Add your own desktop background, icon background, your own icon set. Add torsmo or gkrellm. Add other eye candy apps designed for GNU/Linux desktops. Add a panel.
What Window Maker looks like depends on what you can make of it…
Although I am constantly switching from one desktop to another (there’s always something new and exciting in new versions of KDE or Gnome ), I agree that Window Maker is just great! It’s simple, it looks _very_ clean, it’s stable (what bugs? I haven’t noticed ANY!). And it remainds me to my first nights with Linux (I think Turbilinux 6.0), somewhere in the past (1998?). I installed Window Maker and then I felt that Linux can be what you want it to be
Now I get to wait for a good slack pack . I’d like to see these new animations; generally I just turn animations off though cause they stop screen updates which sucks when you’re watching a video.
WindowMaker is pretty good on its own, but it should really have been properly combined with GNUstep. Or GNUstep should have been properly combined with WIndowMaker, I don’t know. The *step desktop is really the whole point to the way the menus and icons work, which neither Gnome or KDE uses.
The problem right now is that some parts are cloned in GNUstep rather than extended from WindowMaker. I think they are trying to solve this with the Backbone project, which would effectively replace WindowMaker. By combining these things properly, GNUstep would really sing.
As for ugliness, I think it has a sober look and most of all, it’s really fast and is more complete than it might appear to be. A lot of thought has been put in to it, because it doesn’t try to be all over the place, but just provide good and fast window management, menus and a fast way to get to programs. It’s one of those environments you need to try, before judging.
I started using WindowMaker back in 1998 ( the distro is Red Hat 6.2 ). Now I am still using WindowMaker ( the distro is Suse 9.3 ). Below are the reasons:
My first WM ( it was the default in Debian Potato! ) and I still use it! I love the clean look and the fact that dockapps , IMHO, look best in WindowMaker!
I found WindowMaker to be all-around my favorite WM for a laptop, because every aspect of your desktop can be controlled from the keyboard:
– CTRL+ALT+[left/right arrow] to switch virtual desktops, or even add new ones as you go
– CTRL+ESC to access any window’s outer menu
– F12 to get your main application menu from anywhere
– F11 to get a list of available windows
– of course, the venerable ALT+TAB to cycle through windows
Plus, with a very slick combination of keyboard+mouse you get additional control:
– ALT+drag moves a window, just as in KDE and many other WMs,
– SHIFT+[repeated click] selects multiple windows, which can then be dragged by ALT+drag
– ALT+[right click]+drag resizes a window
Once you master these few simple shortcuts, you never have to waste time trying to select the edge of a window to resize, or even worrying about visibility of the top bar. Also, since WindowMaker gives you very easy ways to customize the windows to any app, you can really play with exactly what you want to see and what you don’t. I find myself configuring my most-used apps to open full-screen with no chrome, and then I just put each window in its own virtual desktop, so I can switch through applications instantly with CTRL-ALT-[left/right]. And WindowMaker really *pops* when you switch virtual desktops… nice.
Sometimes, I still find myself liking KDE for general desktop use, and the nice suite of integrated applications. Having read that WM integrates with KDE, I was pleasantly surprised when I ran “startkde” from a WindowMaker desktop–KDE with all the menus, application bar, etc… BUT with all the great shortcuts of WindowMaker, and, it’s actually faster than KDE. It was really fun to see the virtual desktops multiply as I hit CTRL-ALT-[right-arrow].
KDE has shortcuts for all of those things you mentioned. I find that in a way, KDE, from a feature POV, is actually closer to WindowMaker than to anything else. Both a tremendous amount of features that often are hard to remember where they all are.
Most people appreciate the Windoze style switching panel. It allows you to quickly browse through your open windows by holding down ALT and then pressing TAB as many times as needed. The first TAB will open the switching panel that shows icons for all your open windows, and pressing TAB again moves the window focus selection in the switching panel (or you can use mouse for selection). If you want to change the browsing direction, hold down both ALT and Shift. After you’ve focused the window you want, just release ALT and the switching panel will disappear.
If you want Window Maker to use the Windoze style window recycling (that raises the focused window), you need to select “Raise window when switching focus with keyboard” in WPrefs.app, under the “Miscellaneous Ergonomic Preferences” tab.
KDE has shortcuts for all of those things you mentioned.
Really? Is it possible to switch virtual desktops with CTRL-ALT-[left/right arrow]? I know that you can cycle through desktops with CTRL-ESC and CTRL-SHIFT-ESC, but its not as quick or convenient. Can KDE create new desktops on the fly? Can it select multiple windows?
I suppose with a bit of poking around and configuring, it might be possible to get KDE to have a rough approximation of these behaviors, but with WindowMaker, it takes one quick visit to the Preferences app and my environment is perfect.
Now I’ll wait for Debian to release updates to their GNUstep packages that incorporate freetype 2.1.10.
This was the first desktop I ever used on Linux, in 1998… 7 years ago… and it still looks the same.
Which is pseudominimal, out of the way, and generally elegant w/o eye-candy. I’m glad it hasn’t changed.
Add your own desktop background, icon background, your own icon set. Add torsmo or gkrellm. Add other eye candy apps designed for GNU/Linux desktops. Add a panel.
What Window Maker looks like depends on what you can make of it…
Hey, did anyone check out the screenshot gallery for WindowMaker. This has to be the ugliest UI I’ve ever seen.
can’t wait for e17 to hit 1.0…. should be real sexy to the eyes
lol
Yup, they should definitely update the gallery section. The screenshot of the default desktop is from Window Maker version 0.63.1. http://windowmaker.org/imageview.php?cat=big&id=40
In the official gallery there’s only one screenshot of the new antialiased Window Maker http://windowmaker.org/imageview.php?cat=big&id=50
Here are some themes that make Window Maker look a lot nicer: http://lonelymachines.org/new.html
Although I am constantly switching from one desktop to another (there’s always something new and exciting in new versions of KDE or Gnome
), I agree that Window Maker is just great! It’s simple, it looks _very_ clean, it’s stable (what bugs? I haven’t noticed ANY!). And it remainds me to my first nights with Linux (I think Turbilinux 6.0), somewhere in the past (1998?). I installed Window Maker and then I felt that Linux can be what you want it to be 
Now I get to wait for a good slack pack
. I’d like to see these new animations; generally I just turn animations off though cause they stop screen updates which sucks when you’re watching a video.
WindowMaker is pretty good on its own, but it should really have been properly combined with GNUstep. Or GNUstep should have been properly combined with WIndowMaker, I don’t know. The *step desktop is really the whole point to the way the menus and icons work, which neither Gnome or KDE uses.
The problem right now is that some parts are cloned in GNUstep rather than extended from WindowMaker. I think they are trying to solve this with the Backbone project, which would effectively replace WindowMaker. By combining these things properly, GNUstep would really sing.
As for ugliness, I think it has a sober look and most of all, it’s really fast and is more complete than it might appear to be. A lot of thought has been put in to it, because it doesn’t try to be all over the place, but just provide good and fast window management, menus and a fast way to get to programs. It’s one of those environments you need to try, before judging.
I started using WindowMaker back in 1998 ( the distro is Red Hat 6.2 ). Now I am still using WindowMaker ( the distro is Suse 9.3 ). Below are the reasons:
– really Fast
– nice icons
– professional look and feel
– high degree of customization
– AA font support
– works well with other KDE apps
– nice and useful dockapps
I think everyone should give it a try.
My first WM ( it was the default in Debian Potato! ) and I still use it! I love the clean look and the fact that dockapps , IMHO, look best in WindowMaker!
I found WindowMaker to be all-around my favorite WM for a laptop, because every aspect of your desktop can be controlled from the keyboard:
– CTRL+ALT+[left/right arrow] to switch virtual desktops, or even add new ones as you go
– CTRL+ESC to access any window’s outer menu
– F12 to get your main application menu from anywhere
– F11 to get a list of available windows
– of course, the venerable ALT+TAB to cycle through windows
Plus, with a very slick combination of keyboard+mouse you get additional control:
– ALT+drag moves a window, just as in KDE and many other WMs,
– SHIFT+[repeated click] selects multiple windows, which can then be dragged by ALT+drag
– ALT+[right click]+drag resizes a window
Once you master these few simple shortcuts, you never have to waste time trying to select the edge of a window to resize, or even worrying about visibility of the top bar. Also, since WindowMaker gives you very easy ways to customize the windows to any app, you can really play with exactly what you want to see and what you don’t. I find myself configuring my most-used apps to open full-screen with no chrome, and then I just put each window in its own virtual desktop, so I can switch through applications instantly with CTRL-ALT-[left/right]. And WindowMaker really *pops* when you switch virtual desktops… nice.
Sometimes, I still find myself liking KDE for general desktop use, and the nice suite of integrated applications. Having read that WM integrates with KDE, I was pleasantly surprised when I ran “startkde” from a WindowMaker desktop–KDE with all the menus, application bar, etc… BUT with all the great shortcuts of WindowMaker, and, it’s actually faster than KDE. It was really fun to see the virtual desktops multiply as I hit CTRL-ALT-[right-arrow].
KDE has shortcuts for all of those things you mentioned. I find that in a way, KDE, from a feature POV, is actually closer to WindowMaker than to anything else. Both a tremendous amount of features that often are hard to remember where they all are.
Just googled about a bit …
How do I disable this switching panel?
Windowmaker used to have sensible ALT-TAB window cycling.
I do fail to understand to point of this switching panel thingie. I usually have several xterms open and I like to switch between them fast …
Also forcing XFT to compile WMaker is rather annoying …
Anyhow, after 9 years WMaker I started to love blackbox.
Most people appreciate the Windoze style switching panel. It allows you to quickly browse through your open windows by holding down ALT and then pressing TAB as many times as needed. The first TAB will open the switching panel that shows icons for all your open windows, and pressing TAB again moves the window focus selection in the switching panel (or you can use mouse for selection). If you want to change the browsing direction, hold down both ALT and Shift. After you’ve focused the window you want, just release ALT and the switching panel will disappear.
If you want Window Maker to use the Windoze style window recycling (that raises the focused window), you need to select “Raise window when switching focus with keyboard” in WPrefs.app, under the “Miscellaneous Ergonomic Preferences” tab.
This screenshot shows the switching panel in action: http://windowmaker.org/imageview.php?cat=big&id=50
How would I make specific application’s windows appear only on virtual desktop N?
I still use WindowMaker with KDE ’cause of that feature.
It’s possible in WindowMaker and very handy too for starting applications in background.
Right click programs title bar, choose attributes. In the window that just opened choose icon and initial workspace.
KDE has shortcuts for all of those things you mentioned.
Really? Is it possible to switch virtual desktops with CTRL-ALT-[left/right arrow]? I know that you can cycle through desktops with CTRL-ESC and CTRL-SHIFT-ESC, but its not as quick or convenient. Can KDE create new desktops on the fly? Can it select multiple windows?
I suppose with a bit of poking around and configuring, it might be possible to get KDE to have a rough approximation of these behaviors, but with WindowMaker, it takes one quick visit to the Preferences app and my environment is perfect.