I feel like my eyes can only look at one thing at a time. I just have shortcuts to switch between programs.
Why do you prefer using a tiling WM and how do you use the tiling functionality in your workflow?
I feel like my eyes can only look at one thing at a time. I just have shortcuts to switch between programs.
Why do you prefer using a tiling WM and how do you use the tiling functionality in your workflow?
Same. I’ve tried to use tiling WMs before, but simply can’t get used to it. I usually have a three monitor setup. Left monitor is a browser full screened with just two tabs: my work emails (Outlook 365) and MS Teams. That is a 27" 1440p monitor, and I’ve tried splitting this to show two browser windows side-by-side to have teams and outlook at the same time, but both end up too narrow. I just switch tabs to see the one I need at any given time.
Middle monitor is my primary. It is another 27" and it has my IDE fullscreen, it can switch between all the projects im working on, and if I want to view two source files side by side, I use the split-tabs feature in my IDE.
Right monitor is my browser. It is a 23" 1080p screen and it has Firefox fullscreen with usually 20-30 tabs open to reference pages, documentation, etc. I very rarely want to look at two webpages side by side at the same time. If I do, I open a second Firefox instance and use KDE’s built-in left-right split screen feature.
I actually usually also use my laptop’s 14" screen as a 4th monitor, I have my notes app (Trilium) and my password manager (KeePassXC) on there and switch between them as needed.
Most of my work happens in browser, some of it happens in terminal, other parts happen in vscode. I have very little method to the madness but I’m hoping at some point in the not so distant future to consolidate my desk to a triple monitor setup. I currently have two connected to the work laptop and two for my personal desktop. It’s a bit chaotic
Honestly, if you’re using 3 monitors, you’re kind of using a single display split into a minimum of 3 tiles.
Tiling window managers support a workflow with one large monitor that you can split into n tiles whichever way you want without touching your mouse.
I’m not saying it’s objectively better or anything, but once you get past the learning curve, having to manually size all of your windows is a chore. I love having my browser window open full screen, pressing a hotkey, and having a text editor open next to it taking up 1/3rd of the screen, with the browser resized to fit.
Mostly, things are full screen, and I love that my WM launches apps in full screen automatically, unless there’s another window open on the workspace I’m targeting.
And when they’re not in full screen, it’s all handled smoothly without me ever having to take my hands off the keyboard.