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Managing windows and focusing specific apps on Linux? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago by TheTwelveYearOld@lemmy.world to c/linux@programming.dev

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TLDR: I want to be able to set specific window sizes and positions of the current window with hotkeys, as well as focus on specific apps with hotkeys, but I'm overwhelmed.

I've been trying to switch to Asahi Linux Fedora, and trying Gnome as my desktop environment since it can be customized with CSS, and with Wayland. I tried looking up how to change window layouts with hotkeys and it's confusing on what solution(s) I would end up wanting to use. Would I want to use a window manager?

Ultimate I want an alternative to Rectangle Pro app on Mac, which let's you set many hotketys for changing the current window's size & position: like use up the left or right halves or thirds of the screen, or corners and taking up a quarter of the screen. You can also make custom window layouts and bind those to keys.

I didn't find many results while looking up how to focus on specifc apps with hotkeys. For instance, I'd want to press CTRL Shift Z to switch specifically to Zen Browser or open it if it isn't opened, and CTRL Shift O to open or switch to Obsidian. I looked this up and didn't find options other than wmctrl or wlrctl. I tried the later: wlrctl window focus firefox, but got the error Foreign Toplevel Management interface not found!. on macOS there are many apps for this like BetterTouchTool & Hammerspoon.

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[–] emuspawn@orbiting.observer 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I know you said Gnome, but if you are willing to look at Plasma, I've just started using Bismuth on KDE Plasma and I think it can do at least a chunk of that. It can set particular sizes with Window Rules, it looks to have a quite robust shortcut system, including resizing windows, swapping, rotating, or changing layouts. As for the focus vs open, KRunner lets you choose the active application when you type it's name. There's also this: https://github.com/academo/ww-run-raise but I have not used it and cannot vouch for that.

[–] jrgn@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Seems like Bismuth is unmaintained. Polonium seems to be its successor.

[–] emuspawn@orbiting.observer 1 points 1 day ago

I will check out Polonium! Thanks!

[–] pelya@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

What you are searching is called tiling window manager, there are several with various features.

On Gnome there is a hotkey for horizontal side-by-side windows, on Plasma there are more layout options and keyboard shortcuts, but I'm not sure if any of them has one-third tiling.

https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/shell-windows-tiled.html.en

[–] drkt@scribe.disroot.org 3 points 1 day ago

i3wm is built for keyboard control, though I am slightly confused about your usecase so take that recommendation with a grain of salt.

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

There was an app or extension that let's you use the number pad as directional arrows for window placement. Like 7 would move to the top left corner, 4 would move it as half screen to the left. Hitting them again does resizing. I'm trying to remember the name, it wasn't an lntuitively named tool. But you could try Awesome Tiles to see if that works.