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esjeon / krohnkite

A dynamic tiling extension for KWin
MIT License
1.68k stars 70 forks source link

Feature suggestion/question: tiled snap zones #77

Open oxc opened 4 years ago

oxc commented 4 years ago

I have a question/proposal for a new layout type, that allows multiple windows to reside in the same tile. I'm aware that this might seem kind of contrary to what a tiling window manager is supposed to do, but there are already other layouts that arrange windows in overlapping spaces.

Having all windows spread across the screen does not work very well for my workflow, and I've not been able to adjust it to fully dynamic tiling. Ideally, I would have something like tiled "zones", in which I position windows by dragging them with the mouse. Multiple windows can reside in the same zone, and are activated by the usual means (tab bar, task switcher, keyboard shortcuts, etc.)

Is this something that can be achieved with krohnkite and (mainly) a new layout, or does it contradict too many assumptions implemented in other places (driver doing the window swapping when dragging, etc.)?

esjeon commented 4 years ago

Thanks for the suggestion. Your idea sounds interesting.

Actually, dwm guys already have a layout called "deck", where windows in the "stack" share a single "zone", but the layout is pretty much static (master & stack, just like Tile layout).

It also sounds similar to "tabbed windows" feature, which was in KWin. Unlike browser tabs, these "tabs" are managed by KWin. This should be exactly what you want here, only if KWin still supported it.

I don't think implementing this would be that much difficult, but the real problem is always the workflow. Maybe this can be an alternate mode for window dragging, but this likely won't work for many people.

esjeon commented 4 years ago

Ouch mistake.

oxc commented 4 years ago

Interesting thought, so instead of a separate layout, it could just be a different drag action "Create/Add to Deck" instead of "Swap Windows".

I remember the tabbed windows, but they were only for windows of a single application, correct?

esjeon commented 4 years ago

they were only for windows of a single application, correct?

No, it was a KWin feature and was application-agnostic. You could tab different applications into one window (example). It's sad that it no longer works.

paul commented 4 years ago

i3 has this as well, they call it "stacked" or "tabbed" https://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html#_changing_the_container_layout