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Tiling window managers

  • i3 is perhaps the most popular tiling window manager, typically used with polybar.
  • awesome is written and configured in Lua. It originated as a fork of dwm, it offers creature comforts that make it the easiest for neophytes to tiling window managers.
  • bspwm ("Binary Space Partitioning Window Manager") uses tree partitioning as the logic for organizing tiles, with the default being the "dwindle" pattern. Notably, it uses two config files:
    • .bspwmrc which determines what programs to autoload but doesn't contain any key bindings
    • .sxhkdrc which uses a syntax similar to i3 or herbstluft.
  • dwm: One of the oldest and lightest tiling window managers. Because Suckless wants the source code not to exceed 2,000 lines of code, a lot of functionality is incorporated by means of patches, which modify the source code using diff files.
  • herbstluft has a single pool of workspaces that is shared across all monitors.
  • xmonad is written and configured in Haskell, making it challenging to configure.

All window managers place an INI-format .desktop file in /usr/share/xsessions/.

xmonad.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=xmonad
Comment=Tiling window manager
Exec=xmonad-start
Terminal=false

[Window Manager]
SessionManaged=true

Xmonad

Install
dnf install xmonad \
            xterm dmenu # (1)
  1. At the recommendation of DistroTube.

Default keybindings which must be known by the neophyte:

Default keybinding Description
++Alt+Shift+Enter++ Terminal
++Alt+Shift+C++ Close pane

The config is typically placed in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/xmonad/ (resolving to ~/.config/xmonad/), although other locations are possible. A good default config is available here.

Change Mod key to Super 

myModMask = mod4Mask