Window managers help manipulate application windows in order to increase productivity. A good window manager for Mac will allow moving, resizing and rearranging application windows quickly. It will allow customizing how windows are handled, have keyboard shortcuts for performing window manipulations quickly and allow snapping windows to various locations on the desktop with the mouse. Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Divvy - Window Manager. Download Divvy - Window Manager for macOS 10.6.6 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. The Problem: Managing windows can be frustrating, requiring precision control of your mouse or trackpad for clicking, dragging, pushing and pulling your. Main features of the software: 1. Split screen on Mac into multiple sizes and positions by 7 preset window locations 2. Draw the desired size and location for a window by grid 3. Use the keyboard shortcuts to quickly control your window positions 4. Support most apps and keep update all the time 5. Work on a great stability and performance. Yabai - a tiling window manager for macOS that uses a plugin architecture, successor to kwm. It represents windows as the leaves of a binary tree, and supports binary space partitioned, monocle and floating desktops.
i3 is a tilingwindow manager, completely written from scratch. The target platforms areGNU/Linux and BSD operating systems, our code is Free and Open Source Software(FOSS) under the BSD license. i3 is primarily targeted at advanced users anddevelopers. Based upon the experiences we made when wanting to hack/fix wmii,we agreed upon the following goals for i3:
Fan speed mac free download - Mac Fan, Apple Mac OS Update 8.1, Macs Fan Control, and many more programs. Speedfan for mac os 10.10.
- Write well readable, well documented code. Create additional documentation on how to extend i3 by explaining its internal workings.
This includes being modifiable by people who do know how to program but who are not necessarily familiar with all of X11’s internals. That is, document why things happen and when they happen so that the user gets a picture of the whole process a Window Manager is responsible of by just reading the source code. - Use xcb instead of Xlib. xcb has a much cleaner API and should be faster in quite a lot of situations.
- Implement multi-monitor correctly, that is by assigning each workspace to a virtual screen. Especially make sure that attaching and detaching new monitors like video projectors works during operation and does the right thing. Also provide support for rotated monitors.
- Use a tree as data structure. This allows for more flexible layouts than the column-based approach used by other window managers.
- Implement different modes, like in vim. You can use different keybindings when in the 'resize' mode than when you are in the default mode, for example.
- Implement an IPC interface for other programs. Provide subscription to certain events and accept commands.
This approach should be more lightweight than wmii’s usage of the 9P filesystem. Furthermore, core functionality does not depend on a separate program, so that i3 runs faster, especially when your system is under load. - Be UTF-8 clean.
- The usual elitism amongst minimal window managers: Don’t be bloated, don’t be fancy (simple borders are the most decoration we want to have).
However, we do not enforce unnecessary limits such as a maximum amount of source lines of code. If it needs to be a bit bigger, it will be.
In addition to these stated goals, we try our best to uphold the followingvalues when considering contributions to the project:
- Never break configuration files or existing workflows. Breaking changes require a major version bump (v4 → v5).
- Keep mental complexity low: once you know i3’s key features, other features should be easy to understand.
- Only add features which benefit many people, instead of going to great lengths to support rarely used workflows.
- Only documented behavior is supported. Clear documentation is a requirement for contributions.
This article provides an unbiased comparison of the most popular tilingwindow managers (as opposed to floating window managers).
- 1Comparison table
Comparison table
The following table lists the most popular tiling window managers alongside notable features, providing readers with a quick overview.
| Window Manager | Written in | Configured with | Management style | System tray support | On-the-fly reload | Information bars | Compositing | Default layouts | Pixel usage | External control | Library | Multiple (n) monitor behavior | ICCCM/EWMH compliant | Maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| alopex | C | C (recompile) | Hybrid | None | No | Built-in; call script/program as first argument | External | max, h-stack, v-stack, h-tab | Variable borders, titles in-statusbar | Xlib | six tags, two views available by default | Active | ||
| Awesome | C | Lua | Dynamic | Built-in | Yes | Built-in, images and text | External | max, nh-stack (and invert), nv-stack (and invert), free | Variable borders, optional h-tab titles | dbus (if enabled) | XCB | n-tags (workspaces). Per default 9 are enabled. Example | Yes | Active |
| bspwm | C | Anything | Hybrid | None | Yes | Can write internal state to a FIFO | External | v-split, h-split | Variable borders | via bspc | XCB | Monitors hold Desktops | Yes | Active |
| dwl | C | C (recompile) | Dynamic | None | No | None | Yes | v-stack | Variable borders | wlroots (Wayland) | n regions, 9 workspaces fixed to each region | N/A | Active | |
| dwm | C | C (recompile) | Dynamic | Optional Patch | Optional | Built-in, reads from root window name | External | v-stack, max | via dwmfifo | Xlib | n regions, 9 workspaces fixed to each region | Active | ||
| echinus | C | Text | Dynamic | None | Yes | ouricoAUR | External | v-stack, b-stack, max | Variable borders, optional titles | Xlib | Yes | Unknown | ||
| euclid-wm | C | Text | Hybrid | None | Yes | External (dzen) | rows, columns | 1-pix borders | Xlib | Dormant | ||||
| FrankenWM | C | C (recompile) | Dynamic | None | No | No, outputs information to stdout, which can easily be parsed and displayed by an external monitor or panel (dzen2, conky, etc) | External | v-stack (and invert), h-stack (and invert), dual-v/h-stack, grid, fibonacci (vh-stack), rows, columns, max, free | Variable borders | XCB | Active | |||
| herbstluftwm | C | Text | Manual | None | Yes | rows, columns | 1-pix borders | commands via herbstclient | Xlib and Glib | n regions, 9 workspaces visible in any region | Active | |||
| i3 | C | Text | Dynamic | i3bar | Yes (Layout is preserved) | text piped to i3bar (i3status/conky and others can be used) | External | tree, v-split, h-split, stacked, tabbed, max, can be nested infinitely | None, 1-pix or 2-pix, optional titlebars, can hide edge borders | commands via ipc (or i3-msg, which uses ipc) | XCB | n regions | Yes | Active |
| LeftWM | Rust | toml (user settings) / Anything (themes) | Dynamic | None | Yes | Yes, many options through theme system | External | v-stack, columns, rows | Variable based on theme | supports _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW and sending commands to a named pipe | Xlib | Workspaces and monitors are not tide. Many workspaces for monitor or many monitors for workspace | Yes | Active |
| Notion | C, Lua | Lua, compatible with Ion3 configs | Manual | trayion, stalonetray | Yes | configurable | ? | h-tab, max | Configurable borders and titlebars/tabs | EWMH, arbitrary Lua scripts which have access to the rich internal API | Xlib | n workspaces on each monitor. Supports on-the-fly changes in topology | Active | |
| qtile | Python | Python | Dynamic | Yes | Yes | Yes | External | tree, v-split, h-split, stacked, tabbed, max | No borders, although customizable | Hooks, Server mode | XCB | Active | ||
| Ratpoison | C | Text | Manual | None | Yes | Yes | External | max | No | Active | ||||
| Snapwm | C | Reloadable Text | Dynamic | None | Yes | Built-in, reads from root window name | External | nVertical, Fullscreen, nHorizontal, Grid, Center Stacking | Variable borders, no titles | Xlib | Number of desktops distributed evenly between monitors | Active | ||
| Spectrwm | C | Text | Dynamic | None | Yes | Built-in, reads from user script | No | nv-stack, nh-stack, max | 1-pix borders, no titles | XCB | n regions, 10 workspaces visible in any region | Yes | Active | |
| Stumpwm | Lisp | Lisp | Manual | None | Yes | Yes | No | Xlib | No | Active | ||||
| sway | C | Text (i3 compatible) | Dynamic | swaybar | Yes (Layout is preserved) | text piped to swaybar (i3status/conky and others can be used) | Yes | tree, v-split, h-split, stacked, tabbed, max, can be nested infinitely | None, 1-pix or 2-pix, optional titlebars, can hide edge borders | commands via ipc (or swaymsg, which uses ipc) | wlroots (wayland) | n regions | No | Active |
| subtle | C | Ruby | Manual | Built-in | Yes | Built-in (Ruby), external can be used as well | External | Variable grid | Variable borders, no titles | Hooks (Ruby), subtler (CLI), subtlext (Ruby extension) | Xlib | One workspace (view) per monitor (screen), placement on views via tags and per runtime | Yes | Active |
| Wingo | Go | Text | Dynamic | None | Yes | No | External | floating, nv-stack, nh-stack, max | title bars in floating, skinny borders in tiling | via wingo-cmd or UNIX sockets in any programming language | X Go Binding | n regions, workspaces visible in any region | Yes | Active |
| WMFS | C | Text | Dynamic | Built-in | Yes | Built-in, set with command, color text, images | External | nh-stack (and invert), nv-stack (and invert), mirror-v, mirror-h, grid, free, max | Variable borders, titles or no titles | commands | Xlib | Up to 36 tags(workspaces) per screen | Yes | Active |
| xmonad | Haskell | Haskell | Dynamic | None | Yes | No | Yes, with xmonad-contrib and an external manager | nv-stack, nh-stack, max | Variable borders, no titles | via XMonad-Hooks-ServerMode | Xlib | n regions, 9 workspaces visible in any region | Yes / ? | Active |
| Window Manager | Written in | Configured with | Management style | System tray support | On-the-fly reload | Information bars | Compositing | Default layouts | Pixel usage | External control | Library | Multiple (n) monitor behavior | ICCCM/EWMH compliant | Maintenance |
Management style
Dynamic management emphasizes automatic management of window layouts for speed and simplicity. Manual management emphasizes manual adjustment of layout and sizing with potentially more precise control, at the cost of more time spent moving and sizing windows.
Layouts
A number of common layout types appear in several tiling WMs, although the terminology varies somewhat.
- max: one window shown fullscreen (with or without a status bar, title and borders). Aka: monocle (dwm, monsterwm).
- h-stack: master area in top half, other windows stack up horizontally in the bottom half. The master area may be resizable. May be inverted top-bottom (wmfs). Aka: bottom stack (dwm), bstack(monsterwm).
- v-stack: master area in left half, other windows stack up vertically in the right half. The master area may be resizable. May be inverted left-right (wmfs). Aka: tile (dwm, monsterwm).
- nh-stack: h-stack allowing >=1 windows in master area. Aka: nbstack (dwm)
- nv-stack: v-stack allowing >=1 windows in master area. Aka: ntile (dwm)
- mirror-h: nh-stack with stacks above and below the master area
- mirror-v: nv-stack with stacks to the left and right of the master area
- h-tab: one window shown fullscreen with all window titles shown horizontally (like browser tabs)
- v-tab: one window shown fullscreen with all window titles shown vertically. Aka: stack (wmii).
- h-split: a keybinding splits the current window horizontally creating space for another
- v-split: a keybinding splits the current window vertically creating space for another
- columns: manual layout style which treats windows as belonging to vertical columns
- rows: manual layout style which treats windows as belonging to horizontal rows
- grid: window positions and sizes based on a regular NxM grid. May be automatic (like wmfs, monsterwm) or manual (like Subtle).
Key bindings
Tiling window managers are usually designed to be used entirely with the keyboard or with keyboard & mouse. This is for speed (reaching for and moving a mouse is slow) and ease of use. Sensible key bindings are crucial to making workflow fast and efficient. Some default sets are better than others, but generally the keys can be rebound as desired by the user.
Tiling Window Manager For Mac
See also
Tiling Manager For Mac Catalina
- Comparison of extensible window managers compares WMs 'extensible' by scripting, like xmonad and Sawfish.
Tiling Window Manager For Macos