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Rethinking Window Management

blogs.gnome.org

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Re: Rethinking Window Management

#11

Post by MobiusHorizons »

goosedragons wrote: post #2

Maximizing windows in their own workspace is annoying and one of the worst parts of macOS window management. I really hope they don't bother with that. Just because I want a maximized window doesn't mean I want it in it's own workspace. It just makes dealing with windows harder because you now have to move to some other workspace to grab a window you want to reference first.

+1. This behavior is really confusing if you expect a particular window (typically a browser) to be on a particular workspace (I have keyboard shortcuts for the first 4 workspaces) and then it ends up off the end of the list because you happen to have been watching some content maximized.

Re: Rethinking Window Management

#12

Post by stouset »

goosedragons wrote: post #2

Maximizing windows in their own workspace is annoying and one of the worst parts of macOS window management. I really hope they don't bother with that. Just because I want a maximized window doesn't mean I want it in it's own workspace. It just makes dealing with windows harder because you now have to move to some other workspace to grab a window you want to reference first.

If you option-click the green button or double-click the window handle, it expands a window to fill the screen without making it full-screen on its own space.

Re: Rethinking Window Management

#13

Post by dugmartin »

I've been using i3 (within the larger Regolith package) for a few years now and its hard for me to non-tiling WMs now. However I do think there would be a lot of improvements, especially with large desktop monitors.

One idea I had would be to have a window manager only have a single main window in each desktop and then scaled down windows around the border on the desktop, like the TV in Idiocracy (https://www.soundandvision.com/files/_images/200902/21720091...). Selecting windows would swap out the main window with the scaled version on the border. This would give you the ability to focus on one window that is always centered while seeing scaled versions of all the other window's output.

Maybe this has already been done?

Re: Rethinking Window Management

#14

Post by Steltek »

goosedragons wrote: post #2

Maximizing windows in their own workspace is annoying and one of the worst parts of macOS window management. I really hope they don't bother with that. Just because I want a maximized window doesn't mean I want it in it's own workspace. It just makes dealing with windows harder because you now have to move to some other workspace to grab a window you want to reference first.

macOS manages _apps_ not _windows_. macOS (or iOS) is the last place to look for insights into window management because it's not even speaking the same language.

GNOME made this mistake a long time ago, trying to cargo cult (orig. definition) design their window management tools.

Re: Rethinking Window Management

#15

Post by ecliptik »

goosedragons wrote: post #2

Maximizing windows in their own workspace is annoying and one of the worst parts of macOS window management. I really hope they don't bother with that. Just because I want a maximized window doesn't mean I want it in it's own workspace. It just makes dealing with windows harder because you now have to move to some other workspace to grab a window you want to reference first.

I ended up using Moom [1] to work around some of the oddities of macOS window management. It's relatively low-feature, mostly for window arrangements and sizing. I use it on a vertical monitor to split window placement horizontally, since macOS can only natively do vertical splits.

It has other features too (like saving layouts and keyboard shortcuts), but I don't use them that much.

1. https://manytricks.com/moom/

Re: Rethinking Window Management

#16

Post by wang_li »

dugmartin wrote: post #13

I've been using i3 (within the larger Regolith package) for a few years now and its hard for me to non-tiling WMs now. However I do think there would be a lot of improvements, especially with large desktop monitors. One idea I had would be to have a window manager only have a single main window in each desktop and then scaled down windows around the border on the desktop, like the TV in Idiocracy ( https://www.sounda…

Many years ago, 1982, there was an applie ii video game named Dung Beetles. It was a pac man style dot chomper in a maze. Except the maze was quite large and the area around the player was viewed as if through a magnifying glass. I would find it interesting -- but probably unworkable -- if my virtual desktop were 5x and any window not focused were small and when focused it blows up to normal size. With some options of being able to make windows stay large when not focused and etc.

Re: Rethinking Window Management

#17

Post by asoneth »

goosedragons wrote: post #2

Maximizing windows in their own workspace is annoying and one of the worst parts of macOS window management. I really hope they don't bother with that. Just because I want a maximized window doesn't mean I want it in it's own workspace. It just makes dealing with windows harder because you now have to move to some other workspace to grab a window you want to reference first.

Personally I find switching between workspaces annoying, but not particularly more or less annoying than switching between maximized windows on Windows. So I am curious what you specifically find annoying about treating maximized windows as workspaces.

(Also, note that you can hold the Option key and click on the green plus in the upper-left corner you will get the standard Windows maximize behavior, which macOS calls "Zoom". Even better, you can go to System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Double click a window's title bar to... and select "Zoom" to make this action even easier.)

Re: Rethinking Window Management

#18

Post by dpc_01234 »

Since there's going to be a lot of tiling WM users looking: what's the best way to get tiling WM and all the convenience of a "full blown WM like Gnome": things like Network Manager applet, bluetooth control, audio etc. all just few clicks away.

Re: Rethinking Window Management

#19

Post by raccolta »

dpc_01234 wrote: post #18

Since there's going to be a lot of tiling WM users looking: what's the best way to get tiling WM and all the convenience of a "full blown WM like Gnome": things like Network Manager applet, bluetooth control, audio etc. all just few clicks away.

pop-shell (can be used as an extension to gnome shell on most distros) has a toggle for tiling windows. Otherwise it's all the Gnome DE.

Re: Rethinking Window Management

#20

Post by jauntywundrkind »

I get that treating overlapping windows as bad might sometimes be a thing. Trying to juggle getting sufficient data to do the job in screen can be a bit of a chore.

But personally I quite enjoy overlapped windows. Even when using a tiling window manager, I rely on stacked view a lot, where only one window of the stack is visible at a time. I need effective fast navigation across apps, not the simultaneous use/view of all.

I feel like Gnome often decides to pick goals that it says are user friendly, but which refuse to see the utility of the established alternatives. Making a big choice here feels like it's based entirely around a single argument that I fundamentally don't think is valid, in many cases.

I also worry that they are building a three mode system, and that it's unclear how if at all the various modes will blend. If there is a unified approach where standard/tiling/mosaic can coexist my concern is significantly lessened, but I'm not sure what that would look like, how mosaic would interact with standard.

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