The return of the tiling window manager
What's Old Is News Again
Tiling desktops have been experiencing a resurgence in popularity. Here are a few options that can help keep your desktop better organized.
Tiling desktops are graphical environments in which windows open in a grid. They appeared early in Linux's history and have always had a few followers, especially among developers. For much of the past two decades, though, tiling desktops were ignored in the efforts to mimic Windows and macOS and to improve usability. However, in recent years, tiling desktops have become more popular, most likely because modern computing power means that more users are working with more windows open. Today, users can choose from a variety of tiling desktops. Some have been around for years, and others are more recent.
The idea behind tiling desktops is to reduce clutter on the desktop and make windows easier to find. By contrast, the standard or stacking desktop becomes less orderly with each open window. Most stacking desktops open windows in the upper left corner or some other default location. As users search through windows, the unwanted ones tend to be dragged aside, destroying what little order existed. In fact, the clutter is so great that many stacking desktops have a Show Desktop icon or widget. Others, such as Ubuntu's discarded Unity desktop, encourage users to open only one window at a time. Tiling desktops, on the other hand, arrange windows in a grid, making them easy to find. Should the windows become too numerous and too small for comfortable browsing, users can use virtual workspaces to add another grid. You can remove windows from the grid to increase their size and temporarily stack them on top of the grid. Another advantage of tiling desktops is that they can be easily navigated from the keyboard, although many also support a mouse.
You can get a feel for tiling desktops from terminal multiplexers such as GNU Screen, tmux, or Tilix (Figure 1), which turn a terminal into a tiling environment with multiple prompts. When you are ready to try an actual tiling desktop, here are some of the most popular choices. Many of these options can be installed as desktop environments in distributions, and a couple are also distributions in their own right.
ratpoison
Inspired by the terminal multiplexer GNU Screen, ratpoison [1] (Figure 2) is one of the earliest tiling desktops, and it still has a following today. Ratpoison is written in the C programming language (although some users may prefer StumpWM, which offers similar features and is written in Common Lisp). The name is a playful reference to the fact that ratpoison does not require a mouse, relying instead on keyboard commands that closely follow those of the once popular Emacs text editor. Moreover, although it can launch graphical applications, they are run from the command line. By default, ratpoison uses a single workspace, but it usually installs with a script called rpws to enable additional ones. If you value speed and configurability and have the patience to learn, you will find ratpoison ideal. If you value user-friendliness above all else, you should look at another tiling desktop instead.
awesome
Forked from the older window manager dwm, awesome (Figure 3) quickly went on to eclipse its original inspiration. Like many tiling window managers, awesome is designed for power users and those who enjoy tinkering. Written in C and Lua, awesome has all the expected features of tiling desktops, while enjoying a reputation for speed and configurability. In fact, an online search reveals page upon page dedicated to scripting for awesome, including the awesome project website [2] and Debian's awesome-dedicated wiki [3]. These websites should make customizing awesome much easier.
XMonad
Although written in Haskell, XMonad [4] (Figure 4) has much in common with awesome. Both were forked from dwm at roughly the same time and are highly configurable, with plenty of scripts available online that users can easily modify. However, XMonad is aimed at more general users, with clear documentation that includes an FAQ and a step-by-step guide to basic navigation. Just as important, XMonad offers many features such as separate layouts for workspaces, separate status bars for screens, and on-the-fly updating of the display when configuration files are updated. Many features introduced by XMonad later have been copied by other tiling managers.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.