intelligent window placement will eliminate a lot of mundane window-management work for the user, leading to a more pleasant computer experience. If you haven't tried a tiling window manager, I suggest you do, and this looks like a great way to start.

windsurfer 17y ago
Compiz has a "smart" window placement mode where it tries to place the window in the least "dense" location on screen, preferably empty space. It fills the screen in a left-right then top-bottom search.
joshu 17y ago
BTW for Mac try SizeUp
- roryokane 17y ago
  (See http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/ http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/ for info and a screencast.)
loup-vaillant 17y ago
Well said. A window manager should, well, manage your windows. Most of them are actually "window control systems".

keenerd 17y ago

It is still not nearly as pretty nor as user friendly as the mouse based tiling window manager that is built into Blender. The difference between bluetile and Blender is a bit like the difference between win3.1 and osx. They are so many years ahead of the game.

dons 17y ago
Interesting. I'd not even Blender brought up in this context. I found this, http://www.blender.org/development/architecture/window-manager/ http://www.blender.org/development/architecture/window-manag... but it doesn't mention tiling.
- keenerd 17y ago
  http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Blender_Windowing_System http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Blender... > Blender does not allow the windows to overlap, as they may in other programs. This is why Blender's interface is known as a non-overlapping window interface. Download Blender, and try the things on this page. You will be blown away by the slickness and animations. There are also keyboard shortcuts for all of this, but we are talking about mouse driven tilers.

kevbin 17y ago

Xmonad is a revelation for anyone who spends most of their day on the computer. It takes about a week or two to adapt, but it's a great productivity enhancement. Its really a kind of desktop construction kit: I find myself making layouts that suit my work, mood, and hardware. Like emacs or hypercard, it has that "quality without a name" thing about it. It changed the way I think about user interfaces: there are opportunities for the ideas from xmonad and xmonad-contrib to be applied to window and view management on all sorts of devices and environments. I'm glad to see someone's really thought about and implemented a way to introduce others to this great piece of software.

benatkin 17y ago
Your comment made it to their twitter account, which is shown on their blog. So, starting on the comments page, you can click the link to the story, click the link in the sidebar to get to your comment, and click "parent" to get back to the comments page. :) http://twitter.com/xmonad/status/6423056573 http://twitter.com/xmonad/status/6423056573
- camccann 17y ago
  Isn't ending up back where you started the whole point of using a Y combinator? Fortunately xmonad is written in a language with lazy evaluation, otherwise the recursion would never terminate and we'd overflow the stack. Sorry, too much functional programming on the brain...

kentosi 17y ago

I wonder how this would this work for windows that can't be maximized, such as dialogue boxes. Does anyone have any experience using tiling managers here?

dons 17y ago
Typically rules are provided in the window manager for "transients" and dialogs to have their geometry respected.
randallsquared 17y ago
If you watch the video, there's a window in it that was designed to be a certain size (even though it's part of bluetile!), and it doesn't handle being shoved into an alien format well. Overlapping text, weirdly changing button shapes, etc.