this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025
1 points (53.3% liked)

Linux

6111 readers
545 users here now

A community for everything relating to the GNU/Linux operating system

Also check out:

Original icon base courtesy of lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I've been suggested to use a tiling window manager like Sway since it allows for controlling windows with hotkeys, but I'm having trouble getting started. I installed it in Fedora and tried logging back in with SwayFX (since it has features like blurring) but after I'm just shown a wallpaper with a top bar, the top left shows a 1 and the top right shows the time. I don't know what to do there. I tried looking up guides but didn't find anything, can you link me some if you know of any?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] Ghoelian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Here's some useful defaults for Sway: (the default mod key is meta, aka the windows key)

  • Mod+d: open application menu
  • Mod+arrows: switch active windows
  • Mod+shift+arrows: move window (rearrange within a screen, or move between screens)
  • Mod+1-9: switches workspaces
  • Mod+shift+1-9: moves active window to that workspace (does not activate that workspace)
  • Mod+space: make the window a regular floating window. Using Mod+arrows on a window that's floating will move that window (I think) 10 pixels at a time. You can also drag this window around with the mouse.

Lay-out:

  • Mod+w: tabbed lay-out
  • Mod+e: split lay-out (default)
  • Mod+s: stacking lay-out

When using split lay-out (these take a little getting used to):

  • Mod+b: split the current "container" horizontally
  • Mod+v: split vertically

Placing windows next to each other will put them in a "group" together, which you can see by them sharing the same blue title bar thing. Using these shortcuts changes how the windows in the group are represented.

I found getting windows in/out of the group I want, and especially splitting and re-arranging groups within groups, to be a little unpredictable, but after using Sway for a while you do get used to it.

[โ€“] Ghoelian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Forgot one thing: that top bar is also entirely configurable. It's called waybar, and you can find the docs here: https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar/wiki/Configuration

Pretty much everything in Sway is configurable, as most of it is just written in a config file. You can use different application launchers (fuzzel, for example), you can add a notification centre like swaync, or just customise waybar with whatever modules you want. I think you can even switch out waybar for something else, but I haven't tried that myself.