 So way back when I started this channel I made a video talking about why I thought tiling window managers were awesome and why I thought everyone should use one now Back when I started the channel. I didn't make very good videos I'll be the first to admit that if you go back and watch them on my earlier videos You'll think these videos are really high quality because those were really bad So what I wanted to do today was kind of remake that video just a bit because over the course of the last three years Which is it's hard to believe that my channel is almost three years old But over the course of the last three years my views on tiling window managers have changed just a little bit So today what I want to do is talk about the merits of tiling window managers Why I prefer them and why I think everyone should try one at least once now a big reason Why I've decided to remake this video isn't just because that first video was kind of meh But I have been getting a lot of questions over. Why are you a window manager fan? Why do you prefer tiling window managers? What makes a window manager good? Why should I use one right all these questions and Well, it's usually the case when I get those questions that it's just easier for me to make a video than try to answer them in text form So let's go ahead and talk about why I prefer tiling window managers So first let me show you what my current window manager looks like and actually is so this right here is q-tile It is a tiling window manager written in python configured in python and it is Spectacular it is my favorite window manager Right now by far now if you've watched my channel for any amount of time You'll know that my previous favorite was i3 now just because q-tile has overtaken the crown on this this whole situation Doesn't mean that I think i3 is bad. I still think i3 is fantastic I still have all of my configuration for i3 and there's a good chance Some time down the line that I'll return to i3 and be happy there again But right now q-tile is my favorite over the course of my time on linux. I've used a ton of tiling window managers I've used q-tile i3 awesome dwm specter wm I've used things like herp slough wm. You name it. I've used it. I've also used x-mone ad I don't like x-mone ad, but that's beyond the point, you know I've used a ton of window managers almost universally. They've all been tiling window managers and for the most part I like them. They all have their pros and cons Obviously, I have my favorites right now q-tile is my favorite and I just really like them But the question has to be why do I like a tiling window manager? Well the answer to that question necessitates some history and if you guys know I Have a degree in history. So I like history quite a bit. So Indulged me just for a minute. I'm going to talk about personal history, but it's important So way back when younger mat was a windows refugee. I was a windows user for the longest time I had been a mac user prior to that but I wasn't a mac user for very long But most I was mostly a windows user and then in 2017 I decided I was going to use linux because I was a windows refugee I gravitated towards Desktop environments that simulated what windows offered specifically when it came to user interface and user experience And that naturally led me to be a very big plasma fan boy Now I liked plasma not only because it emulated what windows did but also because it allowed me to expand upon it because kd plasma is so extendable I was able to change whatever I want and gradually over a period of time. I was able to Divorce myself from the need to make everything be windows and kind of make things my own But the whole point of this history is because I was very much used to having all of my windows on one workspace piled on top of each other I was used to using all tab to cycle between them I was used to using the taskbar to click on buttons, you know Up here at the top, you know to or at the bottom at that point to switch between windows And it was just a very Messy system, but I was used to it. That's where I was happy. It was very much a comfort thing I was I was very much a creature of habit when it comes to how I was doing my workflow like I had all my windows there and Looking back on it I realized now that I was more in the habit then of closing windows when I was done with them Closing applications when I was done and then I just opened them back up if I needed them again See the reason why I said looking back on that is because I no longer do Now that I use a tiling window manager, I'm much more prone to keeping things open Even if I'm not immediately using them. So a good example of this is my file manager I have my file manager open all the time now This is crusader if you've ever heard me talk about file managers before which I've done a lot on this channel Like I have more file manager videos than any other linux youtuber out there almost guaranteed I love file managers crusader is my favorite. It's my baby. I love it I have it open all the time. I never close it. In fact, one of the first applications I open up when my computer turns on is crusader. I always have it on workspace eight I have had for the last couple years. It's just there and even though I don't use a file manager Constantly throughout the day. I do use it often enough where it just feels like I should have it open all the time Another one that I have open all the time is discord. I have discord open all the time So that has its own workspace way back when I was using a floating window manager I would have all of my windows on one space and it was very much a Survival mechanism for me to close windows when I was done with it For example, I probably wouldn't have a file manager open all the time I would have it, you know, I'd use whatever I need to do and then I would close it Same thing with probably discord or my email client or my terminal or whatever If I'd use it do the thing that I need to do and close it now that I'm a tiling window manager fan And a tiling window manager user. I don't close applications when I know for a fact that I'm going to be using them again Even if that scenario happens to be, you know, a few hours down the line And really that's the biggest change for me when it comes to my workflow is that I Use workspaces now more than I ever did when I was a plasma or a genome user Obviously virtual workspaces exist in both of those desktop environments and they exist on mate and cinnamon and xfc and stuff, right? But when it comes to Tiling window managers, they forced me to use Workspaces way way more so much so that I got addicted to them like at one point when I was using i3 I had 19 workspaces and I I know people think well matt There's no possible way you'd use 19 workspaces. Well, I did I used 19 workspaces all the time and when I Didn't have 19 workspaces when I had less than that or I was using a different window manager to try out for a video or something Like that and I was constrained to like 10 workspaces. I felt constrained I felt held back for the longest time using this qtel config I was constrained to 12 workspaces and I did not like it. I was very much I I felt like I was being held back being able to use my window manager properly Now I have 17 workspaces and I'm so much happier Like I I don't use all of them But I I just feel more comfortable with the fact that I have them there Should I need to open up another terminal and all the other workspaces are, you know, full or something You know, I can just do that So that's the biggest change when it comes to Tiling window managers that I think that a lot of people go through as they end up using workspaces a lot more Now you're probably not going to take it to the extreme that I have or at least you probably won't but The some the vast majority people that I talk to tend to use between three and four workspaces But I would say that even those people who use just three or four workspaces probably use three or four more Workspaces than they ever did when they used plasma or, you know, probably not universal But I would say that's probably true You're most people who switch to tiling window managers use workspaces more And one of the reasons for that is because the everything opens up full screen And when you get used to things opening up full screen when you open them It's really hard to go back and it's really hard to give Applications the ability to share their space with other things. So for example, the most windows I'll ever have on a workspace usually is two Sometimes they'll do three But this is really pushing it because, you know, these windows over here are very constrained for space They don't have a lot of room to work with three is really the absolute maximum that I'll ever have I've seen myself use four and I don't like this at all Even if I go to a different layout where it's something like this, you know, I don't feel that this is productive for me at all So having just two makes really good use of the space And that prods me along to using more workspaces because if I can only put two windows on a workspace Or I feel like I can only put two windows on a workspace if I need to open up something else I would go to another workspace and open up or and here's where I really like tiling window managers I would open up a scratch pad. This is a scratch pad This one here also a scratch pad. I also have I have my Newsboat in a scratch pad I have pulse mixer in a scratch pad and I have My music player in a scratch pad Basically that just gives me an extra workspace so that I can bring a floating window on top of my work Current work do the thing I need to do and send it back to the individual workspace So that's another reason why I like tiling window managers is just because there are so many different unique ways It suits my workflow. I like the full screen aspect of applications by default I like the workspaces that it may basically forces me to use and I love that it's keyboard centric So I I know people who use plasma and genom and mate whatever will get in my comments and say, hey, hey matt You can easily use key bindings with all of these desktop environments and that's absolutely true But back when I was a plasma user way back in 2017 I didn't really care to know that sure. I used a couple keyboard shortcuts But for the most part I was very much a mouse centric user of my computer And that's the way most windows users are Most windows users who come to windows are going to continue to use their mouse for their primary means of navigation But once you switch to a tiling window manager, sure you can use your mouse I can use my mouse to switch between these folk between these terminals all I want to do But it's so much easier just to use super j and super k to move back and forth between them, right? It's just easier once you get in that habit It's so much harder once you've gotten used to using your keyboard to navigate between your workspaces your windows your you know all this stuff to go back to using your mouse primarily and I've found that it's better for my wrists and stuff I don't get so many pains in my wrists, you know to navigate over with my mouse and stuff like that So, you know, it feels healthier to me But also it just feels more productive because I always I'm a writer by trade So I'm always in you know in this case. I'm in nano, you know I don't want to be in nano, but I'm I'm doing a challenge So, you know, I'm in I'm in my editor of choice or not my choice Basically all day long So my hands are always on my keyboard now. You haven't sitting here typing all day long And then if I wanted to go to another workspace It would it would take me out of it to move my hand over, you know the four or five inches I know it sounds really lazy, but move my hand over four or five inches move The the cursor up and then you know, you have nano again, you know like so and you know Moving it over to the mouse just feels wrong to me now It's so much easier to use the keyboard because that's where my hands are all the time The primary benefit to tiling window managers is simply that you can Get really used to using your window manager with just your keyboard And I think for a lot of people that means you're going to be more efficient Because you're not going to be moving your hands back and forth between the keyboard and the mouse Now I want to say this this workflow not for everybody. It's absolutely not for everybody I know a lot of people who have tried tiling window managers and just do not get it Some some of those people I think don't try it for long enough They don't give it enough of a chance But some people have tried it for months on end and just realized that it's just not their type of workflow And that's okay. There's a reason why you know, I'm in kde and plasma and cinnamon all these stuff, you know All these things exist, right go use those be happy as long as it fits your workflow. That's absolutely fine I'm not going to say you're wrong for doing it. I in fact I think that you know as long as you're productive with your way of you know working through your whatever That's good for you and the fact that linux offers these choices what makes linux so great But the reason why I think that everyone should try a tiling window manager for a good portion You know a good period of time Is because it is a different workflow and if you find that you like this workflow You really can find yourself being more efficient if it suits the way you do things If you can get used to the way this thing works, you'll find I think that you really truly do like it Now obviously it does open up a bit of a time sink because then you're going to you know Hot between window managers and you're going to try to find the best one for you And you're going to configure them and you're going to theme them or rice them as some people say it does offer quite a bit of Work to get into tiling window managers Most people aren't like brody and just use the defaults. Okay A lot of people will Find a window manager and then have to customize the key bindings and they're going to have to customize the bar And put in a color scheme and all this stuff and i'm not saying that that's a bad thing But it does require some effort Whereas if you were to just pop into kd plasma You probably could be happy with the defaults because it's just fine. Maybe you'll change to the dark theme Most people like the breeze theme just perfectly fine. Maybe they change to the dark theme But that's all they'll ever do on a window manager all the customizations are up to you There are no sane defaults. They all are Decisions that are placed in your lap You have to make those decisions and that's going to require you to put in some effort And that effort is not something that everyone wants to expend It's definitely something that you have to keep in mind if you're going to go to the tiling window manager route It requires some effort it requires some learning and the effort the level of effort that you're going to You know have to give is going to depend on what window manager you're going to try So if you start off with i3 that's a very easy window manager to get into It's a very easy manager just to leave as it is and just use it right It has a bar has a clock at the bottom the documentation is fantastic You don't have to worry about learning a programming language to configure it It's just very easy to get into same thing with bspwm. You don't really need a Degree in c++ or c or haskell or something like that in order to get started on it You can just basically if you know a little bit of bash you can do it And even if you don't know a little bit of bash It just requires you to know what it should bring and then you can use the bspc thing to You know navigate through the configuration file It doesn't require a lot of effort the documentation is fairly good once you find it It's in the man pages by the way not online. It's in the man pages the same thing with herpes luff wm Fantastic documentation very easy to get into and then you get into the more complex window managers like q tile like X monad like dwm all those are Configured in programming languages that's going to require you to learn some of those programming languages in order to Actually do any configuration those are going to require more effort than the ones I just talked about a few minutes ago So as you go forward, you know, you're going to have to decide what kind of effort You're going to want to put into this and where you want to be and like I said, it does It does put in you know, it can be a time sink, right? It's not necessarily For everyone. So if I just show you my Configuration file here you can see that I've gone through and you know, I've Done things to this now some of this stuff obviously is from the default configuration file I didn't start off from zero But a lot of this stuff here is stuff that I've put in there or I've taken from other people You spend time putting together a configuration file and it's just it requires some knowledge some effort in order to do This is python if you don't know any python this probably looks like gibberish to you And while it's fairly readable, I think that's just because you know, I've been learning python I've been using qtoff for a while. I know what all these things do if you've never seen it before It probably looks like you know a different language, which it actually is So time window managers are both good and bad and it's a different workflow. That's really the the main Take away if you take anything away from this video, just know that it's a different workflow It's not for everyone But I do think like I said before that if you give it a chance if you if you say Take a challenge with me Go use a tiling window manager for 30 days and be as dedicated to it as you possibly can Customize it to the point where it works for you and it makes sense Read the documentation so that you can learn what you're doing and just use it try to be as productive as you can in it and try to Get used to the workflow of using your keyboard only and see if that works for you If it doesn't you've wasted a month Maybe you weren't as productive as you could have been but you'll know for sure On the other hand if you find that you really like it You know, maybe you'll discover that you have a new workflow. That's a little bit more efficient for you And maybe you'll have you'll have learned something along the way Even if you end up going back to a desktop environment You may very well find that you have discovered some things that You can take to that desktop environment to make your workflow more efficient there Things like having more key bindings in plasma or genom or whatever to do certain things so that you don't have to take Your hands off from the keyboard nearly as much Maybe you go back there and you try out a tiling script in plasma or you try out Material shell or whatever it is in genom, you know, whatever it happens to be You may discover from your time using a tiling window manager that you can take some of those things that you learned And use them in your desktop environment So try a tiling window manager I highly recommend that you do and just know at the end of the day that your workflow is your own And whatever works for you the best is the best workflow Just because something works for me doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to work for you Doesn't mean that it's going to work for your neighbor, whatever Your workflow is your workflow. It's not anybody else's so I use tiling window managers because if it's my workflow and I like the aspect of full screen applications I like the keyboard centric nature of it. I like being able to customize it basically from the ground up Which is very fun And it's just it really does fit the way I like to do things but it's not for everybody So that's it for this video if you have thoughts on this you can leave those in the comment section below You can follow me on mastodon or odyssey those links will be in the video description You can support me on patreon patreon.com slash linux cash links for liberapay and youtube will be in the video description as well Thanks to everybody who does support me on patreon youtube you guys are all absolutely amazing without you The channels will not be anywhere near where it is right now. So thank you so very much for your support I truly do appreciate it. You guys are all Absolutely awesome. Seriously your support continues to blow tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thanks everybody for watching. I'll see you next time