Re: i3 sticky/floating windows (brasero requires gvfs)
green <greenfreedom10@gmail.com> writes:
> lee wrote at 2014-09-20 13:34 -0500:
>> There's also i3, if you can live with a tiling WM that doesn't support
>> sticky floating windows yet.
>
> I enjoy using i3. What is this "sticky floating windows" feature that
> I am missing? After searching, it seems to be almost the same as i3's
> "scratchpad" feature.
A sticky floating window is a floating window which is sticky ...
i3 supports (somewhat unwillingly) floating windows, i. e. a window that
is not fixed as a tile or in a tiled manner. Being sticky means that
this floating window is visible on all virtual desktops, i. e. when you
switch to another desktop, all sticky windows "follow" the switch and
remain visible on screen.
I forgot to mention that I also need (some of) the sticky floating
window(s) to remain on top of other windows. "Remaining on top of other
windows" kinda clashes with the concept of a tiling WM because a tiling
WM doesn't stack windows when arranging them. It arranges them as tiles
instead, besides each other.
One of the applications of sticky floating windows (that stay on top) is
watching a movie, like in mplayer, and switching to different desktops.
With i3, you don't have mplayer floating to begin with but as a tile
like other windows. Switch to another desktop, and you cannot see the
tiles of the desktop you switched from anymore. Thus you cannot watch
the movie anymore.
The scratchpad feature doesn't work for this at all. It's designed to
move windows from the display into a virtual background where they are
invisible, with a simple way to bring them back into the foreground.
It's probably designed for windows you want to keep open, like a
calendar, and which you don't want/need to have as another tile amongst
the others because MOTT you don't use them.
With fvwm, I can have sticky floating windows that stay on top. This
allows me to watch the movie, no matter to which desktop I switch, and
no other window will come up above the movie, so I can always watch it.
Moreover, fvwm is somewhat capable of tiling windows for me. I have a
couple menu entries with which I can arrange 2--4 windows either
horizontally or vertically if I want to. I rarely use that because
pretty much all my windows are full screen, and when I need it, it works
fine.
So i3 doesn't have any advantages for me --- fvwm is much more flexible
and without the utter confusion that arises when you try to arrange a
number of windows in a particular manner with i3. It even wastes less
screen space than i3 because I don't need a status bar and no
containers.
There's a feature request as a bug report with i3, and I think they're
going to implement sticky floating windows sooner or later.
--
Knowledge is volatile and fluid. Software is power.
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