The i3 Window Manager - So Much Better Than I First Thought!

When I last looked at i3 I was very new to tiling window managers and I just couldn't find my comfort level in i3. My fault entirely, because when I subsequently jumped to BSPWM I forced myself to use it for several months and ended up loving it.
Looking back I believe I didn't really give i3 a fair chance, so it deserves a second look. Of course, we have the wayland thing eventually threatening
the continuation of x window managers at some point in the future and that has been on my mind as well. There's Sway of course, but I didn't feel ready to review that until I'd returned to i3. So here is my video doing just that.
I hope you enjoy the video :-)
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Ramble On!

[@OldTechBloke]

The i3 build is now up on my gitlab

[@leafheadza]

Thank you! I suspect my polkit issue might have something to do with my .xinitrc

[@leisureloaflightfoot1655]

Tried them all but I3 is the one I have settled on, easy to configure, feels polished and it has everything I need built in. No need for fancy layouts when most of the time I only need to tile a couple of windows. Plus love scratchpads and tabs.

[@phonewithoutquestion80]

So previously I hopped to a floating window manager called the Calm Window Manager, a dinosaur from FreeBSD Land... ...Then I already began to miss tiling and decided to give i3 another chance in spite of my initial consternation. Part of why I did so is because I learned that you can use i3-msg commands via sxhkd (simple x11 hotkey daemon, for the uninitiated) to place all my window and workspace management key binds in a separate file. I was late to figuring out how to move/resize floating windows with the keyboard and your configuration to bypass modal resize is a godsend. I can see why i3 is a gold standard for manual tilers; it really comes down to "just works". The scratchpad functionality of DWM , i3, and Xmonad are better than most implementations by far, no agnostic solution or hacky workaround even comes close. I liken i3 to a container-tiler hybrid than just a manual tiler, stacks and tabs are far more useful than arbitrary spirals or grids that appeal to fewer tasks, I have no use for fancy layouts. One final thing... BSPWM and SpectrWM have really bad documentation, either syntax for hotkeys or window rules are out of place or do not exist, implementing scratchpads suck for both. i3's documentation on the other hand, is toe-to-toe with Xmonad, making those the two best documented tiling window managers, period. That said, i3 + Dmenu-Flexipatch + Slock-Flexipatch FTW.

[@fitfulpanda2960]

If you want to learn about wm's i3 is the way to go. I run dwm now but much pretty everything I know came from my i3 days. The community is so supportive and the user guide is second to none . It answers questions that you wouldn't have ever thought to ask. In a language you can understand! No techno-babble.

[@thenextpoetician6328]

Arco i3 has been my daily driver since August 2019. Have had a great time configuring it.

[@mlong5666]

These tinkerer videos you do keep me coming back. Well done Steven!

[@OldTechBloke]

Lol cheers Mike

[@Norbert9696]

Sway was the first window manager I've tried and I've stuck with it ever since because of just how simple and convenient using Wayland is, as well as the built-in composition. I would love to see a video on it done by you in the future!

[@OldTechBloke]

You will 😁

[@icewolfen6360]

Great video! I have used I3 and I3 Gaps for years. I have been tempted to try out DWM, But I feel I3 serve all my needs and i love the simplicity, so i have never moved on. I'm also a huge fan of Slackware and the videos you have done on that topic so far is awesome! Keep up the good work!

[@urmensch12]

Finall something i actually use myself.

[@Little-bird-told-me]

This was perhaps one of th e most *balanced* i3 _reviews_ i have viewed in a while. I see a few _gimps_ with i3 which makes it little _quacky_ to use.

[@rasix86]

use $mod plus right mouse button to resize windows. Also nothing stops you from creating regular keybindings to resize. Also you don't need to close a window and repoen it, to change vertical/horizontal orientation. Simply call the Split layout hotkey again.

[@FilSapia]

I love i3wm! It's the only one which works the way I expect a window manager to work. I really dislike dynamic tilers and prefer placing my windows in very specific places.

[@russellrussell5495]

I struggled at first with the manual tiling, but indeed as otb said, if you only have a few windows open per workspace, no big deal. In fact, most of the time I work with a browser in the left and a tabbed client on the right. Super!

[@FilSapia]

@@russellrussell5495 it's very rare I have more than 4 windows open on a workspace, so managing this few windows really isn't a big deal :)

[@bobwright8000]

You can remove the nagbar. The thing I most like about i3 is that I have my most used applications automatically open, and I assign them a workspace. I also added color to rofi (certainly not necessary). I have a key binding for scrot, to take screenshots. I3 is very powerful if you take time to search out all the possibilities. I have used it for years. (although, I have been using the plasma desktop recently with Fedora 35. When using Arch, I stay in i3. Thanks for all your informative videos. Take care.

[@Danielddiniz]

Hi Steve, great video as always. Big fan of your work. I'm binge watching tho whole Channel for a while now, and all videos are amazing, congrats! About your concern on Xorg server being replaced by Wayland in Linux distros, many people reputes that as a thing for a distant future. Wayland started with Redhat devs and now resides at the freedesktop project. It's been 14 years already and where is Wayland as a viable Xorg replacement? The most important TWMs are being ported to Wayland, but they struggle advance their efforts as Wayland looks like a dream project. And Steve, just quick ramble from my side: Please don't patch DWM for a tabbed layout! This is your old self sepaking to your ear - the one you told us existed prior to you starting your TWMs journey (remember that video?). The tabbed layout is not mindful of sys resources and efficiency, let internet browsers alone tell the story! The several “full screen real estate” Tiling layouts may seem the right path always! I apologize for being intrusive, but, TWMs had taught us a lesson: never return to the old paradigms we left from Windows and Mac!

[@OldTechBloke]

Good point and I won’t patch. Thanks for your comments

[@Danielddiniz]

@@OldTechBloke my pleasure and keep up the great channel!

[@itsfish8672]

Nice vid OTB.

[@BrucesWorldofStuff]

I will say that you have i3 setup the way I would. You did teach me Window managers after all... Lol I have not really thought about the Wayland taboggle much cause I'm happy to just wake up each morning. I don't think it will be a overnight thing but you are right it is coming like Pipe Wire has mostly taken over Pulseaudio. Change is hard for us old blokes but we do adapt eventually... :-p I will look the you files when I get time. I never have got to the DWM stuff yet... :-( It has been nuts here and no free time to play. So thanks OTB for the video. Cheers Mate! LLAP

[@OldTechBloke]

Cheers Bruce, stay well

[@Blessed2bFresh]

Not sure if you've given a look to Axyl Linux or not. It truly is a gateway to TWM (configured AND gorgeous). Also, Archcraft has openbox and bspwm. Thanks for another great video!

[@timcarpenter2441]

I began on Mac in 1987 and never really used windows keybindings, even to this day, but i3 is a favourite of mine. XMonad was not as intuitive, and the config was a pain. I have switched to Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, but I move between i3 and Gnome at this time. A year or so ago, after around a decade on raw Arch, I moved to Manjaro, but I have felt it has got in the way somehow, with an inability to hibernate in i3 and an inability to wake in Gnome, with KDE and Gnome fighting each other, so I will shortly be switching to EndeavourOS and seeing if I can have a sensible i3 and Gnome setup. I will also explore polybar and see if it can seduce me from Conky, which I have on i3 as my bar. Great vids, btw, from one OTB to another.

[@Ironpants57]

If you need multiple windows on the screen I recommend trying a mix of Tab and Split layouts. I tend to use one side of my screen with tabs and the other as a master.. Master and "Tab" instead of Stack I guess, lol. Make a second window and hit your $mod+h. Then it becomes it's own layout for the next windows following it. Now you can toggle tabbed mode for those windows by pressing $mod+w. You'll have your first window outside the tabbed window collection. My own keys: bindsym $mod+w layout toggle split bindsym $mod+e layout toggle tabbed split

[@abdellatifdev]

i had a wrong first impression of the i3 wm too like 1 year ago but now i'm daily driving i3-gaps

[@russellrussell5495]

Me too 🙂

[@matthieujoly]

Using I3 for years now, after had used openbox, a lot. Love both, still prefering I3. From my point of view, the rare time i'm using the resize mode is with floating windows. Else, i'm always in tabbed mode. On all my screens.

[@stephenwilson0386]

Not being able to swap workspaces between monitors drove me crazy at first, but thankfully I found a solution online. For my config I just put my cursor on the workspace I want to move, then super+ctrl+ > or < to move the workspace in that direction to the next monitor: # move focused workspace between monitors bindsym $mod+Ctrl+greater move workspace to output right bindsym $mod+Ctrl+less move workspace to output left

[@OldTechBloke]

Great tip

[@tim2120]

If you want more dynamic tiling for i3 I would suggest looking at auto tiling. You just install it and then it makes timeling a little bit easier

[@OldTechBloke]

I’ll take a look

[@thexavier666]

Any link?

[@rmcellig]

I love using i3. I have no issues at all. All I want is to get my work done quickly.

[@RobBoudreau]

Another great video Steve. I didn't know that you could bind your own keys to resize, I'll have to see if it works in Sway too. Imagine it will, they are pretty compatible. I really should follow your example and spend a few weeks in Sway. I tend to just give it a day or two, then go back to bspwm. Creature of habit I suppose.

[@OldTechBloke]

I’m going to try sway in a few weeks time but I want to get i3 exactly as I want it to be first and then I’ll be in a better position to compare

[@taidee]

I also started with i3 wm and for me I liked it but of course dynamic WMs won over at the end 😃, thanks OTB.

[@phonewithoutquestion80]

I want to give i3 another chance, but I'm in the mindset of wanting my floating windows to be moved and resized via the keyboard as well. I can't seem to find out how to make that work.

[@dubbeltumme]

i3Kornhe solves that

[@glidersuzuki5572]

You can already do that in i3. Use $mod+Shift+ (it's like that in default config I guess) You can also use hjkl if you configure it that way. To resize, use resize mode or define your own bindings.

[@Yeso00]

I tried dwm for a time and ir is a great window manager. But when I just want to make things done, i3 has been my way to go. It is extremely easy to configure.

[@dougtilaran3496]

Hey young feller. Lookin mighty white today. Wayland scare you ? ;-) BTW. Waybox is on the works...albeit slowly. No need to hurry. Wayland wont be ready for prime time for another decade

[@OldTechBloke]

To be honest I hope not Doug :/)

[@robertcoyle9071]

It's my secondary environment after xfce when I need two monitors.

[@sabinadhikari2643]

I like i3wm thie first wm I used. It is awesome.

[@joeloveslinux]

I3 is fantastic you like the concept of tiling managers. But it takes time to get used to it.

[@glidersuzuki5572]

Hi OTB. There was a scratchpad script posted in i3wm subreddit today. Your bindings will keep spawning new instances every time you press it. That script will toggle if already present or spawn new instance otherwise.

[@OldTechBloke]

Thanks mate I’ll take a look

[@OneCurtis]

Top tip for resize mode: don't use resize mode. Just bind the commands to something like $mod1+Shift+arrows/vim keys. Much quicker. Also, try using dex for your autostart functions. One exec command in your i3 config for all DE related autostart services (polkit etc), and no maintenance required.

[@OldTechBloke]

I got rid of resize mode in the video and purposely got rid of dex as i prefer a startup file

[@OneCurtis]

@@OldTechBloke Oh, I missed that bit. Soz. Thanks for the vid.

[@AliMAli-kf3cv]

11:00 you can choose which workspace appears on which monitor and configure 18 workspaces but you would have to make 18 keybindings. 17:40 I should've waited I think

[@pablog5738]

I like ion3, now called notion wm.

[@jawuku3885]

I certainly should give i3 a try. Can it be used with the tint2 panel that I use for Openbox?

[@OldTechBloke]

I don’t see why not

[@russellrussell5495]

Yes, it can. In fact I use tint2 purely as a toggle on/off systray on the bottom of my screen: bindsym $mod+t exec tint2 bindsym $mod+$alt+t exec killall tint2

[@tiitulitii]

Have you ever reviewed Alpine Linux? How is it today?

[@OldTechBloke]

Not so far

[@zeocamo]

I3 can do resize with the resize mode, you can just remove it and build the resize to the keys you normal resize with, done the one place I3 FAIL Really hard is if you are a gamer on a laptop, because I3 force the game window to start on the laptop screen, and there is no way to change this, i tryed for months, no one on reddit or forums would help with this too, i try anything, it would be nice if it just use the primary monitor from xrandr, but no luck this work in BSPWM but it got problems if you change monitors a lot, so now i am on Awesome, here it all work...

[@AcidiFy574]

Wooohoooo BTW, What are your opinions on making videos on RSS ??

[@OldTechBloke]

As in RSS feeds?

[@AcidiFy574]

@@OldTechBloke Yes

[@OldTechBloke]

To be honest I’ve never thought about it

[@folksurvival]

To be fair most desktop environments on Linux/Unix/BSD are not very appealing by default either.

[@gjermundification]

8:38 I change h to " and v to %

[@enricodemarchi1412]

Dude, there is a motorcycle in your living room

[@OldTechBloke]

Lol it a shed at the bottom of the garden