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Fancy Zones, a tiling window manager

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Re: Fancy Zones, a tiling window manager

#41

Post by nickjj »

ndarwincorn wrote: post #37
nickjj wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/new?assignees=... This isn't something that's really a feature request. It would require changing how the whole entire application works at a fundamental level, or really building 2 applications in 1. That's why you have 2 different sets of tiling window managers on Linux. You either have fixed layout ones where it's automatic after configuration or manual tiling window…

> You either have fixed layout ones or dynamic tiling window managers instead of 1 tool trying to do both. I must be missing something, because the 'dynamic' tiling window managers are 1 tool doing both fixed and floating (or stacking) layouts.

Sorry, I should have been more clear in my words. I edit what you quoted for clarity.

i3 acts much differently because if you open 1 window it takes up your whole screen and if you open another window it will be split 50/50 (the direction depends on what hotkey you hit). And it keeps going like this. You can just naturally use your system and let the tiling window manager worry about resizing things and you can fine tune the sizes with hotkeys on the spot if you desire to have non-symmetrical splits.

This is why i3 is classified as a manual tiling window manager. You get to control how the splits happen on the spot, rather than it being automatic as long as you pre-configure the layouts beforehand.

i3 also lets you optionally choose to make windows floating on demand with hotkeys or even pre-configure certain apps or window titles to be floating by default. There's stacking as well.

This video does a good job showing how i3 works and feels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKviflL9XeI (and how it's drastically different than Fancy Zones).

Re: Fancy Zones, a tiling window manager

#43

Post by coldacid »

bob1029 wrote: post #30

Will definitely check this out. I use a 43" 4K and the default corner/side snapping behavior is just not sufficient for managing windows. Having visual studio snapped to the right/left 50% of your screen all day is terrible for your neck, especially considering the default location of solution explorer in VS. I really just need a 'priority' zone or column right in the middle of the display that I can quickly snap oth…

There is an included "priority zone" layout included that will probably work just fine for you.

Re: Fancy Zones, a tiling window manager

#44

Post by Fnoord »

spectaclepiece wrote: post #40
bob1029 wrote: post #30

Will definitely check this out. I use a 43" 4K and the default corner/side snapping behavior is just not sufficient for managing windows. Having visual studio snapped to the right/left 50% of your screen all day is terrible for your neck, especially considering the default location of solution explorer in VS. I really just need a 'priority' zone or column right in the middle of the display that I can quickly snap oth…

If you're on an X11 based desktop system I would highly recommend Quicktile[1]. I have a 43 inch 4k too and the 3x1 layout is one of the most common I use. Centering a single window in the middle is also very useful. On my mac I use Spectactle[2] instead and I have the keyboard shortcuts mapped the same on both systems. If I would use Windows this looks like a good option. [1] https://github.com/ssokolow/quicktile [2…

Another option is Amethyst [1]. It does the tiling for you.

[1] https://github.com/ianyh/Amethyst

Re: Fancy Zones, a tiling window manager

#45

Post by [deleted] »

bob1029 wrote: post #30

Will definitely check this out. I use a 43" 4K and the default corner/side snapping behavior is just not sufficient for managing windows. Having visual studio snapped to the right/left 50% of your screen all day is terrible for your neck, especially considering the default location of solution explorer in VS. I really just need a 'priority' zone or column right in the middle of the display that I can quickly snap oth…

[deleted]

Re: Fancy Zones, a tiling window manager

#46

Post by NoGravitas »

I'd love to give this a try. The improvements to edge/corner snapping in Windows 10 already feel like they give me about 60% of a tiling window manager, and if this was 80%, that would be fantastic. Unfortunately, it requires a newer release of Windows 10 than my workplace is running, so it's out of the question for me for now.

Re: Fancy Zones, a tiling window manager

#47

Post by shawnz »

TickleSteve wrote: post #38
shawnz wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my opinion, the major disadvantage of current tiling WMs like i3 is that they don't make effective use of the mouse, which can be a very efficient input device for some usages. If this product is able to change that, then that could outweigh the pain of the awkward configuration for me.

Regarding the mouse... thats the entire point of i3, i.e. to make it all keyboard-driven. It's sort of like saying "the problem with cars is that they don't make effective use of the horse". i3 doesn't do anything to prevent you using the mouse for whatever application you like.

I understand that's a design goal of i3. I wasn't specifically talking about i3 though, in fact it seems like every tiling window manager has that philosophy and I think it is a mistake. Enabling effective use of the mouse doesn't negate the ability to use the keyboard effectively too -- they serve different use cases.

Re: Fancy Zones, a tiling window manager

#49

Post by GuiA »

simias wrote: post #32

I tried using a custom "window manager" for Windows a while ago (back in the Vista days IIRC) and it didn't really work well. The main problem was that, as far as I could tell, the window manager couldn't really preempt the windows and force them to show up in a certain way. Instead it basically asked them "pretty please, could you show up at this location with these dimensions?". As a result frozen apps (such as gra…

I’ve encountered similar issues with macOS tiling window managers. At the end of the day, you’re bolting on behaviors that the original designers of the system didn’t intend you to, and there’s always going to be tension there.

When I’m on Linux I love using xmonad/i3, but on other platforms I’ve learned to accept the defaults; otherwise you just end up using things that work most of the time, but not really, and it’s really infuriating when you expect your workflows to be snappy and consistent.

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