Window Managers as Worldview#
Week 3. Where windows go, and who is allowed to move them.
A layout policy is a constitution#
It looks like plumbing. It decides who arranges the screen, you or the machine.
Two theories of work#
- tiling holds that space is scarce and allocated by rule, keyboard over mouse
- floating holds that a desktop is a desk, that overlap is natural
- one trusts the machine to arrange, the other trusts you
tiling allocates every pixel by rule; floating lets windows overlap
What the choice costs#
Gaps, borders, and workspaces are not decoration; they are the layout policy made visible. Picking a manager is picking how much you value control over convenience, ritual over improvisation.
The hardest decision to reverse#
The palette can change in an afternoon. The manager you learn your hands into is the choice you will still be defending in week 12.
Pick a theory, not a theme#
The layout says more about you than the colours will.
Before next week#
Run a tiling manager and a floating one for a day each. Note the moment in each where you felt the software disagreeing with you.