Tiling window manager functionality for normal Linux desktop environments

Question

I am looking for a Linux application which runs on top of/parallel to a "normal" desktop environment (Xfce, Gnome) and provides the features of a tiling window manager. Thus you can combine the two worlds. E.g. you can still move/resize your windows with the mouse or you can move/resize them with keyboard shortcuts.

Compiz provides a similar feature with the grid-plugin. Nevertheless I would like to avoid Compiz as, in my opinion, there is a 50-50 chance that it becomes more stable or more buggy after the next release.

If it is easier to answer, I am looking specially for an application for Xfce. Nevertheless an application with such a functionality and which runs in more environments would be nice to know.

Answer 1

I also use XFCE and I can't live without Quicktile! It does indeed give the best of both worlds, allowing me to use a normal DM while still enjoying the benefits of tiling window managers. If you're on Arch Linux, it's in the AUR.

• Hotkeys to tile
• Extremely lightweight, runs as a daemon
• Works with pretty much every DM and window manager (I've tested it with KDE, Unity, XFCE, Enlightenment, and LXDE)
• Also works in tandem with Compiz (And is much better than Compiz tiling plugin, much more flexible)

Answer 2

From the same developer of CherryTree, X-tile is a graphical application that allows you to select a number of windows and tile them in different ways.

X-tile works on any X desktop (GNOME, KDE, Xfce, LXDE…). The main features are: many tiling geometries, undo tiling, invert tiling order, optional system tray docking and menu, filter to avoid listing some windows, filter to check some windows by default, command line interface.

Features :

• tile checked windows vertically
• tile checked windows horizontally
• tile checked windows grid
• tile checked windows custom
• tile checked windows triangle up, down, left, right
• tile checked windows quad
• undo tiling
• invert tiling order
• cycle tiling order
• maximize checked windows
• unmaximize checked windows
• close checked windows
• filter to avoid listing some windows
• filter to check some windows by default
• optional system tray docking and menu
• command line interface

_{(source: giuspen.com)}

_{(source: giuspen.com)}

_{(source: giuspen.com)}

Answer 3

XFCE can set tiling hotkeys now (updated 1/2023)

Open "Window Manager" in xfce4-settings-editor & set keybindings

super+[up|down|left|right] to tile windows
super+m to maximize the active window
super+f to fullscreen the active window
super+q to close the active window (rebound alt-F4)
super+[number] to go to workspace [number],
shift+super+[number] to move the active window to workspace 

GNOME can do basic left-right tiling and more. Go to settings in the upper-right corner. Search for keyboard shortcuts, and scroll all the way down. Assign hotkeys to View split on left and View split on right.

So I noticed recently that Joe's Window Manager, and Openbox in LXDE (Fedora's default LXDE setup), can also tile windows. Edit the config files and map super-arrow keys to the various actions.

Commands for ~/.jwmrc hotkeys found here

<!-- tile windows ~/.jwmrc -->
<Key mask="" key="F11">fullscreen</Key>
<Key mask="4" key="Right">maxright</Key>
<Key mask="4" key="Left">maxleft</Key>
<Key mask="4" key="Up">maxtop</Key>
<Key mask="4" key="Down">maxbottom</Key>

---

As for LXDE, it is difficult to get used to moving windows around with super-arrow and growing or shrinking them with Ctrl-super-arrow. So you might want to edit these to your liking.

These and more options for .config/openbox/lxde-rc.xml found here

<!-- tile windows .config/openbox/lxde-rc.xml -->
<keybind key="C-W-Left">
  <action name="GrowToEdge">
    <direction>west</direction>
    </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="C-W-Right">
  <action name="GrowToEdge">
    <direction>east</direction>
    </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="C-W-Up">
  <action name="GrowToEdge">
    <direction>north</direction>
    </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="C-W-Down">
  <action name="GrowToEdge">
    <direction>south</direction>
    </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-Left">
  <action name="MoveToEdge">
    <direction>west</direction>
    </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-Right">
  <action name="MoveToEdge">
    <direction>east</direction>
    </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-Up">
  <action name="MoveToEdge">
    <direction>north</direction>
    </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-Down">
  <action name="MoveToEdge">
    <direction>south</direction>
    </action>
</keybind>

Troubleshooting: I had to run xmllint on my config files after doing this and fix other things here and there; because LXDE's xml parser suddenly became more picky.

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Tile multiple text windows with tmux. Create various layouts, customize hotkeys, detach and reattach sessions, and even connect to other instances. It works on almost any desktop or text terminal.

Answer 4

In the popular Desktop Environment Cinnamon 2.0, edge-tiling is inbuilt:

I don't usually use it, but one can tile windows with super-arrow keys

Cinnamon is a fork of Gnome 3, meant to be more like Gnome 2 to use, but with the advantages of Gnome 3 underneath. On their website, it is described as

Traditional layout, advanced features, easy to use, powerful, flexible.

which actually sums it up quite well :)

Answer 5

For Gnome, there is ShellTile.

I've been using it for a few weeks. It's pretty straightforward, press CTRL and drag one window over another to make them tile. They'll all automatically resize to fit if you resize one of them.

Personally I've found it works pretty well, although sometimes I'll accidentally tile it vertically when I was trying to tile it horizontally, or vice versa.

Installation is a breeze if you're using Gnome, just visit the ShellTile link above and enable it directly from the webpage.