A Comprehensive Guide To Tiling Window Managers

In this video, I explain what is a tiling window manager and why you might want to use a tiling window manager. I also give you a tour of seven popular tiling window managers that I have used: dwm, xmonad, qtile, awesome, i3, herbstluftwm and bspwm. My configs can be found at my GitLab: gitlab.com/dwt1
REFERENCED:
► dwm.suckless.org/
► xmonad.org/
► www.qtile.org/
► awesomewm.org/
► i3wm.org/
► herbstluftwm.org/
► github.com/baskerville/bspwm
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Your support is very much appreciated. Thanks, guys!

[@huscat1609]

Specific tiling window managers overview: 24:18 - dwm 28:36 - xmonad 34:24 - qtile 38:14 - awesome 43:21 - i3 49:32 - herbstluftwn 53:23 - bspwn

[@ltxr9973]

Most valuable comment

[@abdulbasetalhelaly9217]

Bspwn :)

[@weedwanker4884]

Ahh yes bsp window nanager

[@baguettedad]

@@weedwanker4884 lnfao

[@siljrath]

(as connented on your recent list video kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqrWeoapZdKWoJo&lc=UgytCbDerF_y2BHkFnB4AaABAg ) hi dt, when u gona clfswn? features no other wn has, being a paradign beyond. stacking, tiling, treeing. treeing!? yes. ultinate wn for a lisper with enacs/guix/etc. kzbin.info

[@KevinBReynolds]

How much information can be packed into one video? I think DT just set the record. Man! That is one nutrient-dense show brother. Outstanding!

[@DistroTube]

Thanks, Kevin. Much appreciated!

[@zdazeeeh]

While watching the intro I realized that I basically use floating window managers like tiling window managers because my windows are always either snapped or maximized. Gonna try this, thanks!

[@SamuTheFrog]

Same, that's actually what got me into these tiling ones.

[@waywardspirit7898]

Every time I think I have reached a climax on my knowledge of computer system and there is NOTHING left to learn, you teach me something else.

[@morgulbrut]

i run i3 on arch on a thinkpad btw.

[@folksurvival]

You need to wear a Casio f-91w too.

[@AkamiChannel]

psshhh i3-gaps

[@abhileshxd621]

How is the battery life when using Arch? I used Arch on an ideapad and the battery sucks. Even with either Nvidia Optimus or Nvidia Prime installed.

[@abhileshxd621]

@olaf kon yes. Powertop, tlp, laptop-mode. None of them worked. I guess it's the specific model which is not fully supported.

[@jeremyjohansson3445]

@@abhileshxd621 Do You run the latest kernel? Not the LTS for example...

[@sleepyeyesvince]

Epic video! I only got into tiling WMs because of you mate. Thank you for the hard work in making these vids.

[@DistroTube]

Thanks! :D

[@XDjUanZInHO]

@@DistroTube honestly, if it wasn't you, I'd be stuck on i3 until today, bspwm has already helped me a lot and I'm looking foward to going into qtile or dwm

[@cleanclothes]

This is really comprehensive and more than deserve its title. Thank you so much for putting your time making this video DT!

[@corrupt_]

Super informative video! I've been using tiling WMs for over 15 years now and still learned something. Also really well presented with these VMs and matching backgrounds. Just a really great video.

[@3rikGames]

Very great video for everyone who's new to tiling wms and tries to figure out which one to start with. I really like how discuss every wm completely unbiased.

[@hanspetervollhorst1]

Definition: Tiling Window Managers arrange windows non-overlapping. First thing you show on qtile 5 minutes later: The monocle layout that arranges the windows in an overlapping manner

[@habituallearner7680]

This is just what I needed. Your content is always packed with common sense and you teach in a practical way. Thank you.

[@migue7490]

I'm at work waiting until windows decides to show me the desktop, so I will finish to watch your video. I had i3 with polybar showing all workspaces, even the empty ones. Great video dt!

[@goldibollocks]

After watching a lot of your videos on different tiling window managers, I finally tried one and installed qtile. It's quite a different workflow from the well-known Windows/KDE/Gnome one I used all my life, but it's kinda cool! I got used to the shortcuts quite quickly and liked the whole concept of having separate desktops for separate tasks instead of all your windows on just one. Sure, that was possible before with workspaces but for some reason I never used that feature in any of the floating window DEs before. Tiling kinda forces you into it, which is nice!

[@dhruvmarwha1799]

Agreed Even I'm exploring Qtile after working with KDE

[@alexwild4350]

Excellent and highly informative discussion from the ground up on Window Managers. If your interested in understanding tiling window managers, this is the video to watch. So good, I've subbed to the channel.

[@dang2157]

This was the wm intro I've been looking for!!! Covers everything! Thank you

[@AkamiChannel]

Amazing work, and very helpful. I know that this video took a lot of time to make and I appreciate it.

[@williambarrett7108]

Thank you for your help on my journey. I really enjoy these videos that you spend the time to make for us all. I will and have, enjoyed every one.

[@siedhuss]

I want to thank you for this informative video and all your invested time into this.

[@dannyvillaroel219]

This video was so helpful! More people need to see this as a resource. Really cleared things up for me. Thanks DistroTube!

[@DistroTube]

You're very welcome!

[@edbeckerich3737]

DT at his BEST!!! Great instructional video!!

[@burpsan]

Keep coming back to this. I've gotten used to the multi-monitors you mentioned (using qtile) ... I can't imagine doing anything else.

[@IuliusPsicofactum]

Gaps. For the people who enjoy watching a 5% of their wallpapers :P

[@rcmgs7055]

Smug Anime Girl picom is considered non bloat

[@joaopauloalbq]

The transparency itself is BLOAT!

[@krozareq]

It's not bloat if you desire it. That's the opposite of bloat. Bloat is things you don't want that are forced on you.

[@ericchagasdeoliveira4177]

idc how stupid it is, seing ~5% of my wallpaper brings me confort, aint nobody taking that from me pal

[@anantgupta7916]

Transparency who want to see their wallpaper

[@estudiordl]

I tried almost all, and settled on i3. For me was the straight forward the easyest to config and use. 😃

[@wiz3905]

👍 Great instructional tile wm Video. Thank you aa bunch. I'll be watching this video over & over.!

[@vanacksabbadium2024]

Really nice video, keep up with this good work!

[@alexthirlwall9833]

Very much appreciate your knowledge and experience! I learned a ton.

[@fuseteam]

k for up~ l for right~ j for down~ h for left~ some guy: wtf this guy can't spell

[@lot5602]

oh vim, the cat who killed my mouse

[@sirdiealot7805]

I started with Awesome and am on i3 since a couple years. Pretty vanilla even, a few changed shortcuts and when I move a window I also switch focus along with it, since this is what I more often want. More advanced stuff such as saving/restoring windows can get ugly.

[@Kagara777]

Great job on this video DT.

[@geeshta]

Thank you for all the explanation and showcase. I'm staying with Compiz with its fancy eye-candy animations and use Grid to tile if I need to.

[@gotbletu]

Thanks i learn some new stuff, might have to try these out if i ever get multi monitor setup again; lols thats alot of dedication to learn all these Tilers that mainly does the same things

[@DistroTube]

Thank you, sir. Big fan of your channel! Yes, these tilers mostly do the same thing. The main differences is how they do workspaces (each monitor has its own workspaces or are all workspaces shared amongst the monitors), how they treat multi-monitors (with workspace swapping or not) and the programming language that they are written in.

[@gotbletu]

@@DistroTube Oh cool, i'll take it, usually people hate my channel lols. Yea think that what was missing in i3wm, back then dont think u can have workspace per monitor, it was all shared, not sure if that has changed now. Havent use it in a few years.

[@ritual301]

@@gotbletu "usually people hate my channel lols." No way man, I don't believe it. Big fan of your channel, as well. You're an OG

[@gotbletu]

@@ritual301 hehe maybe you are right, is changing now, guess im grandfathered in as "ok" linux channels nowadays. My reward for being around so long and outlasting all the old OG.

[@kickbuttowsk2i]

you are the one who introduced me to tmux, fzf, surfraw, w3m, mutt, cmus, transmission. If it wasn't for your channel, I never used Linux to its full capability and pls keep posting your vids.

[@Gabifuertes]

I've never used a TWM but after watching this I'm excited to try qtile, awesome and i3. I liked dwm/awesome "tags", xmonad/qtile multi monitor config (a single set of workspaces that switch if you select one open on another monitor), and i3's idea that workspaces don't exist if they're not open or have windows in it. As a reminder to myself, I want to try: • After having 2 windows 50/50 open a third one on the bottom side of the screen. • Have a window show up in multiple workspaces at the same time, and those workspaces showing at the same time on different monitors. (For example, to show clients stuff in an office where you have a monitor pointing at them.) This one might be a little bit trickier if possible at all. If it is, it would be more flexible than just mirroring the screen.

[@luizansounds]

How this comment turned out 2 years later?

[@migue7490]

I liked just for the video preview, I'll watch the video now. Twm are amazing.

[@DistroTube]

Thank you, sir.

[@SamuTheFrog]

Wow, a whole hour of information of this degree. That took some work, dude. Damn.

[@jeetadityachatterjee6995]

Thanks for the help. You and your config is what is getting me to switch from gnome! Thanks again

[@nightfox6738]

I actually started with dwm as my first tiling window manager, but I've been running unix systems for almost 20 years and archlinux for over 10. I installed dwm on a vm and played around with it. It was tough at first but the more I played with it the more I liked it. I now run dwm on my daily driver and absolutely love it. That being said, I will advise if you're going to run something like dwm or xmonad as your first tiling window manager, install it on a vm first! learn it in an environment where you don't shoot yourself in the foot if you can't remember how to do something.

[@erichanson5628]

Thank You for the excellent information!

[@randomness3235]

i3wm is my favourite WM of choice, great for multi-monitor support and I use it at home, work and on my laptops. Composite window managers now feel like a thing of the past.

[@marksamuel5872]

You are so funny in an operator type of way. "Screen Real Estate..." that cracks me up. Absolutely true. Your who mind set is almost absolutely logical. Ha..ha..... thanks for your kind and excellent lessons. I am thinking more about reaching using these tiling managers more all I use now is tmux. I like it.

[@AnzanHoshinRoshi]

Thank you, Derek. Quite comprehensive.

[@DistroTube]

Thanks, Anzan!

[@badwolf8112]

1:14 O M G i already have one, it was there the whole time! my conception of reality has fundamentally been shifted

[@yvindeikeland6404]

Thanks for this video, very informative

[@superspectator123]

Great video. Thank you.

[@pascal7947]

Would love to see a video about/including StumpWM.

[@xtnctr]

Tks, man. Great job. Great contribution.

[@user-yf8il6we2z]

Great video!

[@thenextpoetician6328]

Thanks for the video. Here's hoping more people get turned on to twm's. It was your video on Regolith that got me started on twm's. I'm hooked, and there's no turning back. i3 in Mint replaced Regolith though it had some snags, so I turned to ArcoLinux i3/Xfce/OpenBox, and it's my daily driver now and I've only loaded Xfce and OP for a few minutes. I'm chipping away at Qtile and Awesome, and go back to i3 Mint and sometimes Mint running Cinnamon, which is where I started on GNU/Linux last winter.

[@BradenBest]

for my DWM, I actually have a shell script running as the primary X client rather than DWM. The shell script sets the root window name to the current time and date, which DWM shows at the top, and among other things, the shell script also uses two FIFO pipes for reading and writing. commands coming in through the read pipe are interpreted by the script and if the command isn't one of the few hard-coded commands (like q or r), then it looks in a directory for a script with the same name as the command and executes it. On the DWM side, I replaced the usual program spawning keybinds with writes the to read pipe. So alt+shift+enter, rather than calling execve on gnome-terminal or whatever the default is, writes "terminal" to the read pipe, which causes the terminal shell script to run, which opens a terminal. I also added a custom dmenu binding for issuing those commands, which is populated with the contents of the script directory. So if I want to add a new script, I don't even have to recompile DWM. I can just add a shell script and then call it via the dmenu binding. It's a complex system and one I've been meaning to rewrite in C for quite a while, but it works and I don't have to recompile DWM for small things. A lot of the things that I change frequently, I've outsourced into files that DWM reads at runtime. For example, I can change the tag names by just editing a 9-line text file and hitting mod+r or something. I forget what I bound it to. But I can do it without recompiling or even restarting dwm. Modding that behavior into DWM wasn't hard to my memory. IIRC I just had to write a function to read the file and populate the tags array, add it to the setup function, and then add a hook somewhere in the drw pipeline so that when the tags change, they change on-screen, too. so then the binding just has to trigger that function to read the file.

[@yousefkhaled2]

amazing prof video!

[@Noturnus1976]

Thank you. You helped me.

[@motif5775]

Very informative video. I like how you teach. Thank you. One question tho: the colorful bar at the top right of your screen...does that come with any of the window managers? I noticed you using it to change your window options. I think that's pretty cool 😎.

[@devon660]

Comparison starts at 24:17

[@cheromechero1188]

Thanks, great vídeo!

[@ciaspo]

🙏 Very useful, thank you!!!

[@diegonayalazo]

Thanks for sharing

[@MaciejKurzyca]

Great job, Thank you

[@DistroTube]

Much appreciated.

[@andrewpalm2103]

I'm using HerbstLuftWM and enjoying it. FYI, you don't need to open a new "frame" to add a second window as Derek did. For example, using Mod+Return opens a second terminal in the current frame, similar to other tilers. Using Mod+Tab then cycles through some pre-defined layouts within that frame. So you don't need frames for simple setups, which saves a few keystrokes. Also, you can easily create, save, and recall additional layouts. For this reason I find HL to have a nice combination properties. The most challenging aspect was setting up a panel, especially getting it situated on the screen. For a panel I use a bash script with dzen plus stalonetray for a system tray. This was either fun to set up or a pain to set up, depending. A quick and dirty approach is to use xfce4-panel, which works quite well with HL.

[@douglashenri5017]

I'm using hlwm as well and I agree. It is a wonderful window manager, but setting up the bar was a nightmare, since I'm new to shell scripting and, quite frankly, their configuration scripts are not the best documented things I've seen. Ended up giving up on dzen2 and now I'm using polybar.

[@CombatCoder]

I use HLWM with lemon bar for the panel. Never got the fonts to work with dzen2 and found lemonbar. So much easier to get correct alignments for the text.

[@Ax4400]

Love this video! Hi DT, found antiX & am loving this Debian Based lite distro its clean fast flexibility w/ice, Flux, jwm WMs Provides ease of use w tiling & kb shortcuts for learning. Traded Garuda in for antiX🤣 Chking here for your view of antiX, It's a worth while distro to explore customizing options video, from kernel recompile to installing preferred Apps and nothing else which I know you love doing.

[@trailblazingfive]

What an amazing video; I'll probably first do the vim tutor and then jump into a tiling manager; by the way config written in python is so ugly :o. Thank you for putting all the work into making your stunning videos this some serious S++ class stuff!

[@udayyadav5017]

Just what i needed

[@kevinklement2621]

Derek you gotta get a different video card so you can do one of these for the Wayland based tiling window managers, like Sway, Way-Cooler, bspwc, waymonad, etc. Need some future looking content!

[@mutska]

This video is SUPER GREAT!

[@DistroTube]

Appreciate that!

[@menzokruizinga]

I finally tried awesome wm and love it

[@WilliamShinal]

For people on Windows 7, Plumb's default style switches from side-by-side to left master to equal screen filling, and lets you switch positions by dragging to your desired location. It also naturally respects fullscreen if you hit the button or an actual fullscreen application takes over. Another option is bug.n which comes with its own taskbar.

[@bobbybologna3029]

I just love having a sort of hybrid setup, makes sure it can "do it all" but with the efficiency on demand.

[@moisessoto5061]

8:30 Thats some awesome info, thanks DT

[@tonynguyen725]

all those pretty cores on htop

[@DistroTube]

:D

[@user-a10]

subtitled but I watched your film totally, thx. This may help me much later.

[@bahathir_]

I tried many window managers, and evilwm is my favorite. :) Thanks for the very informative video about tiling window manager..

[@DistroTube]

Thank you, sir.

[@angelicareyes693]

Me gustó la explicacion!

[@jgaming2069]

Thank you for all the information. If it wasnt for all these videos from linux youtubers Id still be on windows.

[@mecrumbly429___4]

My personal favorite is AwesomeWM. But for window managers in general, OpenBox is the best in my opinion. Or take that a step further with lxde/qt (I prefer LXQt over LXDe)

[@baovu3488]

+1 to xmonad. Fixed my problem with Java apps with 1 line startupHook = setWMName "LG3D"

[@jazzz4988]

I use arch with dwm btw But in all seriousness, please post your minimalistic WM setups!

[@mecrumbly429___4]

just remember that, if you're learning of tilling window managers for the first time, the wallpapers and configurations are not the defaults. almost all of them will start with a black wallpaper.

[@syrefaen]

Watched the video in dwm. I had sway and waybar, i am quite sure it was more dynamic then your i3. It was on the Arch install but now this pc is on Gentoo, so I cant check.

[@leo-rq2ei]

So many cores 🤩

[@thenextpoetician6328]

I installed Nemo in ArcoLinux because Thunar was starting to bug me, and selected to integrate terminal into Nemo. I set it to load 30 lines to accommodate Neofetch and the Figlet with Lolcat above and animated plain text message with Lolcat below. Really handy. Haven't figured out if I can add transparency to the terminal. That would be the cat's ass.

[@IsaacTLinder]

I am loving your videos DT! I also see all of your audio gear. Is this just for recording your vids or do you do any music recording? I'm personally trying to get a better linux setup for doing live-coded music, specifically Supercollider and Tidal Cycles. Both have plugins for most IDEs. As such, I'm trying to get out of my 30 years of Mac and Windows and figure out the best state I can do this with Window Managers, Neovim, Doom Emacs and still default to Atom until I learn the ins and outs of Vim or Emacs. Quite honestly, Emacs of any flavor has too many key-chords to do some stuff quickly with either Supercollider or Tidal - at least from what I know how to do. Neovim works better for this it seems. If you aren't familiar, that may not make sense - but basically code driven synthesis and music.

[@74Bagas]

today guys, today.... finally i have some balls to use twm. so far so good with leftwm.

[@gctypo2838]

43:31 I've never felt so called out in my life.

[@NickBair316]

I recently started using i3 on Ubuntu using the Regolith installer. Running this on my MacBook Air (2010).

[@HectaSpyrit]

Anyone knows if there's a way to make Xmonad and Qtile's worspaces work like dwm, specifically if there is a way to assign a window to multiple workspaces like you can do with tags in dwm ? It's also the way that Awesome and dwm handle them and I find it quite attractive, but I've never touched Lua before and since I've never used a tiling WM before I'm not gonna touch dwm just yet ; I'm also not very fluent in haskell yet, but I'm very familiar with python which is why it would be nice if there's a way to have this dwm/Awesome-like behavior in Qtile.

[@imrufarko8467]

Which file should i look in your dwm config for this beautiful tag and window indicator color?

[@DistroTube]

config.h

[@leo-rq2ei]

wow I can’t believe you sold me to xmonad

[@jimharris6213]

AWESOME!!!! Thank you. I am on Debian 12 (Wayland) and use nano. I would like use a dynamic window manager with no more than 5 work areas and the ability to float a calculator. Due to space constraints, I have no external monitors at the moment. Which would you suggest and can you show us how to set it up with the required programs that you mentioned that are needed? Last, I have the ability to switch to Xorg too.

[@lam8322]

Hey DT, where can I get those wallpapers, the texture look awesome

[@h1ghrise]

i

[@willywantoknow2563]

i3 vs awesome 🤔 im going in deeper and deeper with🐧 thanks to you.

[@peppe540]

Thanks DT, (still) a great video! Currently started with Awesome (on Arcolinux) and it is really cool to use. What i wanted to ask you: suppose you set up sxhkd and polybar completely to your liking, could you apply that to any WM? And just take out menubar and key-specific entries in their respective config files? It would save a lot of configuration time when switching, as long as I can add them to the autostart entry. Do you have ever tried or applied that? Keep up the good stuff!

[@DistroTube]

Sxhkd and polybar are bloat when almost all window managers manage their own hotkeys and most window managers have a built-in panel.

[@peppe540]

@@DistroTube Well, I have it all configured inside Awesome now (theme and rc.lua ) and it sure is a great lightweight config. Very fast and all functionality I was looking for. No reason for bloat indeed.

[@rtvdenys]

I'd love to use a tiling window manager and I did use it at work rather successfully. For home use it was a failure, however. The reason is that I regularly need to switch between 3-4 keyboard layouts and that requires a Mac-like or Gnome3-like switcher (anything else is a sadistic insanity). Tiling window managers, however, do not care about keyboard layout at all and their authors suggest using shortcuts to call setxkbmap, which simply won't do. So here I am, using Gnome3 of all things.

[@prash2011ify]

Hi DT, I've been watching many of your videos over the past few months. I must say - I like them. While I had moved to linux a long time ago (in 1999) - I've predominantly stuck with Stacking Window Managers - like KDE, MATE, CINAEMON, GNOME 2.x etc. I was intrigued after seeing couple of your videos on Tiling Window Managers. I wanted to try out a few of them. I have installed a few (including xmonad, i3, Awesome etc). And I could configure them by taking a look at some of your videos. But I'm facing a different kind of problem. I have CP - and due to my disability - I cannot use key combinations of any kind. I can only press one key at a time. I also have problems in using the mouse. In such a situation - when I log into a Tiling Window Manager - I'm unable to get anything done - as I'm not able to use any of the key combinations (even if everything were to be configured and given to me). I know - my case could be a one-off. But I'd like to know your thoughts on how I could deal with this Problem. So the larger question is - What additional configuration might be required - in order to make a Tiling Window Manager more Accessible for persons with Disabilities (like myself)? Just to share with you..... In my initial days with linux - I have had many issues / problems (nearly all of them related to Accessibility). But over the years - the situation has improved. A few of the Heavier Desktop Environments come with a set of Accessibility Options. I've always had to play around with these options - before using any of the Apps / their features. Do Tiling Window Managers come with any (generic) set of Accessibility options? If so, can you mention what packages need to be installed? And how one needs to Configure the Tiling Window Manager for greater Accessibility? I'm sure you'll tackle this query in one of your future videos. But if you take my suggestion - I guess you could do an entire video on Linux Desktop Accessibility. I mean - why not? :)

[@chillbro2275]

Very helpful guide! Thanks DT. Question. If the config files are written in languages, how do you make it an executable, and what calls that executable?

[@shail0124]

You have to recompile and install it in system

[@fuseteam]

16:00 automatic, manual and dynamic :3

[@fishofthepeople]

What about programs that use more than one monitor? How does it work in thes WMs that separate workspaces?

[@icristian6707]

What is the point of going through so much trouble of setting up a wm instead of full de when the thing everybody installs and use alot - web browser - requires gtk3 ? (For regular desktop use not programming and so on)

[@JavierD]

A lot of info, thanks! Q: After installing i3 and Awesome I lost my keyboard configuration as well as my theme, etc; is that expected? And if so, Is there a way to use the same keyboard layout and shortcuts as I had in my DE? I'm using Linux mint

[@fuseteam]

_installed dwm_ _logged out_ _switches to dwm_ _logs in_ now do i open my terminal _scratches head_ uuuhhhh i'll log out and duck duck go it :3 .............. how do i logout? o.O i probably needed dmenu lol nope just needed to learn the shortcuts now just need to figure out how to enable transparency and vim bindings lol

[@danieleccleston7928]

Tiling window managers got me thinking when you minimize something in a floating wm it's still running in the background right? So similarly switching workspaces in a TWM does that too?

[@miikasuominen3845]

We all FLOAT down here...