this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2025
99 points (92.3% liked)
Linux
60085 readers
542 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
I wanted to give tiling a chance. I decided to use Krohnkite for a week to give it a chance. At first I didn't care for tiling but quickly got into it and now I love it. Sometimes to really know if something is going to work for you or not, you have to give it some time. I've used this approach for other things (not all work out) but for Krohnkite it did for me. Also, don't forget to check out all the Krohnkite options.
Now that you 'get it', can you explain to someone like me who still doesn't get it, why they might want to use a tiling wm?
Not OP but the answer is that having windows on top of each other is mostly useless. 99% of the time, when you're working with multiple windows, you don't want to see just part of the window. So either your window is minimized or somehow tiled. At that point you are using a worse version of a tiling WM. The 1% of the time, you can just make the tiled window float.
Having windows on top of each other might be useless but it also doesn't hurt anything, and KDE already has the ability to snap windows into different positions. So this description doesn't really capture the problem you're solving.
It does actually hurt something
my time. If the windows are on top of each other, that means I cannot see the one on the bottom. Which means I either have to click between 2 windows or make them tiled like you described (aka using a tiling WM but shit). Both options are inferior experience to a tiling WM which handles this automatically.
I don't think tiling WMs are some mega productivity boost. But I also think that floating WMs are just a worse workflow with almost no benefits. The only exception is if you want to see only a part of a window, which is easier to do on floating WM. But that's a rare situation and you can do it on a floating WM too, it just takes like 5 seconds more to set up.
We're talking about things that take ms to decide and act upon. I mean if you prefer it or you're used to it that's fine but for many people I'd argue the cost of change in either direction is higher than the aggregate savings in time.
This is not really about time savings. It's more about "I want to spend as little time as possible doing this crap.". But I agree the switch is not super worth it. IMO tiling WM vs a floating WM one is kinda like putting your toothbrush in the bathroom instead of the bedroom. Having it in the bedroom is inferior to putting it in the bathroom but in the end the more efficient option won't really make your life different.
Keeping it in your bedroom has advantages, especially if you're prone to forgetting because you see it right in front of you before you go to bed. It also dries faster (less bacteria growth) and you never have to clear it out to clean your bathroom sink (obviously a non-issue if you have a cabinet).
But uh, I got you
lol my significant other does that actually. I knew it was a bad example but it was the first thing that came to my mind.
The main reason I hear is that it maximizes screen usage and helps avoid/limit the tediousness of having to manage windows.
Not what you're asking for, but I'll give you my perspective as someone who's tried tiling on and off and overall don't like it.
Cosmic is exciting in this regard since it aims to be a fully-featured floating and tiling environment. You could just toggle between them as necessary (or have them on separate workplaces). You also get much better portal support.
Khronkite is worth checking out in relation to this point. It requires minimal setup (keybinds + choosing tiling layout) so it's a good introduction to tiling WMs. I'm guessing more experienced users would prefer more control but I like it just fine.
I am really excited for Cosmic’s future. I loved the toggling float-tiling functionality, but I was having too many issues with GUI apps, taskbar icons, and annoyances like those. Once it has some more polish I will be happily revisiting it. It may be the first DE in a decade with the potential to tempt me away from KDE.
Number 2 is an implementation issue. Dialogs should be floating by default.
Number 3 is funny to me, because that's exactly the experience I have when using a floating WM.
Personally, I haven't had any issues with the aspect ratio. I use a spiral algorithm, this is the defaut on bspwm. I suspect that many people that try twm dont use spiral splitting so windows can be opened in tiny slice and this is ridiculous of course.
Its less work to use keyboard shortcuts to arrange/navigate windows in tiling than it is to use a mouse + alt-tab. Window sizing and placement is something you think about a lot less. Its very fast to flip through various preset window arrangements and usually that's good enough for whatever task.
I find tiling more efficient because
The more I use tiling, the more advantages I find. At this point I think I could use any desktop as long as I had Krohnkite functioning tiling.
Tiling WMs are amazing I wish windows/mac also had them.
I'm using FancyWM on my Windows 11 work pc. It works quite well for me.