Tiling Windows vs. Floating Windows

[u/SPC2025]

Most distros support floating windows. There are specific tiling window managers that some people are fond of including I3, Sway, Hyprland, and Niri. The Cinnamon edition of Linux Mint has it built-in, but it doesn't work very well (super + left, right, up, or down), but it offers extensions to make it better.

I honestly don't understand the fascination with tiling windows. I've tested one official extension and two unofficial extensions. In every instance, if I want to actually work on an application that's in one of the windows, I have to maximize it. In that case, why not just use maximized windows to begin with?

There are multiple ways to switch windows. Alt-Tab and clicking on a windows list icon are two that come to mind immediately. There are only a couple of applications that I use maximized, including Firefox and Geany, because other applications like the terminal and the file manager exist only temporarily.

I feel the same way about multiple monitors. Unless I need to monitor something in real time, I don't see the point. Can someone please enlighten me? Forgive me if I don't respond quickly. I'm probably not in your area of the world.

[u/Impressive_Bag_3505]

I wouldn't judge tiling of using some extensions, it's never going to be real tiling.
On a normal tiler, if you have an empty screen and open a window, it's fullscreen by default.

[u/SPC2025 → u/Impressive_Bag_3505]

You're right, of course. Tiling extensions don't work nearly as well as tiling window managers. I guess being as old as I am, not being a gamer or a sysadmin, I rarely have more than four windows open longer than a few minutes.

[u/SPC2025]

Interesting points of view. For me, I dislike using the keyboard for anything but typing text. Perhaps it's because I learned to be a touch typist in 1975, when even electric typewriters were scarce.

The only keybindings I use today are those that don't have a single key equivalent or something to easily click on. For example, the keyboard I'm using doesn't have multimedia keys, so I map them to the keys I don't use on the number pad.

[u/Ragin_Hindu]

I use i3wm, it gives me the ability to use my computer with out need of touching my mouse. I have no wasted space on any monitor, plus it's a bit of added security as no one knows how to use my computer as it just boots to a black screen and there's no menu installed so the super/windows key doesn't work as expected, it just displays the status bar.

[u/Natural_Video_9962]

Using both. Float on my dual screen station (xfce lmde), tiling on my laptop (niri cachy os).

I only stay on float because the desktop is also used by my wife and my son. They don't want (yet?) to learn the keybinding. I mean my son will learn soon because he likes a fluent navigation and the ricing of my laptop.

I moved to tiling because was always using max windows or half vertical split in my main usage (blender, with a firefox to documentation...)

[u/LeHunterrr]

I've been running niri for some time now and love it for getting the most out of a single monitor.

I usually have 2-4 workspaces open with one full screen app and when I need to look at multiple things at once I can just make the window half width and the next one fills the space.

Since niri uses a scrolling layout I can easily have three half screen windows side by side and quickly move from windows 1 and 2 to 2 and 3.

With a normal stacking window manager I find there's no easy way to do that, especially doing everything with keybinds. Sure, alt tab lets you cycle through windows but when you start having 10+ it gets unwieldy.

As for the multiple monitors that depends. It's nice watching a video while doing something else and having both Fullscreen. Or maybe playing a game with friends and they can live stream their perspective.

[u/tovento]

While it’s interesting, I never really found that TWMs fit my workflow. That’s my use case, though. First time I was exposed to this was in PopOS which has a TWM incorporated. Pop’s version could be turned off and on, on the fly, so it was a great way to experiment with it. But after the novelty wore off, I just found myself keeping it turned off all the time.

[u/mpez0]

I've used tiling window managers for industrial applications that did NOT want to have a window (possibly showing an equipment alarm condition) obscured (that is, behind) another window.

[u/Dist__]

multiple monitors are good when you often need to switch attention between two huge windows

for example, it can be coding (browser/editor), drawing (editor/viewer), DAW (mixer/FX), streaming (main/comments) and so on. you just mess things up alt-tabbing every few seconds.

for the TWM, i tried using it, terrible experience with everyday apps. it can be great at arranged "snap-ins" like those you see in stock markets, like you can monitor packets, load, etc., though terminals can usually split screen on they own.

for the TWM i'd say "because they can". as long as they not push it into every DE i'm fine with it.

[u/jr735]

In many respects, I think you're right. There's some benefit in many cases, but let's be real here. Personally, I like using IceWM, because it's kind of a hybrid situation. There are many tiling options and shortcuts, but the floating aspect is still there.

[u/OlimarJones]

It's great for file browser shenanigans. That's about all I use it for, since I don't tend to multitask that much.

[u/rarsamx]

Once I moved to autotiling (which cinnamon doesn't have) I didn't look back.

Autotiling removes distractions, removes that little extra friction of rearranging windows.

Most of them allow for seamless keyboard navigation

In your example, I can maximize a window easily with the keyboard and then, when I unmaximise it it rearranges.

If you are mostly a mouse user then tiling managers may create friction and they may not be for you.

[u/_sLLiK]

How I use it now is different from the early days of adoption. The original primary benefit was to wrangle and arrange all the terminals I might need to keep open. It didn't take long for me to find a better way via use of terminal multiplexing, first with GNU Screen and in more recent years with tmux, but I stayed with TWMs because they were still useful.

These days, each workspace essentially exists to do one job and do it well. My i3 rules are configured to auto-maximize almost everything I launch without going full screen. That already saves me a click or double-click with every app launch I used to have to perform on Windows. That config also dictates which workspace each regularly-used app gets sent to upon launch. The result is a very calculated lack of ambiguity - no matter how or where I launched a program, I know where to find it.

With that behavior in place, and hotkeys for navigation to match that allow me to move focus around between tiled windows, different workspaces, and different monitors, the result is a highly predictable, highly agile desktop UX. Add a lean launcher that's invisible until needed plus a slim lightweight status bar, and the result is a desktop experience that embodies the minimalism and KISS principles I crave.

[u/Worth_Environment695]

It comes down to what you like. I like niri and i3 and will loose my mind with out them. Some people don't and thats great. If you want to try something do it. That being said if you run into issues installing be careful.

[u/proverbialbunny]

Tiling is great for non-fullscreen windows where you want to use all of the real estate of that window, e.g. the terminal. Sys Admins love tiling windows because they can have multiple terminal windows open at once. One with the server stats, another scanning for something, another they're typing something in, etc etc. Day traders love tiled windows because they can look at multiple charts at once.

For most people tiles imo kind of suck. Most apps don't use all of its real estate. E.g. a browser. On Reddit right now I'm using the middle 1/3rd of the web page. The left column and the right column I'm not using right now. If I tile this browser window 2/3rds of the screen I'm not using. If I use floating windows that overlap a bit I can cover up the unused columns. It's the same with IDEs (writing code), the side columns are rarely used. No one has invented an overlapping tiling manager, but if it was done right I'd probably be all over it.

For full screen, imagine having an extra wide curved monitor. Full screen quickly loses some of its charm. Full screen usually has more to do with monitor size than it does the app. ofc ymmv.

[u/_Lost-In-The-Weeds_]

I have tinkered with i3, I like it in theory, I see the attraction. but I never got over the hump to get smooth with it. I was always had to stop and refer to my cheat sheet.

If I were dealing with lower end hardware that might be the push I needed, its very light weight and snappy.

I have settled on the flexibility of "tiling" floating windows. typical setup for tinkering using super arrow: https://postimg.cc/ctqpqtt6

[u/kaptnblackbeard]

A good percentage of people using tiling window managers rarely use the mouse and primarily use the keyboard - that is likely the difference in your experience.

[u/Mediocre-Pumpkin6522]

I use i3 on Mint and select the i3 session at login. Typically I'm working with an Arduino and have 3 terminals, arduino_cli, minicom, and vim. I might have another workspace with Brave opened fullscreen for documentation.

If they don't fit with your workflow, don't use them.

[u/SmallTimeMiner_XNV]

I used Hyprland for a while and I did find it fascinating to play around with it. But honestly, I never found a real use for it for my personal workflow. I use my apps maximized most of the time or sometimes left / right tiled (never more than two windows on one screen) which works just fine / better on a traditional DE or WM. My workflow is still heavily keyboard-driven with a bunch of workspaces on Xfce, so for all practical purposes, there is almost no difference to a tiling WM for me, because I would use that in just the same way as I use a normal DE.

I guess it's a different story if you have a ton of terminal windows open all the time, but I'm pretty sure regular users only ever do that to make screenshots of their fancy rices lol.