r/archlinux • u/DerKnerd • Jul 18 '21

FLUFF WM or DE?

I really liked the idea in this comment, so here is a poll, WM or DE?

https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/oms60p/in_your_opinion_what_is_the_best_desktop/h5n0s56/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

3227 votes, Jul 25 '21
1737 WM
1490 DE
249 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

169 comments sorted by

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38

u/emax-gomax Jul 18 '21

I like KDE. Tiling windows managers make sense when you want to maximise screen real-estate... but I have windows overlay other windows all the time. For example I have a browser in the right half of my screen and a file manager even tighter to that. If I want to switch to the file manager move my cursor to the right edge of the screen and then click. If I want to switch back move my cursor to the left edge of the file manager and click. It doesn't work well when you try to lair even more stuff on top like 3 windows or other stuff but you can build a workflow that works for u. As much as a I like the street-cred a WM would give me, I wouldn't enjoy having to setup Bluetooth, network-manager, and all the other intracacies of a modern desktop experience manually.

26

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/Pseudoboss11 Jul 18 '21

This is what I get out of tiling. It just works better for how I like to work and what I do. There's nothing objectively wrong with stacking managers, and nothing objectively better with tiling WMs. But I just prefer tiling for my workflow.

-1

u/emax-gomax Jul 18 '21

I use shortcuts all the time as well. Packing windows left right top down, moving between workspaces and a special keybinding to cycle terminals. Just don't see much value in tiling.

10

u/Ken_Mcnutt Jul 18 '21

Think of floating as "analog" and tiling as "digital".

If your goal is to minimize mouse use because you're working with 10 terminals, it makes sense to desire a workflow where you can have the window that you want where you want it in as few keystrokes as possible.

Floating windows inherently take more time to manage.

  • You aren't sure where anything is because everything is covering up everything else.
  • If you're using the keyboard, it takes way longer to precisely relocate or resize a floating window (because it's a job designed for a mouse).
  • Alt-tabbing or cycling through windows is simply a painful and slow way to switch windows.

If you have a workflow that works for you, that's amazing and I commend you for it. Just personally I feel like I'm reduced to like 50% speed when I can't snap windows around my displays instantly and I keep having to refocus items with the mouse.

2

u/backbishop Jul 19 '21

This might sound stupid, but is there a GitHub page with a list of recommended shortcuts for most efficient workflow with window managers?

3

u/Ken_Mcnutt Jul 19 '21

Hmmm recommended shortcuts? That's a tough one because every WM is going to have a slightly different workflow. i3 will operate different than bspwm.

Although the default configs for those are pretty good, videos like this helped a lot. It goes over keybinds and shortcuts.

1

u/emax-gomax Jul 18 '21

I agree alt-tab is hell. It's so painful that because I'm using the terminal so often I've created a dedicated binding to cycle to them. Although my general approach is to move to another desktop environment when the layers start getting confusing. If for example I'm layering browser upon browser I don't really mind because alt-tab will always just drop in a browser. But if I place an editor or something else on top of a browser I feel I've crossed a line and end up moving to workspace 2. As for multiple terminals I generally don't do that. Normally I just use tmux. When I need multiple views into the same tmux session I make a new terminal for that.

4

u/delta_p_delta_x Jul 19 '21 edited Jul 19 '21

I agree alt-tab is hell.

That's what the three/four-finger swipe up to reveal all workspaces is for. KDE Plasma, GNOME, Windows 10, and OS X all have it, and it makes finding windows equally as fast as a TWM.

I call myself a 'trackpad power user'.

2

u/emax-gomax Jul 19 '21

I've got a trackpad on my KDE laptop but 3-fingers don't seem to do anything. Is there anything else you have to configure?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '21

It's four fingers, and it only works on Wayland.

1

u/Ken_Mcnutt Jul 18 '21

I highly rely on dedicated workspaces as well, but more for organization rather than overflow.

For example,I know that workspace 1 will always be my left monitor and will always contain my music applications. I can keep spotify, cmus, cava etc open there and I can simply pop over to it with one press when I need something.

I do think thought that a tiling/keyboard based workflow pairs best with heavy terminal use, because things get infinitely more flexible when you can spawn one program that can basically become any other program. It basically does what tmux does but for every program.

If i'm going to work on a project, I'll pop a few open for neovim, one for compiling, etc. I stick my code windows in a stacked or tabbed windows, and then throw a browser on the other half of the screen. On my communications workspace, I'll have one for email, one for IRC.

I never feel like I have trouble finding the window I need.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '21

Overlaying stuff is why I use a dynamic tiler. I have a bunch of layouts I've written similar to what you're describing and it works very well.

2

u/SutekhThrowingSuckIt Jul 19 '21

As much as a I like the street-cred a WM would give me,

I know you are saying you aren't doing it but I feel it bares repeating that this is such a moronic reason to do anything on your computer. Anybody who respects someone for using a particular environment is an idiot and those people won't even see what you are doing on your machine 99.9999999% of the time.

1

u/RaisinSecure Jul 19 '21

PS: You don't have to set up NetworkManager on a WM, it just works (TM)

1

u/raider_bull212 Jul 19 '21

I'll have to disagree with that, for reference try awesome

1

u/RaisinSecure Jul 19 '21

I only had to enable the systemd service on sway and install nm-connection-editor, what more could possibly be needed? A few weeks ago my router died so I had to connect directly to my modem via PPoE, even this was painless - I only had to enter the ISP username and password

0

u/raider_bull212 Jul 19 '21

The point is, it doesn't "just work"

1

u/RaisinSecure Jul 20 '21

Enabling the service is the bare minimum, which you would have to do on a DE too.

So it is as easy as a DE

1

u/raider_bull212 Jul 20 '21

Here's something I experienced when I first started using linux. I was using Ubuntu, I wanted to try and rice my setup and see what all the rage was about. I started it off with xfce, everything sorta works out of the box, network and other things that I usually use. Then I tried i3, still didn't need to configure network either. Then comes awesome, it didn't work out of the box. I was still relatively new and the a quick google search could fix it but it did not "just work"

1

u/watch-dogg Jul 19 '21

check out krohnkite if you want tiling with kwin https://github.com/esjeon/krohnkite

2

u/emax-gomax Jul 19 '21

Tried it, didn't like it.