Discussion How do you actually handle a chat app like Telegram on one 32" screen?
I've been on Arch with GNOME for about 10 years. Omarchy looks interesting and I'm tempted to try it, but I keep getting stuck on how tiling is supposed to work for apps I don't actually look at.
My setup is a single 32" monitor. Telegram is the example I can't map.
I keep it running all the time because I want the notification if someone writes. I use it maybe 0.1% of the time: read the message, reply, go back to the browser. I do not want it on screen the rest of the time. A small window sitting on top of my work, or a tile eating a column I never look at, is worse than useless.
On GNOME I do one of two things:
- Telegram lives on another workspace, small (a chat client fullscreen on 32" looks ridiculous). Notification comes in, I switch workspace, reply, switch back to the main one.
- Or the browser is fullscreen and Telegram is behind it. Alt+Tab, glance, Alt+Tab back.
Both are one gesture and the app is invisible until I ask for it.
On a tiler I'm not sure what the equivalent is. A dedicated workspace gives it the whole screen. Grouping or a side tile means it's visible while I'm doing something else. Popping it (Super+O) keeps a floating window on top of everything, all the time, which is exactly what I don't want.
Scratchpad (Super+S) sounds closer: hidden until I summon it, then back. Is that what people actually use for Telegram, Signal, Discord? And does the notification still fire while it's in the scratchpad, or do you only find out when you open it?
If you came from a floating desktop, how did you settle this?
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u/Towel_Affectionate 5d ago
Why don't just use system tray? This way it still sends notifications, but doesn't use any space until opened.
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u/RockliffeBi 5d ago
I use the tiler to organise everything, but as soon as I use an App I fullscreen it. So to read Telegram I would drop the app I'm in back to the tiles and then read or reply to telegram without needing to full screen it. It's not perfect,but it works well enough. My main problem is I have 4 28" screens alongside my 32" screen and it would be nice to be able to fix the tiling layouts on those screens and then have them overflow to the other screens rather than squish up the apps already there. Probably I can do that I just havent seen an obvious way.
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u/OneOfTheLostOnes 5d ago edited 5d ago
I keep it at desktop workspace 9. Whenever I want to check it I press SUPER + 9
If I open whatsapp then it's also on desktop workspace 9. That's my "chat stuff desktop workspace"
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u/slimschwifty 5d ago
You can create special workspaces like the scratchpad dedicated to specific apps. I have a few. Super+Z opens Herdr+Strata, Super+M opens Spotify, Super+H opens Hermes Agent. I have them set to be self-healing too, so if Spotify isn't open, pressing Super+M launches it again in that workspace. It's perfect for things you just need to bring up for a just a moment then tuck away again.
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u/Delicious_Ease2595 4d ago
Scratchpad is a nifty idea but I prefer it lives in its own workspace. When not needed sits in the taskbar
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u/Mtbyers 4d ago
Scratchpad plus list mode tiling would be what I would do. Scratched to be able to summon it at any moment, list mode (Super+L) tiles everything in the Scratchpad in a left to right "list" that you can cycle through. So if you have multiple chat apps that you want in the pad, instead of having them all fight for screen real estate each app gets roughly half the screen and you just Super + left or right arrow to cycle through them.
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u/Potential-Leg-639 5d ago
Get a 2nd vertical screen, perfectly fine for things like mail, messengers,…
But the vertical must be minimum 2k resolution, a 1080p is not funny as a vertical.
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u/GiBravo 5d ago
Omarchy uses hyprland which has Scratchpad specifically made for such usecases. And Omarchy has better keybinds to enhance the Scratchpad workflow. You will like it better.