Automating workflows with tiling window managers (dwm) and application launchers (dmenu)
Tiling window managers are different from traditional stacking window managers in the way they manage windows: tiles cannot overlap and make use the entire, available screen real estate. Dynamic tiling window manager use layout templates that are useful for automatically arranging windows for you. In addition to the benefits that dynamic tiling window managers provide (maximizing screen real estate utilization, organizing windows, helping navigating through windows, tagging), they are usually less bloated as compared to desktop environments and provide a high level of control w.r.t. configuration and functionality.
In this BrownBag we will see how tiling window managers work and what advantages they have over traditional window managers. After a short general introduction of tiling and after looking into some existing tiling window manager implementations, we will have a closer look into the dynamic window manager dwm that follows the suckless philosophy. We will also look into the interoperability of the application launcher dmenu and how it can be used to automate processes in conjunction with xdotool.