Window Managers

Would you use a computer without a keyboard?

I recently did a fresh install of my OS X box, and as I was about to reinstall a window manager, I realized how archaic the user experience felt without one. Without much exageration, it’s almost as if I were using a computer without a keyboard.

What is a window manager?

A window manager is, as its name suggests, a tool that lets users manage their windows. Situations when you need to have two or more windows open at the same time are not uncommon, and a window manager helps you use your screen real estate more efficiently, so that you can, for example, have many windows simultaneously open and usable. See picture below for an illustration.

In the above example, I am writing a presentation. The window on the right is my presentation, and the two windows on the left are my sources. Being able to look at my sources while writing my presentation is an invaluable timesaver, because I do not need to reach for my keyboard or mouse to switch back and forth between windows. Besides, this layout uses 100% of my screen real estate, and all it took to set it up was two seconds and three key combinations. Coffee is on me if you can do this faster by dragging and resizing the windows with your mouse.

But isn’t it hard to install and configure?

Yes and no. If you’re a Mac user, a first window manager option is SizeUp, and it’s usable without configuration. All you need to do is launch the installer and follow the instructions. You can then either use the default key combinations or set up your own, but I found the default ones well chosen, as they didn’t conflict with any OS X or other apps keyboard shortcuts. SizeUp is a very complete tool, but its downside is that it’s not free ($13 for a license).

A free alternative to SizeUp is Slate, but it’s oriented toward technical users. Slate comes with no default configuration and is therefore not usable right after installation. Setting it up requires a minimal knowledge of JavaScript, but the provided example file helps a lot. Using the extensive documentation and example file above, I was able to quickly reproduce SizeUp’s features and key combinations.

If JavaScript is not your thing, I can guarantee you that $13 is well worth spending for the productivy boost SizeUp can give you.
And if you do know JavaScript, you really have no excuse not to give Slate a try.
Régis Hanol pointed out an exhaustive list of OS X alternatives to the ones mentioned in this article.

Feel free to contact me if you need help setting up your window manager.