I’ve been spending a little time recently looking at different Windows Managers (WM) for my linux-based notebook running the Manjaro distribution.
My usual approach had been to run some form of standard Desktop Environment (DE) such at Cinnamon, Gnome 2 or 3, XFCE or LXDE. But for some reason I was drawn to check out some different windows managers. To my non-geek mind, a desktop environment provides the whole package in terms of screen functionality and access whereas a window manager looks after the administration and placement of windows or apps on a screen. Windows managers are generally quicker and less cluttered but more difficult to configure than a desktop environment.
Manjaro provides a number of “community spins” of different DEs or WMs meaning you can download and try a live version of the system before jumping in to install it.
The few WMs I’ve looked at are i3, BSPWM and awesome. i3 seems to most suitable to me – clean, easy to use and (relatively) easy to configure. In addition there are a series of three videos on youtube by Alex Booker that are both entertaining and informative.