Today I tried a new window manager. Almost immediately I stopped being able to do almost anything on my computer. I had to reconfigure a bunch of stuff. Even after all that there were still numerous minor things that didn't quite match what I had before and some strange bugs. For instance In order to get the keyboard and mouse working I had to re-insert both of their usb cables every time I logged in. Focusing the window below the current window would also move it to the right, ugh. I ended up crawling back to my old tiling window manager.
I’m in the category of people who want to have the OPTION able to control little details and don't want to spend time learning TRANSIENT configuration lang(s). I don’t see an alternative; Maybe customize in C? [1]
Rant over. Configuring a window manager sucks. There is some light at the end of tunnel off all the .conf files. You mostly don’t have to touch your config once you get stuff working. Now you get to reap the rewards of all your hard configuring.
In my opinion there are ~4 or so things that your typical window manager user will care about. In no particular order: An application launcher, moving and changing focus of tiled windows, virtual desktop/workspaces, and a status bar. Say someone is programming something and needs documentation from the internet. To start a browser (Firefox) “Windows key” + “d” to pulls up their application launcher they then type “fir”, hit the enter key launching Firefox. There are now two windows Firefox on the left and a text editor on the right. Firefox however is taking up to much space so they hit “Windows key” + “r” resizing the window by 20 or so pixels via the arrow keys, left and right. In order to resume typing code they use “Windows key” + “l” to change application focus back to the editor. Suddenly a discord notification goes off and workspace 4 flashes red on the status bar. “Windows key” + 4 switches them to workspace number 4 (The messenger workspace). They read the message, ignore it then use “Windows key” + 1 to go back to the prior workspace.
Tiling window managers are superior to that of other non tiling Linux, Mac and Windows window managers. They save you screen real estate, keep your hands off the mouse, and allow you to customize the control of the environment to your heart’s content.