Stick with Linux long enough, and you’ll discover one of the many reasons why the open source operating system has become a worldwide favourite. Option. With Linux, you can just use the defaults that came with your distro, or you can install more options to give you more choices. This applies to almost any user-facing software, from web browsers, email clients, file managers, image editors, and even desktop interfaces.
That’s right, if you don’t like GNOME, switch to KDE, Cinnamon, Mate, Pantheon, Budgie, Xfce, Enlightenment, Fluxbox or any desktop environment or window manager.
But there is one type of window manager that tends to get overlooked, especially when it comes to user-friendly interfaces. That kind of window manager is tiled in nature. For those who have never experienced a tiled window manager, they can be quite confusing at first because they rely heavily on keyboard shortcuts (instead of the mouse). This just prevents a lot of new users from using the tiled window manager.
At this point, you may be wondering what exactly a tiled window manager is. Let me explain it to you in the simplest terms.
I’ll start my description of the tiled window manager by asking a question: Have you ever used window capture on your desktop? Window capture is when you can move an app to the right or left edge of the screen and the desktop interface will automatically “snap” the window so that it takes up half of your screen. Snap another window to the other side of the screen and it will automatically take up the other half of the screen. If you want a full screen app, drag the window to the top of the screen and it will automatically cover the entire screen.
Also: How to Capture Your Windows on MacOS and Windows
Snapping windows is a very handy feature that makes it easy to focus all your efforts on two windows at once. I use snapping a lot when I have to work between two Firefox tabs without having to click between the tabs.
And that’s exactly what drives tiled window managers, but they take ideas to new extremes. Instead of just snapping windows to the left, right or full screen, the layered window manager uses your screen real estate in a very efficient way.
Imagine you opened an app and that app initially took up the full screen. With the tiled window manager, you can open a second application and it will automatically open to share the screen with the previously opened application. Now, you open a third application. What happens? One of the previously opened apps will move up on the right or left side of the screen to allow the new app to take up 50% of that side. Open another app and it can split the top right half of the screen with whatever app is taking up that space. (Figure 1).
Figure 1: This type of layout is extremely simple to achieve with a tiled window manager. Image: Jack Wallen
With each window you open in the tiled window manager, it automatically fits the growing puzzle on your screen. Of course, that has its caveats, since the more apps you open, the smaller they can get (Figure 2).
Figure 2: I’ve opened several apps that keep reducing the size of previously opened windows. Image: Jack Wallen
The reason so many hardcore users prefer tiled window management is because they make the desktop space management automatic, which can help increase productivity. And because windows never overlap on a tiled window manager, you can be sure that every inch of your screen will be used to best facilitate your workflow.
Pitfalls of tiled window managers
Stacked window managers are great for the right type of user because they make the most of screen real estate and keep your fingers on the keyboard. While the first feature is quite appealing to most users, the second can be a bit of a disadvantage. Some tiled window managers avoid using the mouse for keyboard navigation.
For example, the i3 tiled window manager uses the following keyboard shortcuts to navigate the screen;
- [Alt]+[Enter] – open new station
- [Alt]+[J] – focus left
- [Alt]+[K] – right focus
- [Alt]+[L] – concentrate
- [Alt]+[;] – right focus
- [Alt]+[A] – focused parent
- [Alt]+[Space] – switch focus mode
Now that doesn’t mean i3 window manager doesn’t let you use mouse. You can. And you can configure key bindings to better suit your needs (since i3 is a highly customizable window manager). But for those who have difficulty with the change, a window manager like i3 will be hard to sell.
The truth of the matter is that tiled window managers put more emphasis on the keyboard than on the mouse. It’s by design to help you be as productive as possible.
The most popular layered window managers available for Linux
Currently, the best tiling window managers you should consider are:
- i3: Highly configurable and widely respected.
- bspwm: Light but poorly documented.
- Shaking: Wayland X server support.
- Xmonad: It “just works” and is very stable.
- AwesomeWM: It allows you to rearrange windows via mouse but requires some skill to use.
Mention of honor should also go to System76’s Pop! _OS distributed as it allows users to enable/disable the tile feature on the fly. If you only want to use a tiled window manager for certain workflows (which is what I do), Pop! _OS is the best choice for you.
Also: Pop! _OS may have a complicated name but it makes using Linux easy
If you’re looking to not only get the most out of your screen real estate, but be as productive as possible on your computer screen, a tiled window manager might be exactly what you need.
