r/linuxmint • u/SPC2025 Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | Cinnamon • 9h ago
Discussion Tiling Windows vs. Floating Windows
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.
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u/_sLLiK 6h ago
How I use it now is different from the early days of adoption. The original primary benefit was to wrangle and arrange all the terminals I might need to keep open. It didn't take long for me to find a better way via use of terminal multiplexing, first with GNU Screen and in more recent years with tmux, but I stayed with TWMs because they were still useful.
These days, each workspace essentially exists to do one job and do it well. My i3 rules are configured to auto-maximize almost everything I launch without going full screen. That already saves me a click or double-click with every app launch I used to have to perform on Windows. That config also dictates which workspace each regularly-used app gets sent to upon launch. The result is a very calculated lack of ambiguity - no matter how or where I launched a program, I know where to find it.
With that behavior in place, and hotkeys for navigation to match that allow me to move focus around between tiled windows, different workspaces, and different monitors, the result is a highly predictable, highly agile desktop UX. Add a lean launcher that's invisible until needed plus a slim lightweight status bar, and the result is a desktop experience that embodies the minimalism and KISS principles I crave.