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< title > i3 - an improved dynamic tiling window manager< / title >
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< link rel = "icon" type = "image/png" href = "/favicon.png" >
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< meta name = "description" content = "i3 is a dynamic tiling window manager with clean, readable and documented code, featuring extended Xinerama support, usage of libxcb instead of xlib and several improvements over wmii" >
< meta name = "keywords" content = "i3, window, manager, tiling, keyboard, wmii, x11, xcb, xinerama, utf8" >
< meta name = "author" content = "i3 developers" >
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max-width: 900px;
background-color: #1e1e1e;
color: #c0c0c0;
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}
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ol li {
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margin-bottom: 10px;
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#menu {
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margin-left: -15px;
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overflow: hidden;
list-style-type: none;
}
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#menu li {
margin-left: 30px;
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float: left;
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a {
color: #c0c0c0;
text-decoration: underline;
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< / style >
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< body >
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< img width = "131" height = "125" src = "http://i3.zekjur.net/logo.png" style = "margin-right: 15px" alt = "logo" id = "logo" align = "left" >
< h1 style = "color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: 3em;margin-bottom: 0;" > i3< / h1 >
< h1 style = "font-family: georgia; font-size: 2em;margin-bottom: 0;" > improved tiling wm< / h1 >
< br style = "height: 0; clear: both;" >
< hr style = "border: 1px solid black; clear: both; margin-top: 5px;" >
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< ul id = "menu" >
< li >
< a href = "/" > Goals< / a >
< / li >
< li >
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< a href = "/docs/" > Docs< / a >
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< / li >
< li >
< a href = "/downloads/" > Downloads< / a >
< / li >
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< li >
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< a href = "/screenshots/" > Screens< / a >
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< / li >
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< li >
< a href = "/bugs" > Bugtracker< / a >
< / li >
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< li >
< a href = "/contact/" > Contact< / a >
< / li >
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< li >
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< a href = "/impress.html" > Impressum< / a >
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< / li >
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< / ul >
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< hr style = "border: 1px solid black; clear: both; margin-top: 15px;" >
< p >
i3 is a tiling window manager, completely written from scratch.
< / p >
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< p >
i3 was created because wmii, our favorite window manager at the time, didn’
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provide some features we wanted (Xinerama done right, for example), had some
bugs, didn’ ’
(source code comments/documentation completely lacking). Still, we think the
wmii developers and contributors did a great job. Thank you for inspiring us
to create i3.
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< / p >
< p >
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Please be aware that i3 is primarily targeted at advanced users and developers.
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< / p >
< h2 > Goals< / h2 >
< p >
Based upon the experiences we made when wanting to hack/fix wmii, we agreed
upon the following goals for i3:
< / p >
< ol >
< li >
Write well readable, well < strong > documented< / strong > code. Create additional
documentation on how to extend i3 by explaining its internal workings.
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< br / >
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This includes being modifyable by people who do know how to program but who are
not necessarily familiar with all of X11’
things happen and when they happen so that the user gets a picture of the whole
process a Window Manager is responsible of by just reading the source code.
< / li >
< li >
Use xcb as far as possible (it does not provide functions for some features
yet, like XKB) instead of Xlib. xcb has a much cleaner API and should be faster
in quite a lot of situations.
< / li >
< li >
Implement Xinerama correctly, that is by assigning each workspace to a
virtual screen. Especially make sure that attaching and detaching new monitors
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like video projectors works during operation and does the right thing.
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< / li >
< li >
Use the metaphor of a table for abstraction. You can create horizontal and
vertical columns (in wmii, you can only create vertical columns). See the documentation
for more information on how this works, it really is an important principle in i3.
(TODO: documentation :-))
< / li >
< li >
Implement a command mode, like in vim. You can easily combine multiple
actions (like focusing, moving, snapping) by using the command mode.
< / li >
< li >
Implement XRandR support for flipping monitors.
< / li >
< li >
Do < strong > not< / strong > use programs such as autoconf/automake for configuration and
creating unreadable/broken makefiles. Instead, use a clean makefile which automatically
enables/disables features for specific platforms. Also, document the dependencies
properly, so that package maintainers have an easy job packaging i3.
< / li >
< li >
Provide hooks/callbacks for other programs to integrate. Using this mechanism, one
can easily extend i3 in whatever language, without ever touching the C code. Also,
to communicate with a running i3 instance, messages can be sent.
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< br / >
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This approach should be more lightweight than wmii’
Furthermore, core functionality does not depend on a separate program, so that i3
runs faster, especially when your system is under load.
< / li >
< li >
Be UTF-8 clean.
< / li >
< li >
The usual elitism amongst minimal window managers: Don’ ’
(simple borders are the most decoration we want to have), don’
and blurred fonts.
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< br / >
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However, we do not enforce unnecessary limits such as a maximum amount of source lines
of code. If it needs to be a bit bigger, it will be.
< / li >
< / ol >
< h3 > Special Features< / h3 >
< ul >
< li >
We can bind on Mode_switch (Alt Gr). Other window managers fail to do that because
of an X11-bug, which causes the modifier state to not be correctly set in KeyPress-
events. We use XKB for making sure to get the correct state.
< / li >
< / ul >
< h2 > Development< / h2 >
< p >
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i3 is currently developed at < a href = "http://code.stapelberg.de/git/i3" title = "cgit" >
http://code.stapelberg.de/git/i3< / a > . Checkouts of the master branch are intended to
be stable and working all the time. Integration of new features happens in a separate branch.
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< / p >
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< h2 > License< / h2 >
< pre >
Copyright © 2009, Michael Stapelberg
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
* Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
* Neither the name of Michael Stapelberg nor the
names of contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY Michael Stapelberg ''AS IS'' AND ANY
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL Michael Stapelberg BE LIABLE FOR ANY
DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
< / pre >
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