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KDE: A Nice Tiling Environment and a Surprisingly Awesome DE

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Re: KDE: A Nice Tiling Environment and a Surprisingly Awesome DE

#81

Post by cycomanic »

pjerem wrote: post #52
zamalek wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's purely based on you workflow. I'm a "maximizer," 99% of the time things are maximized on my desktop. A second tile (browser) is usually extremely temporary. Other stuff goes to other desktops. So I general, my layout is highly consistent: just one tile. For what it's worth, hiding the unimportant details in a web page can also be accomplished by zoom/scroll - but that's definitely not to say your approac…

Fellow maximiser here. It’s probably the reason why I still love OSX after all the shitty updates. The full-screen mode is a marvel of ergonomics once you get it. Just maximize your apps and switch between them with the trackpad like they are virtual desktops (because they, in fact, are). It’s an awesome mode for a single screen workflow. Tilings WM are cool but you are rapidly limited with be screen (and even with t…

I'm confused, you make it sound like there is something unique to OSX here. But every Linux WM has had virtual desktops since ages ago and virtual desktops are a superior solution to just fullscreen windows (they can do the same for fullscreen windows+do the same for groups of windows... )

Re: KDE: A Nice Tiling Environment and a Surprisingly Awesome DE

#82

Post by jcun4128 »

I used i3-wm out of necessity in the past eg. piece of crap computers where I could save 300MB of RAM by not using stock Ubuntu.

Maybe not directly related but I'm looking forward to learning more of KDE with Pinephone Pro and Kirigami. I would be interested in some kind of tiling manager there again for resource saving.

My intent ultimately is a UI like Windows Phone if that somehow makes it snappier. I tried SxMO and it was brutal.

Re: KDE: A Nice Tiling Environment and a Surprisingly Awesome DE

#83

Post by bayindirh »

stormbrew wrote: post #50
anyfoo wrote: post #5

I must be one of the very few "hackerish" minded people that does not really get the appeal of tiling window managers. Even in the early days of Linux I meticulously arranged my overlapping windows in my X11R5 window manager. For example, there are some terminal windows or similar with running logs (or chats) at some of the edges, partially obscured by other windows who make better use of the space they cover. But th…

Everything you're describing in this reply just exhausts the hell out of my brain. You're describing an incredibly large amount of cognitive load you hold in your head all the time about where things are and what they mean and how much of them are visible. Tiling WM are largely about just not thinking that much about windows at all. They're visible or they're not, they occupy precise areas on your screen, and moving…

KDE has two solutions to these problems: Present windows and desktop grid view. Present windows also has a search feature, so you press a key combination, present windows open. Two or three letters for the title of the window, then enter.

If you want to fast organization, showing all windows and desktop is also achievable. Open the view, drag and drop windows or desktops.

For me, both views have their active corners and keyboard shortcuts. People give me sideways looks when I use both of them.

Re: KDE: A Nice Tiling Environment and a Surprisingly Awesome DE

#84

Post by laumars »

stormbrew wrote: post #50
anyfoo wrote: post #5

I must be one of the very few "hackerish" minded people that does not really get the appeal of tiling window managers. Even in the early days of Linux I meticulously arranged my overlapping windows in my X11R5 window manager. For example, there are some terminal windows or similar with running logs (or chats) at some of the edges, partially obscured by other windows who make better use of the space they cover. But th…

Everything you're describing in this reply just exhausts the hell out of my brain. You're describing an incredibly large amount of cognitive load you hold in your head all the time about where things are and what they mean and how much of them are visible. Tiling WM are largely about just not thinking that much about windows at all. They're visible or they're not, they occupy precise areas on your screen, and moving…

What you’re describing there is a little like the difference between those who like to have tidy desks vs those who don’t.

You’ll often find that some who work in organised chaos still know exactly where everything is.

Is their organisation worse than those who keep things tidy? From an outsiders perspective it might seem that way. But if they’re the only ones using that workspace then it doesn’t really matter.

For some people, remembering where stuff is creates no extra cognitive overhead. For others, it’s like trying to access their computer while it’s covered in bubble wrap.

Re: KDE: A Nice Tiling Environment and a Surprisingly Awesome DE

#85

Post by DyslexicAtheist »

anyfoo wrote: post #5

I must be one of the very few "hackerish" minded people that does not really get the appeal of tiling window managers. Even in the early days of Linux I meticulously arranged my overlapping windows in my X11R5 window manager. For example, there are some terminal windows or similar with running logs (or chats) at some of the edges, partially obscured by other windows who make better use of the space they cover. But th…

interesting how people are so different in what makes them productive. Your setup sounds like an organized chaos. Like my living room which has things cluttered here or there but is not actually filthy. But when it comes to my WM and technology in general I am so swamped by information that it's an ongoing struggle not having my attention hijacked.

Most of the time I'm in a single full-screen window unless I need to context switch. Some exceptions would be working on a pdf where the markdown is edited in one window and the pdf is to the right (auto-reloading when I save the markdown).

Other exceptions are running a terminal right next to my browser because I need to enter a few commands (installation instructions etc).

I used dwm, switched to i3 then stuck with sway. What I love about it is my limited screen real-estate (laptop) isn't wasted. I don't have an external monitor because I move a lot. My colleagues can't imagine working productively just on a laptop. It's perfect for me.

Re: KDE: A Nice Tiling Environment and a Surprisingly Awesome DE

#86

Post by hnlmorg »

anyfoo wrote: post #5

I must be one of the very few "hackerish" minded people that does not really get the appeal of tiling window managers. Even in the early days of Linux I meticulously arranged my overlapping windows in my X11R5 window manager. For example, there are some terminal windows or similar with running logs (or chats) at some of the edges, partially obscured by other windows who make better use of the space they cover. But th…

It's not just you. I'd written my own Bash replacement shell and use it daily so I'm not some Linux n00b and I've never got on with tiling VMs. I started to think that maybe the issue is just that I don't like existing tiling WMs, so I started to write my own. After about 2 days of coding I realized that the issue wasn't that other tiling WMs suck, the issue was me: I just prefer floating windows which I can snap via drag and dropping when I want tiling. In fact Kwin is already my perfect WM.

I had seen all these screenshots and work colleagues using i3, Awesome, dwm and such like and looking ultra cool (from a nerdy point of view) and fooled myself into thinking this is what I should be doing too without realizing that I was already happy and productive without them.

Re: KDE: A Nice Tiling Environment and a Surprisingly Awesome DE

#87

Post by exceptione »

KDE is fantastic. But there are two things that irks me:

- how can I see that a screen/dialog is active? It is with the default theme extremely hard to see

- why is drag handle area impossibly small? When I need to manually resize a window (or column) I need to have the mouse pointer on the specific pixel of the window border, or else I wouldn't get the resize pointer

Re: KDE: A Nice Tiling Environment and a Surprisingly Awesome DE

#88

Post by nextaccountic »

exceptione wrote: post #87

KDE is fantastic. But there are two things that irks me: - how can I see that a screen/dialog is active? It is with the default theme extremely hard to see - why is drag handle area impossibly small? When I need to manually resize a window (or column) I need to have the mouse pointer on the specific pixel of the window border, or else I wouldn't get the resize pointer

> - why is drag handle area impossibly small? When I need to manually resize a window (or column) I need to have the mouse pointer on the specific pixel of the window border, or else I wouldn't get the resize pointer

You need to change the window decoration

https://docs.kde.org/trunk5/en/kwin/kcontrol/kwindecoration/...

"Tip

For accessibility purposes, some window decorations support extra wide borders. If this is available, you can also choose a Window border size here. The large borders are easier to see for low vision users, and easier to grab for people with limited mobility or difficulty using a mouse."

Re: KDE: A Nice Tiling Environment and a Surprisingly Awesome DE

#89

Post by ulimn »

exceptione wrote: post #87

KDE is fantastic. But there are two things that irks me: - how can I see that a screen/dialog is active? It is with the default theme extremely hard to see - why is drag handle area impossibly small? When I need to manually resize a window (or column) I need to have the mouse pointer on the specific pixel of the window border, or else I wouldn't get the resize pointer

Holding ALT + right mouse button can be used to resize windows easily. (Left for moving them)
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