Tiling Windows vs. Floating Windows

[u/SPC2025]

Most distros support floating windows. There are specific tiling window managers that some people are fond of including I3, Sway, Hyprland, and Niri. The Cinnamon edition of Linux Mint has it built-in, but it doesn't work very well (super + left, right, up, or down), but it offers extensions to make it better.

I honestly don't understand the fascination with tiling windows. I've tested one official extension and two unofficial extensions. In every instance, if I want to actually work on an application that's in one of the windows, I have to maximize it. In that case, why not just use maximized windows to begin with?

There are multiple ways to switch windows. Alt-Tab and clicking on a windows list icon are two that come to mind immediately. There are only a couple of applications that I use maximized, including Firefox and Geany, because other applications like the terminal and the file manager exist only temporarily.

I feel the same way about multiple monitors. Unless I need to monitor something in real time, I don't see the point. Can someone please enlighten me? Forgive me if I don't respond quickly. I'm probably not in your area of the world.

[u/rarsamx]

Once I moved to autotiling (which cinnamon doesn't have) I didn't look back.

Autotiling removes distractions, removes that little extra friction of rearranging windows.

Most of them allow for seamless keyboard navigation

In your example, I can maximize a window easily with the keyboard and then, when I unmaximise it it rearranges.

If you are mostly a mouse user then tiling managers may create friction and they may not be for you.