Window tiling

goosesensor · 02-19-2024, 11:35 AM

For quite some time, I've used XFCE as a DE with a combination of Quicktile and XFCEwm's built-in tiling functions to do basic window tiling:

Fill the left, right, top or bottom halves of the screen
Filling top-right, top-left, bottom-left, bottom-right quadrants
Move a window to the center of the screen
Vertically maximize a window
Changing workspaces & sending windows to workspaces

I find that both Quicktile and xfwm have some odd behaviors I don't really care for, some bugs, and ultimately lack a few features I think I would enjoy. So I'd like to give something else a try.

I've never used a tiling WM, and I don't think going full-tile is for me. But perhaps I can steal some features from a tiling WM while maintaining default-floating style behavior and the rest of XFCE.

Can anybody make any recommendations about how to go about doing this? For example, is there a tiling WM that can be configured to float by default, but allow a handful of simple tiling operations as described above?

Much thanks.

wpeckham · 02-19-2024, 03:02 PM

It depends a bit on your distribution, because how current or cutting edge your base is makes a difference.
I run Wayland most of the time (on Manjaro or ARCH), and on Wayland Miracle-WM should be considered.
That said, sway is the most mature.
Wayfire combines stacking and tiling features that some find more satisfying, and can do a couple of things missing form the other two.

One of the best ways to get into the look and feel without testing (and breaking) in your main platform, is trying them in virtual machines. I use Virtual Machine Manager with QEMU under it, many others use KVM with those. Some use VirtualBox (as did I long ago), but the point is to try the desktop in a virtual or sandboxed environment where it can be dumped without pain if you find you really HATE it!

teckk · 02-20-2024, 09:39 AM

Fluxbox will tile and stack and group.

With key combos, to tile different ways, to cycle through groups.

Example from ~/.fluxbox/keys

Code:

#Tile all windows
Control Mod4 h :ArrangeWindowsHorizontal	
Control Mod4 v :ArrangeWindowsVertical
Control Mod4 Right :ArrangeWindowsStackLeft
Control Mod4 Left :ArrangeWindowsStackRight
Control Mod4 Down :ArrangeWindowsStackTop
Control Mod4 Up :ArrangeWindowsStackBottom

#Tile only windows (same as focused)
Control Mod4 t :ArrangeWindows (Name=[current]) (workspace=[current])
Control Mod4 u :ForEach {MaximizeVertical} (Name=[current]) (workspace=[current])

It will also group(tab).

Code:

#Tab all (same as focused) in workspace
Mod4 Up :Attach (Name=[current]) (workspace=[current]) #(iconhidden=no)	
#Detach all (same as focused) in workspace
Mod4 Down :ForEach {DetachClient} (Name=[current]) (workspace=[current])

#Cycle through tabs in group
Mod4 Tab :NextTab 					
Mod4 Shift Tab :PrevTab

#Go to tab
Mod4 1 :Tab 1
Mod4 2 :Tab 2
Mod4 3 :Tab 3
Mod4 4 :Tab 4
Mod4 5 :Tab 5

#Move tab right/left in group
Mod4 Shift Left :MoveTabLeft			
Mod4 Shift Right :MoveTabRight

So, you can have windows tabbed by type, where you can cycle through them, and tiled.

All xterms tabbed in a tile, all browsers tabbed in a tile...

goosesensor · 02-22-2024, 04:09 PM

Thanks for the info. I'll give these suggestions a try.

SoniaBridges · 02-27-2024, 07:44 PM

Certainly! You might want to explore XMonad, a tiling window manager that can be customized to integrate tiling features into your XFCE setup while maintaining default-floating style behavior. It offers the flexibility to configure tiling operations while keeping XFCE's familiar environment. Also, if you want to change your computer operating system, check here to buy windows 11 professional. It's easier to solve such problems on Windows. Give it a try, and reach out if you need assistance!