FWIW I recommend everyone to try the `stacking` layout instead of `tabbed`. It makes navigation much more intuitive if you're mainly using horizontal splits: Left/right to focus your split and up/down to select a window from that stack.
Switching to the i3 window manager
31–40 of 88 posts
Re: Switching to the i3 window manager
#32Tiling window managers are great and they are the biggest overall UX difference I miss when using macOS and Windows vs Linux.
I've tried many things for both macOS and Windows to get that "i3wm feel" but nothing quite scratches the itch. macOS can get close but sadly requires disabling security features in macOS for deep integration and that is something I don't care to entertain personally. So I make do with macOS's Spaces and Magnet (a nice third party application for hotkey window 'snapping', there are good free/oss alternatives also such as Spectacle).
Windows 11 is getting some more powerful snapping options plus Microsoft's Fancy Zones PowerToy is quite nice although a far cry from i3 or similar.
When on a laptop a twm is freakin' awesome* as dealing with overlapping windows is such a pain in the ass on a 13-15" screen. Is a little sad when I see people fiddling about to get two or three windows resized using a trackpad.
Hopefully with the enhancements in Windows 11 we will see more progress towards automatic window layout and management . While unlikely it would be nice if Apple take note for Microsoft's changes also.
*pun intended ;)
Re: Switching to the i3 window manager
#33> it can feel quite overwhelming as you need to visualize the tree in your head And that's why I don't use a tiling window manager. I prefer to use my brain for actual work, not futzing around with configuration and OS BS. I mean if it takes 3000 lines of code to make your friggin window manager work then you're doing it wrong. I happen to like overlapping windows, it's just natural and free-flowing. I don't mind was…
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Re: Switching to the i3 window manager
#34> it can feel quite overwhelming as you need to visualize the tree in your head And that's why I don't use a tiling window manager. I prefer to use my brain for actual work, not futzing around with configuration and OS BS. I mean if it takes 3000 lines of code to make your friggin window manager work then you're doing it wrong. I happen to like overlapping windows, it's just natural and free-flowing. I don't mind was…
First of all, you are absolutely right. Using your brain for actual work and not futzing around with configuration is always a great choice.
But honestly, the amount of mental energy the author seems to put into this is way beyond anything I would consider needed to use a tiling window manager. Just the base configuration with an application launcher installed is pretty much enough for most people.
And I have never in my whole live visualized the tree in my head. For me at least i3 is a simple and performance conscious way to use my small/old laptop screen, easily switch between the 10 virtual desktops and either use a stack or a side-by-side view. Sometimes I build a very, very simple tree if I use a ton of terminals at once.
I feel like these kind of 'I installed a new kind of desktop environment'-blog posts are just desperate for any kind of content that exceeds 'I installed it and fiddled around in the configuration file to adjust it to my keyboard and then it worked well enough. Over the next couple of weeks I kept adjusting small things to better fit my workflow. After a while I got used to the shortcuts. Oh, and I changed the background.'
Re: Switching to the i3 window manager
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I love i3 but it's really missing a way to group workspaces, I use https://github.com/infokiller/i3-workspace-groups but it's subpar, what I'd really really like is a native workspace matrix...
There was a discussion about implementing a similar feature natively, but it didn't go anywhere. https://github.com/i3/i3/issues/4024
This sounds nice.
Re: Switching to the i3 window manager
#36Big fan of I3. This may sound superficial, but I've moved away from tiling window managers because everything just looks so ugly. There's something to be said for having a window at ~75% full size with drop shadow around it and a bit of your desktop background showing. It's easier on the eyes. I say this with a heavy hand on heart because I was an enthusiastic user and advocate for xmonad and I3 for several years.
If you want background showing, check out i3-gaps https://github.com/OstOgBajer/i3-gaps
Re: Switching to the i3 window manager
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as I can assess this, I believe it is safer to do this instead of copying to the clipboard. The clipboard might be read by a malicious process while autotype with passmeni will only pipe the password to xdotool and that will generate keystrokes. it's only important to have the correct field selected before autotyping or you might end up googling your password :)
A malicious process could also do many other things. I think the most likely vector for autotyping attacks is simple phishing / clickjacking.
For general readers: Its pretty safe when done via a browser plugin to a website because the plugin both verifies the website (anti-phishing) and uses auto-fill rather than type (it directly injects into the target field rather than typing, so clickjacking isn't a risk).
Its rare that I use passwords outside of the browser now, but windows and mac allow system credentials to mitigate the same risks for desktop apps (the app must support it).
Re: Switching to the i3 window manager
#38Tiling window managers are great and they are the biggest overall UX difference I miss when using macOS and Windows vs Linux. I've tried many things for both macOS and Windows to get that "i3wm feel" but nothing quite scratches the itch. macOS can get close but sadly requires disabling security features in macOS for deep integration and that is something I don't care to entertain personally. So I make do with macOS's…
For macOS, I use Amethyst, recommended here on HN and works fine without disabling security features.
Re: Switching to the i3 window manager
#39Tiling window managers are great and they are the biggest overall UX difference I miss when using macOS and Windows vs Linux. I've tried many things for both macOS and Windows to get that "i3wm feel" but nothing quite scratches the itch. macOS can get close but sadly requires disabling security features in macOS for deep integration and that is something I don't care to entertain personally. So I make do with macOS's…
For macOS, I use Amethyst, recommended here on HN and works fine without disabling security features. https://github.com/ianyh/Amethyst
I have used Amethyst and it works alright but is still a long way from i3 or dwm. Mostly because dealing with different virtual desktops (Spaces) is quite janky as it isn't managed by the wm but automating macOS in ways it wasn't designed to be automated.
Re: Switching to the i3 window manager
#40For my new job I had to switch to Ubuntu on my corporate laptop and I installed Regolith ( https://regolith-linux.org/ ) on it which is basically i3 on top of Gnome (was using Awesome WM on Debian before) and so far it is a very pleasant experience 9 month in.
Does Regolith offer an out-of-the-box i3 experience or do you have to tweak it the same ?