dwm Alternatives
dwm
dwm is a dynamic window manager for X. It manages windows in tiled, monocle and floating layouts. All of the layouts can be applied dynamically, optimising the environment for the application in use and the task performed.
In tiled layout windows are managed in a master and stacking area. The master area contains the window which currently needs most attention, whereas the stacking area contains all other windows. In monocle layout all windows are maximised to the screen size. In floating layout windows can be resized and moved freely. Dialog windows are always managed floating, regardless of the layout applied.
Windows are grouped by tags. Each window can be tagged with one or multiple tags. Selecting certain tags displays all windows with these tags.
Each screen contains a small status bar which displays all available tags, the layout, the number of visible windows, the title of the focused window, and the text read from the root window name property, if the screen is focused. A floating window is indicated with an empty square and a maximised floating window is indicated with a filled square before the windows title. The selected tags are indicated with a different color. The tags of the focused window are indicated with a filled square in the top left corner. The tags which are applied to one or more windows are indicated with an empty square in the top left corner.
dwm draws a small customizable border around windows to indicate the focus state.
Best dwm Alternatives
When deciding on the best dwm alternative, consider these alternatives. Check out these other software with a similar interface and features as well.
Openbox
FreeOpen SourceLinuxBSDOpenbox is a highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.
i3
FreeOpen SourceLinuxBSDA dynamic tiling window manager designed for X11, inspired by wmii, and written in C.
Features:
- Tiling Window Manager
- Lightweight
- Tiling
- X server
Fluxbox
FreeOpen SourceLinuxBSDC++Fluxbox is a window manager for X that was based on the Blackbox 0.61.1 code. It is very light on resources and easy to handle but yet full of features to make an easy...
awesome
FreeOpen SourceLinuxBSDA dynamic window manager for the X Window System developed in the C and Lua programming languages. .
Features:
- Extensible window manager
- Tiling
- X server
Lumina Desktop Environment
FreeOpen SourceLinuxBSDPC-BSDLumina is a lightweight, BSD licensed, standards-compliant desktop environment based upon Qt and Fluxbox. It is being developed on PC-BSD, and is being packaged for...
Bluetile
FreeOpen SourceLinuxBluetile is a tiling window manager for Linux, designed to integrate with the GNOME desktop environment. It provides both a traditional, stacking layout mode as well as...
Sway
FreeOpen SourceLinuxSway is a tiling Wayland compositor and a drop-in replacement for the i3 window manager for X11.
Features:
- Tiling
- Tiling Layouts
- Tiling Window Manager
pekwm
FreeOpen SourceLinuxpekwm is a window manager that once up on a time was based on the aewm++ window manager, but it has evolved enough that it no longer resembles aewm++ at all. It has a...
Features:
- Desktop Environment
- Lightweight
herbstluftwm
FreeOpen SourceLinuxBSDherbstluftwm is a manual tiling window manager for X11 using Xlib and Glib.
JWM
FreeOpen SourceLinuxJWM is a light-weight window manager for the X11 Window System. JWM is written in C and uses only Xlib at a minimum. Because of its small footprint, JWM makes a good...
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