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The best thing about Linux (and open source software in general) is freedom-you can choose from different alternatives to meet our needs.

I've been using Linux for a long time, but I've never been completely satisfied with the desktop environment I can choose from. Until last year, Xfce was the desktop environment that I thought was the closest to being satisfied with the peace between functionality and performance. Then I found i3, an amazing software that changed my life.

I3 is a tiled window manager. The goal of the window manager is to control the appearance and location of windows in the window system. Window managers are often used as part of a full-featured desktop environment, such as GONME or Xfce, but some can be used as stand-alone applications.

The tiled window manager automatically arranges windows to occupy the entire screen in a non-overlapping manner. Other popular tiled window managers are wmii and xmonad.

I3 screenshot with three

To get a better Linux desktop experience, here are five top reasons I use and recommend the i3 window manager.

1. Minimalist art

I3 is very fast. It is neither jumbled nor gaudy. Its design is simple and efficient. As a developer, I value these features because I can use more features to enrich my favorite development tools, or use containers or virtual machines to test content locally.

In addition, i3 is a window manager, and unlike a full-featured desktop environment, it does not dictate the applications you should use. Do you want to use Xfce's Thunar as the file manager? GNOME's gedit to edit the text? I3 doesn't care. Choose the tools that make the most sense to your workflow, and i3 will manage them in the same way.

2. The actual area of the screen

As a tiled window manager, i3 will automatically "tile", positioning windows in a non-overlapping manner, similar to placing tiles on a wall. Because you don't need to worry about window positioning, i3 will generally make better use of your screen space. It also allows you to find what you need more quickly.

There are many useful examples for this situation. For example, system administrators can open multiple terminals to monitor at the same time or work on different remote systems; developers can use their favorite IDE or editor and several terminals to test their programs.

In addition, i3 is flexible. If you need more space for a particular window, enable full-screen mode or switch to another layout, such as stacked or tabbed.

3. Keyboard workflow

I3 widely uses keyboard shortcuts to control different aspects of the environment. These include opening terminals and other programs, resizing and positioning windows, changing layout, and even exiting i3. When you start using i3, you need to keep some of these shortcuts in mind before you can use them, and you will use more shortcuts over time.

The main benefit is that you don't need to switch between keyboard and mouse often. Through practice, you will improve the speed and efficiency of your workflow.

For example, to open a new terminal, press +. Because the window is automatically positioned, you can start typing commands immediately. Combine a good terminal text editor (such as Vim) and a keyboard-oriented browser to form a completely keyboard-driven workflow.

In i3, you can define shortcuts for all content. Here are some examples:

Open the terminal

Open the browser

Change layout

Resize the window

Control the music player

Switch workspaces

Now that I'm used to this form of work, I can't go back to the regular desktop environment.

4. Flexibility

I3 strives to be minimalist and uses few system resources, but that doesn't mean it can't be beautiful. I3 is flexible and can be customized in many ways to improve the visual experience. Because i3 is a window manager, it does not provide tools to enable customization, and you need external tools to do this. Some examples:

Use feh to define the background picture of the desktop.

Use a Compositor Manager, such as compton, to enable effects such as window fade and transparency.

Use dmenu or rofi to enable customizable menus that can be launched from keyboard shortcuts.

Use dunst for desktop notifications.

I3 is fully configurable, and you can control all aspects of it by updating the default configuration file. From changing all keyboard shortcuts to redefining the name of the workspace to modifying the status bar, you can make i3 run in any way that best suits your needs.

I3 with rofi menus and dunst desktop notifications.

Finally, for more advanced users, i3 provides a complete interprocess communication (IPC) interface that allows you to develop scripts or programs in your preferred language to implement more custom options.

5. Workspac

In i3, the workspace is an easy way to group windows. You can group them in different ways according to your workflow. For example, you can place the browser on one workspace, the terminal on another, the e-mail client on the third workspace, and so on. You can even change the configuration of i3 so that specific applications are always assigned to their own workspace.

Switching workspaces is fast and easy. Like the convention in i3, use keyboard shortcuts to do this. Press + num to switch to the workspace num. If you get into the habit of always assigning application group windows to the same workspace, you can quickly switch between them, which makes the workspace a very useful feature.

In addition, you can use a workspace to control a multi-monitor environment, where each monitor has an initial workspace. If you switch to the workspace, switch to the monitor without taking your hand off the keyboard.

Finally, there is another special type of workspace in i3: the scratchpad (pad). It is an invisible workspace that is displayed in the middle of other workspaces by shortcut. This is a convenient way to access windows or programs that you often use, such as an e-mail client or a music player.

Give it a try.

If you value simplicity and efficiency, and are not afraid to use the keyboard, i3 is your window manager. Some people say it's for advanced users, but that's not necessarily the case. You need to learn some basic shortcuts to get through the initial stage, and soon you will use them more and more naturally and without thinking.

This article only talks about what i3 can do. For more details, please refer to the i3 documentation.

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