1596 lines
56 KiB
Plaintext
1596 lines
56 KiB
Plaintext
i3 User’s Guide
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===============
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Michael Stapelberg <michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
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October 2011
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This document contains all the information you need to configure and use the i3
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window manager. If it does not, please contact us on IRC (preferred) or post your
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question(s) on the mailing list.
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== Default keybindings
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For the "too long; didn’t read" people, here is an overview of the default
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keybindings (click to see the full size image):
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*Keys to use with mod (alt):*
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image:keyboard-layer1.png["Keys to use with mod (alt)",width=600,link="keyboard-layer1.png"]
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*Keys to use with Shift+mod:*
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image:keyboard-layer2.png["Keys to use with Shift+mod",width=600,link="keyboard-layer2.png"]
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The red keys are the modifiers you need to press (by default), the blue keys
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are your homerow.
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== Using i3
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Throughout this guide, the keyword +mod+ will be used to refer to the
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configured modifier. This is the alt key (Mod1) by default, with windows (Mod4)
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being a popular alternative.
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=== Opening terminals and moving around
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One very basic operation is opening a new terminal. By default, the keybinding
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for this is mod+Enter, that is Alt+Enter in the default configuration. By
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pressing mod+Enter, a new terminal will be opened. It will fill the whole
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space available on your screen.
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image:single_terminal.png[Single terminal]
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If you now open another terminal, i3 will place it next to the current one,
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splitting the screen size in half. Depending on your monitor, i3 will put the
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created window beside the existing window (on wide displays) or below the
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existing window (rotated displays).
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image:two_terminals.png[Two terminals]
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To move the focus between the two terminals, you can use the direction keys
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which you may know from the editor +vi+. However, in i3, your homerow is used
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for these keys (in +vi+, the keys are shifted to the left by one for
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compatibility with most keyboard layouts). Therefore, +mod+J+ is left, +mod+K+
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is down, +mod+L+ is up and `mod+;` is right. So, to switch between the
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terminals, use +mod+K+ or +mod+L+. Of course, you can also use the arrow keys.
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At the moment, your workspace is split (it contains two terminals) in a
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specific direction (horizontal by default). Every window can be split
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horizontally or vertically again, just like the workspace. The terminology is
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"window" for a container that actually contains an X11 window (like a terminal
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or browser) and "split container" for containers that consist of one or more
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windows.
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TODO: picture of the tree
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To split a window vertically, press +mod+v+. To split it horizontally, press
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+mod+h+.
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=== Changing the container layout
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A split container can have one of the following layouts:
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default::
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Windows are sized so that every window gets an equal amount of space in the
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container.
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stacking::
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Only the focused window in the container is displayed. You get a list of
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windows at the top of the container.
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tabbed::
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The same principle as +stacking+, but the list of windows at the top is only
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a single line which is vertically split.
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To switch modes, press +mod+e+ for default, +mod+s+ for stacking and
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+mod+w+ for tabbed.
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image:modes.png[Container modes]
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=== Toggling fullscreen mode for a window
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To display a window in fullscreen mode or to go out of fullscreen mode again,
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press +mod+f+.
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There is also a global fullscreen mode in i3 in which the client will span all
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available outputs.
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=== Opening other applications
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Aside from opening applications from a terminal, you can also use the handy
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+dmenu+ which is opened by pressing +mod+d+ by default. Just type the name
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(or a part of it) of the application which you want to open. The corresponding
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application has to be in your +$PATH+ for this to work.
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Additionally, if you have applications you open very frequently, you can
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create a keybinding for starting the application directly. See the section
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<<configuring>> for details.
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=== Closing windows
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If an application does not provide a mechanism for closing (most applications
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provide a menu, the escape key or a shortcut like +Control+W+ to close), you
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can press +mod+Shift+q+ to kill a window. For applications which support
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the WM_DELETE protocol, this will correctly close the application (saving
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any modifications or doing other cleanup). If the application doesn’t support
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the WM_DELETE protocol your X server will kill the window and the behaviour
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depends on the application.
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=== Using workspaces
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Workspaces are an easy way to group a set of windows. By default, you are on
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the first workspace, as the bar on the bottom left indicates. To switch to
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another workspace, press +mod+num+ where +num+ is the number of the workspace
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you want to use. If the workspace does not exist yet, it will be created.
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A common paradigm is to put the web browser on one workspace, communication
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applications (+mutt+, +irssi+, ...) on another one, and the ones with which you
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work, on the third one. Of course, there is no need to follow this approach.
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If you have multiple screens, a workspace will be created on each screen at
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startup. If you open a new workspace, it will be bound to the screen you
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created it on. When you switch to a workspace on another screen, i3 will set
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focus to that screen.
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=== Moving windows to workspaces
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To move a window to another workspace, simply press +mod+Shift+num+ where
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+num+ is (like when switching workspaces) the number of the target workspace.
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Similarly to switching workspaces, the target workspace will be created if
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it does not yet exist.
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=== Resizing
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The easiest way to resize a container is by using the mouse: Grab the border
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and move it to the wanted size.
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See <<resizingconfig>> for how to configure i3 to be able to resize
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columns/rows with your keyboard.
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=== Restarting i3 inplace
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To restart i3 inplace (and thus get into a clean state if there is a bug, or
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to upgrade to a newer version of i3) you can use +mod+Shift+r+.
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=== Exiting i3
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To cleanly exit i3 without killing your X server, you can use +mod+Shift+e+.
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=== Floating
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Floating mode is the opposite of tiling mode. The position and size of a window
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are not managed by i3, but by you. Using this mode violates the tiling
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paradigm but can be useful for some corner cases like "Save as" dialog
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windows, or toolbar windows (GIMP or similar). Those windows usually set the
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appropriate hint and are opened in floating mode by default.
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You can toggle floating mode for a window by pressing +mod+Shift+Space+. By
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dragging the window’s titlebar with your mouse you can move the window
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around. By grabbing the borders and moving them you can resize the window. You
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can also do that by using the <<floating_modifier>>.
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For resizing floating windows with your keyboard, see <<resizingconfig>>.
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Floating windows are always on top of tiling windows.
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== Tree
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i3 stores all information about the X11 outputs, workspaces and layout of the
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windows on them in a tree. The root node is the X11 root window, followed by
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the X11 outputs, then dock areas and a content container, then workspaces and
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finally the windows themselves. In previous versions of i3 we had multiple lists
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(of outputs, workspaces) and a table for each workspace. That approach turned
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out to be complicated to use (snapping), understand and implement.
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=== The tree consists of Containers
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The building blocks of our tree are so called +Containers+. A +Container+ can
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host a window (meaning an X11 window, one that you can actually see and use,
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like a browser). Alternatively, it could contain one or more +Containers+. A
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simple example is the workspace: When you start i3 with a single monitor, a
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single workspace and you open two terminal windows, you will end up with a tree
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like this:
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image::tree-layout2.png["layout2",float="right"]
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image::tree-shot4.png["shot4",title="Two terminals on standard workspace"]
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=== Orientation and Split Containers
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[[OrientationSplit]]
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It is only natural to use so-called +Split Containers+ in order to build a
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layout when using a tree as data structure. In i3, every +Container+ has an
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orientation (horizontal, vertical or unspecified). So, in our example with the
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workspace, the default orientation of the workspace +Container+ is horizontal
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(most monitors are widescreen nowadays). If you change the orientation to
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vertical (+mod+v+ in the default config) and *then* open two terminals, i3 will
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configure your windows like this:
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image::tree-shot2.png["shot2",title="Vertical Workspace Orientation"]
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An interesting new feature of the tree branch is the ability to split anything:
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Let’s assume you have two terminals on a workspace (with horizontal
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orientation), focus is on the right terminal. Now you want to open another
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terminal window below the current one. If you would just open a new terminal
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window, it would show up to the right due to the horizontal workspace
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orientation. Instead, press +mod+v+ to create a +Vertical Split Container+ (to
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open a +Horizontal Split Container+, use +mod+h+). Now you can open a new
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terminal and it will open below the current one:
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image::tree-layout1.png["Layout",float="right"]
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image::tree-shot1.png["shot",title="Vertical Split Container"]
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unfloat::[]
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You probably guessed it already: There is no limit on how deep your hierarchy
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of splits can be.
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=== Focus parent
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Let’s stay with our example from above. We have a terminal on the left and two
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vertically split terminals on the right, focus is on the bottom right one. When
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you open a new terminal, it will open below the current one.
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So, how can you open a new terminal window to the *right* of the current one?
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The solution is to use +focus parent+, which will focus the +Parent Container+ of
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the current +Container+. In this case, you would focus the +Vertical Split
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Container+ which is *inside* the horizontally oriented workspace. Thus, now new
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windows will be opened to the right of the +Vertical Split Container+:
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image::tree-shot3.png["shot3",title="Focus parent, then open new terminal"]
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[[configuring]]
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== Configuring i3
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This is where the real fun begins ;-). Most things are very dependant on your
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ideal working environment so we can’t make reasonable defaults for them.
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While not using a programming language for the configuration, i3 stays
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quite flexible in regards to the things you usually want your window manager
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to do.
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For example, you can configure bindings to jump to specific windows,
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you can set specific applications to start on specific workspaces, you can
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automatically start applications, you can change the colors of i3, and you
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can bind your keys to do useful things.
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To change the configuration of i3, copy +/etc/i3/config+ to +\~/.i3/config+
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(or +~/.config/i3/config+ if you like the XDG directory scheme) and edit it
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with a text editor.
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On first start (and on all following starts, unless you have a configuration
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file), i3 will offer you to create a configuration file. You can tell the
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wizard to use either Alt (Mod1) or Windows (Mod4) as modifier in the config
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file. Also, the created config file will use the key symbols of your current
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keyboard layout. To start the wizard, use the command +i3-config-wizard+.
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Please note that you must not have +~/.i3/config+, otherwise the wizard will
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exit.
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=== Comments
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It is possible and recommended to use comments in your configuration file to
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properly document your setup for later reference. Comments are started with
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a # and can only be used at the beginning of a line:
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*Examples*:
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-------------------
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# This is a comment
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-------------------
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=== Fonts
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i3 uses X core fonts (not Xft) for rendering window titles. You can use
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+xfontsel(1)+ to generate such a font description. To see special characters
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(Unicode), you need to use a font which supports the ISO-10646 encoding.
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If i3 cannot open the configured font, it will output an error in the logfile
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and fall back to a working font.
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*Syntax*:
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------------------------------
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font <X core font description>
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------------------------------
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*Examples*:
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--------------------------------------------------------------
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font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
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--------------------------------------------------------------
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[[keybindings]]
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=== Keyboard bindings
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A keyboard binding makes i3 execute a command (see below) upon pressing a
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specific key. i3 allows you to bind either on keycodes or on keysyms (you can
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also mix your bindings, though i3 will not protect you from overlapping ones).
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* A keysym (key symbol) is a description for a specific symbol, like "a"
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or "b", but also more strange ones like "underscore" instead of "_". These
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are the ones you use in Xmodmap to remap your keys. To get the current
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mapping of your keys, use +xmodmap -pke+.
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* Keycodes do not need to have a symbol assigned (handy for custom vendor
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hotkeys on some notebooks) and they will not change their meaning as you
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switch to a different keyboard layout (when using +xmodmap+).
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My recommendation is: If you often switch keyboard layouts but you want to keep
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your bindings in the same physical location on the keyboard, use keycodes.
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If you don’t switch layouts, and want a clean and simple config file, use
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keysyms.
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*Syntax*:
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----------------------------------
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bindsym [Modifiers+]keysym command
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bindcode [Modifiers+]keycode command
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----------------------------------
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*Examples*:
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--------------------------------
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# Fullscreen
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bindsym mod+f f
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# Restart
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bindsym mod+Shift+r restart
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# Notebook-specific hotkeys
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bindcode 214 exec /home/michael/toggle_beamer.sh
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--------------------------------
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Available Modifiers:
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Mod1-Mod5, Shift, Control::
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Standard modifiers, see +xmodmap(1)+
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Mode_switch::
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Unlike other window managers, i3 can use Mode_switch as a modifier. This allows
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you to remap capslock (for example) to Mode_switch and use it for both: typing
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umlauts or special characters 'and' having some comfortably reachable key
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bindings. For example, when typing, capslock+1 or capslock+2 for switching
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workspaces is totally convenient. Try it :-).
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[[floating_modifier]]
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=== The floating modifier
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To move floating windows with your mouse, you can either grab their titlebar
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or configure the so called floating modifier which you can then press and
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click anywhere in the window itself to move it. The most common setup is to
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use the same key you use for managing windows (Mod1 for example). Then
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you can press Mod1, click into a window using your left mouse button, and drag
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it to the position you want.
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When holding the floating modifier, you can resize a floating window by
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pressing the right mouse button on it and moving around while holding it. If
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you hold the shift button as well, the resize will be proportional (the aspect
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ratio will be preserved).
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*Syntax*:
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--------------------------------
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floating_modifier <Modifiers>
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--------------------------------
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*Example*:
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--------------------------------
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floating_modifier Mod1
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--------------------------------
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=== Orientation for new workspaces
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New workspaces get a reasonable default orientation: Wide-screen monitors
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(anything wider than high) get horizontal orientation, rotated monitors
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(anything higher than wide) get vertical orientation.
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With the +default_orientation+ configuration directive, you can override that
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behaviour.
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*Syntax*:
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----------------------------------------------
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default_orientation <horizontal|vertical|auto>
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----------------------------------------------
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*Example*:
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----------------------------
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default_orientation vertical
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----------------------------
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=== Layout mode for new containers
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This option determines in which mode new containers on workspace level will
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start.
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///////////////////////////////
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See also <<stack-limit>>.
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//////////////////////////////
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*Syntax*:
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---------------------------------------------
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workspace_layout <default|stacking|tabbed>
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---------------------------------------------
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/////////////////////////////////////////////
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new_container stack-limit <cols|rows> <value>
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/////////////////////////////////////////////
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*Example*:
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---------------------
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workspace_layout tabbed
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---------------------
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=== Border style for new windows
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This option determines which border style new windows will have.
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*Syntax*:
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---------------------------------------------
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new_window <normal|1pixel|none>
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---------------------------------------------
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*Example*:
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---------------------
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new_window 1pixel
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---------------------
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=== Arbitrary commands for specific windows (for_window)
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With the +for_window+ command, you can let i3 execute any command when it
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encounters a specific window. This can be used to set windows to floating or to
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change their border style, for example.
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*Syntax*:
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-----------------------------
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for_window <criteria> command
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-----------------------------
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*Examples*:
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------------------------------------------------
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# enable floating mode for all XTerm windows
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for_window [class="XTerm"] floating enable
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# Make all urxvts use a 1-pixel border:
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for_window [class="urxvt"] border 1pixel
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# A less useful, but rather funny example:
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# makes the window floating as soon as I change
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# directory to ~/work
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for_window [title="x200: ~/work"] floating enable
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------------------------------------------------
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The valid criteria are the same as those for commands, see <<command_criteria>>.
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=== Variables
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||
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As you learned in the section about keyboard bindings, you will have
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to configure lots of bindings containing modifier keys. If you want to save
|
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yourself some typing and be able to change the modifier you use later,
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variables can be handy.
|
||
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*Syntax*:
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--------------
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set $name value
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--------------
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||
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*Example*:
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------------------------
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set $m Mod1
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bindsym $m+Shift+r restart
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------------------------
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||
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||
Variables are directly replaced in the file when parsing. There is no fancy
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handling and there are absolutely no plans to change this. If you need a more
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||
dynamic configuration you should create a little script which generates a
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configuration file and run it before starting i3 (for example in your
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+~/.xsession+ file).
|
||
|
||
=== Automatically putting clients on specific workspaces
|
||
|
||
[[assign_workspace]]
|
||
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To automatically make a specific window show up on a specific workspace, you
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can use an *assignment*. You can match windows by using any criteria,
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see <<command_criteria>>. It is recommended that you match on window classes
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(and instances, when appropriate) instead of window titles whenever possible
|
||
because some applications first create their window, and then worry about
|
||
setting the correct title. Firefox with Vimperator comes to mind. The window
|
||
starts up being named Firefox, and only when Vimperator is loaded does the
|
||
title change. As i3 will get the title as soon as the application maps the
|
||
window (mapping means actually displaying it on the screen), you’d need to have
|
||
to match on 'Firefox' in this case.
|
||
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||
*Syntax*:
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||
------------------------------------------------------------
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assign <criteria> [→] workspace
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------------------------------------------------------------
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*Examples*:
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||
----------------------
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# Assign URxvt terminals to workspace 2
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||
assign [class="URxvt"] 2
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||
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||
# Same thing, but more precise (exact match instead of substring)
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||
assign [class="^URxvt$"] 2
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||
# Same thing, but with a beautiful arrow :)
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||
assign [class="^URxvt$"] → 2
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# Assignment to a named workspace
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||
assign [class="^URxvt$"] → work
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# Start urxvt -name irssi
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assign [class="^URxvt$" instance="^irssi$"] → 3
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----------------------
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||
Note that the arrow is not required, it just looks good :-). If you decide to
|
||
use it, it has to be a UTF-8 encoded arrow, not `->` or something like that.
|
||
|
||
To get the class and instance, you can use +xprop+. After clicking on the
|
||
window, you will see the following output:
|
||
|
||
*xwininfo*:
|
||
-----------------------------------
|
||
WM_CLASS(STRING) = "irssi", "URxvt"
|
||
-----------------------------------
|
||
|
||
The first part of the WM_CLASS is the instance ("irssi" in this example), the
|
||
second part is the class ("URxvt" in this example).
|
||
|
||
Should you have any problems with assignments, make sure to check the i3
|
||
logfile first (see http://i3wm.org/docs/debugging.html). It includes more
|
||
details about the matching process and the window’s actual class, instance and
|
||
title when starting up.
|
||
|
||
=== Automatically starting applications on i3 startup
|
||
|
||
By using the +exec+ keyword outside a keybinding, you can configure
|
||
which commands will be performed by i3 on initial startup. +exec+
|
||
commands will not run when restarting i3, if you need a command to run
|
||
also when restarting i3 you should use the +exec_always+
|
||
keyword. These commands will be run in order.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
-------------------
|
||
exec [--no-startup-id] command
|
||
exec_always [--no-startup-id] command
|
||
-------------------
|
||
|
||
*Examples*:
|
||
--------------------------------
|
||
exec chromium
|
||
exec_always ~/my_script.sh
|
||
|
||
# Execute the terminal emulator urxvt, which is not yet startup-notification aware.
|
||
exec --no-startup-id urxvt
|
||
--------------------------------
|
||
|
||
The flag --no-startup-id is explained in <<exec>>.
|
||
|
||
[[workspace_screen]]
|
||
|
||
=== Automatically putting workspaces on specific screens
|
||
|
||
If you assign clients to workspaces, it might be handy to put the
|
||
workspaces on specific screens. Also, the assignment of workspaces to screens
|
||
will determine which workspace i3 uses for a new screen when adding screens
|
||
or when starting (e.g., by default it will use 1 for the first screen, 2 for
|
||
the second screen and so on).
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
----------------------------------
|
||
workspace <workspace> output <output>
|
||
----------------------------------
|
||
|
||
The 'output' is the name of the RandR output you attach your screen to. On a
|
||
laptop, you might have VGA1 and LVDS1 as output names. You can see the
|
||
available outputs by running +xrandr --current+.
|
||
|
||
If you use named workspaces, they must be quoted:
|
||
|
||
*Examples*:
|
||
---------------------------
|
||
workspace 1 output LVDS1
|
||
workspace 5 output VGA1
|
||
workspace "2: vim" output VGA1
|
||
---------------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Changing colors
|
||
|
||
You can change all colors which i3 uses to draw the window decorations.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
--------------------------------------------
|
||
colorclass border background text
|
||
--------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Where colorclass can be one of:
|
||
|
||
client.focused::
|
||
A client which currently has the focus.
|
||
client.focused_inactive::
|
||
A client which is the focused one of its container, but it does not have
|
||
the focus at the moment.
|
||
client.unfocused::
|
||
A client which is not the focused one of its container.
|
||
client.urgent::
|
||
A client which has its urgency hint activated.
|
||
|
||
You can also specify the color to be used to paint the background of the client
|
||
windows. This color will be used to paint the window on top of which the client
|
||
will be rendered.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
-----------------------
|
||
client.background color
|
||
-----------------------
|
||
|
||
Only clients that do not cover the whole area of this window expose the color
|
||
used to paint it. If you use a color other than black for your terminals, you
|
||
most likely want to set the client background color to the same color as your
|
||
terminal program's background color to avoid black gaps between the rendered
|
||
area of the termianal and the i3 border.
|
||
|
||
Colors are in HTML hex format (#rrggbb), see the following example:
|
||
|
||
*Examples (default colors)*:
|
||
-----------------------------------------------
|
||
# class border backgr. text
|
||
client.focused #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff
|
||
client.focused_inactive #333333 #5f676a #ffffff
|
||
client.unfocused #333333 #222222 #888888
|
||
client.urgent #2f343a #900000 #ffffff
|
||
-----------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Note that for the window decorations, the color around the child window is the
|
||
background color, and the border color is only the two thin lines at the top of
|
||
the window.
|
||
|
||
=== Interprocess communication
|
||
|
||
i3 uses unix sockets to provide an IPC interface. This allows third-party
|
||
programs to get information from i3, such as the current workspaces
|
||
(to display a workspace bar), and to control i3.
|
||
|
||
The IPC socket is enabled by default and will be created in
|
||
+/tmp/i3-%u/ipc-socket.%p+ where +%u+ is your UNIX username and +%p+ is the PID
|
||
of i3.
|
||
|
||
You can override the default path through the environment-variable +I3SOCK+ or
|
||
by specifying the +ipc-socket+ directive. This is discouraged, though, since i3
|
||
does the right thing by default.
|
||
|
||
*Examples*:
|
||
----------------------------
|
||
ipc-socket /tmp/i3-ipc.sock
|
||
----------------------------
|
||
|
||
You can then use the +i3-msg+ application to perform any command listed in
|
||
the next section.
|
||
|
||
=== Focus follows mouse
|
||
|
||
If you have a setup where your mouse usually is in your way (like a touchpad
|
||
on your laptop which you do not want to disable completely), you might want
|
||
to disable 'focus follows mouse' and control focus only by using your keyboard.
|
||
The mouse will still be useful inside the currently active window (for example
|
||
to click on links in your browser window).
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
----------------------------
|
||
focus_follows_mouse <yes|no>
|
||
----------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
----------------------
|
||
focus_follows_mouse no
|
||
----------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Popups during fullscreen mode
|
||
|
||
When you are in fullscreen mode, some applications still open popup windows
|
||
(take Xpdf for example). This is because these applications may not be aware
|
||
that they are in fullscreen mode (they do not check the corresponding hint).
|
||
There are two things which are possible to do in this situation:
|
||
|
||
1. Just ignore the popup (don’t map it). This won’t interrupt you while you are
|
||
in fullscreen. However, some apps might react badly to this (deadlock until
|
||
you go out of fullscreen).
|
||
2. Leave fullscreen mode. This is the default.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
-------------------------------------------------
|
||
popup_during_fullscreen <ignore|leave_fullscreen>
|
||
-------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
popup_during_fullscreen ignore
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Focus wrapping
|
||
|
||
When being in a tabbed or stacked container, the first container will be
|
||
focused when you use +focus down+ on the last container -- the focus wraps. If
|
||
however there is another stacked/tabbed container in that direction, focus will
|
||
be set on that container. This is the default behaviour so you can navigate to
|
||
all your windows without having to use +focus parent+.
|
||
|
||
If you want the focus to *always* wrap and you are aware of using +focus
|
||
parent+ to switch to different containers, you can use the
|
||
+force_focus_wrapping+ configuration directive. After enabling it, the focus
|
||
will always wrap.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
-----------------------------
|
||
force_focus_wrapping <yes|no>
|
||
-----------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
------------------------
|
||
force_focus_wrapping yes
|
||
------------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Forcing Xinerama
|
||
|
||
As explained in-depth in <http://i3wm.org/docs/multi-monitor.html>, some X11
|
||
video drivers (especially the nVidia binary driver) only provide support for
|
||
Xinerama instead of RandR. In such a situation, i3 must be told to use the
|
||
inferior Xinerama API explicitly and therefore don’t provide support for
|
||
reconfiguring your screens on the fly (they are read only once on startup and
|
||
that’s it).
|
||
|
||
For people who do cannot modify their +~/.xsession+ to add the
|
||
+--force-xinerama+ commandline parameter, a configuration option is provided:
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
-----------------------
|
||
force_xinerama <yes|no>
|
||
-----------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
------------------
|
||
force_xinerama yes
|
||
------------------
|
||
|
||
Also note that your output names are not descriptive (like +HDMI1+) when using
|
||
Xinerama, instead they are counted up, starting at 0: +xinerama-0+, +xinerama-1+, …
|
||
|
||
=== Automatic back-and-forth when switching to the current workspace
|
||
|
||
This configuration directive enables automatic +workspace back_and_forth+ (see
|
||
<<back_and_forth>>) when switching to the workspace that is currently focused.
|
||
|
||
For instance: Assume you are on workspace "1: www" and switch to "2: IM" using
|
||
mod+2 because somebody sent you a message. You don’t need to remember where you
|
||
came from now, you can just press mod+2 again to switch back to "1: www".
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
--------------------------------------
|
||
workspace_auto_back_and_forth <yes|no>
|
||
--------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
---------------------------------
|
||
workspace_auto_back_and_forth yes
|
||
---------------------------------
|
||
|
||
== Configuring i3bar
|
||
|
||
The bar at the bottom of your monitor is drawn by a separate process called
|
||
i3bar. Having this part of "the i3 user interface" in a separate process has
|
||
several advantages:
|
||
|
||
1. It is a modular approach. If you don’t need a workspace bar at all, or if
|
||
you prefer a different one (dzen2, xmobar, maybe even gnome-panel?), you can
|
||
just remove the i3bar configuration and start your favorite bar instead.
|
||
2. It follows the UNIX philosophy of "Make each program do one thing well".
|
||
While i3 manages your windows well, i3bar is good at displaying a bar on
|
||
each monitor (unless you configure it otherwise).
|
||
3. It leads to two separate, clean codebases. If you want to understand i3, you
|
||
don’t need to bother with the details of i3bar and vice versa.
|
||
|
||
That said, i3bar is configured in the same configuration file as i3. This is
|
||
because it is tightly coupled with i3 (in contrary to i3lock or i3status which
|
||
are useful for people using other window managers). Therefore, it makes no
|
||
sense to use a different configuration place when we already have a good
|
||
configuration infrastructure in place.
|
||
|
||
Configuring your workspace bar starts with opening a +bar+ block. You can have
|
||
multiple bar blocks to use different settings for different outputs (monitors):
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
---------------------------
|
||
bar {
|
||
status_command i3status
|
||
}
|
||
---------------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Statusline command
|
||
|
||
i3bar can run a program and display every line of its +stdout+ output on the
|
||
right hand side of the bar. This is useful to display system information like
|
||
your current IP address, battery status or date/time.
|
||
|
||
The specified command will be passed to +sh -c+, so you can use globbing and
|
||
have to have correct quoting etc.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
----------------------
|
||
status_command command
|
||
----------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
-------------------------------------------------
|
||
bar {
|
||
status_command i3status --config ~/.i3status.conf
|
||
}
|
||
-------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Display mode
|
||
|
||
You can have i3bar either be visible permanently at one edge of the screen
|
||
(+dock+ mode) or make it show up when you press your modifier key (+hide+
|
||
mode).
|
||
|
||
The hide mode maximizes screen space that can be used for actual windows. Also,
|
||
i3bar sends the +SIGSTOP+ and +SIGCONT+ signals to the statusline process to
|
||
save battery power.
|
||
|
||
The default is dock mode.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
----------------
|
||
mode <dock|hide>
|
||
----------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
----------------
|
||
bar {
|
||
mode hide
|
||
}
|
||
----------------
|
||
|
||
=== Position
|
||
|
||
This option determines in which edge of the screen i3bar should show up.
|
||
|
||
The default is bottom.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
---------------------
|
||
position <top|bottom>
|
||
---------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
---------------------
|
||
bar {
|
||
position top
|
||
}
|
||
---------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Output(s)
|
||
|
||
You can restrict i3bar to one or more outputs (monitors). The default is to
|
||
handle all outputs. Restricting the outputs is useful for using different
|
||
options for different outputs by using multiple 'bar' blocks.
|
||
|
||
To make a particular i3bar instance handle multiple outputs, specify the output
|
||
directive multiple times.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
---------------
|
||
output <output>
|
||
---------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
-------------------------------
|
||
# big monitor: everything
|
||
bar {
|
||
# The display is connected either via HDMI or via DisplayPort
|
||
output HDMI2
|
||
output DP2
|
||
status_command i3status
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
# laptop monitor: bright colors and i3status with less modules.
|
||
bar {
|
||
output LVDS1
|
||
status_command i3status --config ~/.i3status-small.conf
|
||
colors {
|
||
background #000000
|
||
statusline #ffffff
|
||
}
|
||
}
|
||
-------------------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Tray output
|
||
|
||
i3bar by default provides a system tray area where programs such as
|
||
NetworkManager, VLC, Pidgin, etc. can place little icons.
|
||
|
||
You can configure on which output (monitor) the icons should be displayed or
|
||
you can turn off the functionality entirely.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
tray_output <none|output>
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
# disable system tray
|
||
bar {
|
||
tray_output none
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
# show tray icons on the big monitor
|
||
bar {
|
||
tray_output HDMI2
|
||
}
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Font
|
||
|
||
Specifies the font (again, X core font, not Xft, just like in i3) to be used in
|
||
the bar.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
---------------------
|
||
font <font>
|
||
---------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
bar {
|
||
font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
|
||
}
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Workspace buttons
|
||
|
||
Specifies whether workspace buttons should be shown or not. This is useful if
|
||
you want to display a statusline-only bar containing additional information.
|
||
|
||
The default is to show workspace buttons.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
--------------------------
|
||
workspace_buttons <yes|no>
|
||
--------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
--------------------
|
||
bar {
|
||
workspace_buttons no
|
||
}
|
||
--------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Colors
|
||
|
||
As with i3, colors are in HTML hex format (#rrggbb). The following colors can
|
||
be configured at the moment:
|
||
|
||
background::
|
||
Background color of the bar.
|
||
statusline::
|
||
Text color to be used for the statusline.
|
||
focused_workspace::
|
||
Text color/background color for a workspace button when the workspace
|
||
has focus.
|
||
active_workspace::
|
||
Text color/background color for a workspace button when the workspace
|
||
is active (visible) on some output, but the focus is on another one.
|
||
You can only tell this apart from the focused workspace when you are
|
||
using multiple monitors.
|
||
inactive_workspace::
|
||
Text color/background color for a workspace button when the workspace
|
||
does not have focus and is not active (visible) on any output. This
|
||
will be the case for most workspaces.
|
||
urgent_workspace::
|
||
Text color/background color for workspaces which contain at least one
|
||
window with the urgency hint set.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
----------------------------------------
|
||
colors {
|
||
background <color>
|
||
statusline <color>
|
||
|
||
colorclass <foreground> <background>
|
||
}
|
||
----------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
--------------------------------------
|
||
bar {
|
||
colors {
|
||
background #000000
|
||
statusline #ffffff
|
||
|
||
focused_workspace #ffffff #285577
|
||
active_workspace #ffffff #333333
|
||
inactive_workspace #888888 #222222
|
||
urgent_workspace #ffffff #900000
|
||
}
|
||
}
|
||
--------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
== List of commands
|
||
|
||
Commands are what you bind to specific keypresses. You can also issue commands
|
||
at runtime without pressing a key by using the IPC interface. An easy way to
|
||
do this is to use the +i3-msg+ utility:
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
--------------------------
|
||
# execute this on your shell to make the current container borderless
|
||
i3-msg border none
|
||
--------------------------
|
||
|
||
Commands can be chained by using +;+ (a semicolon). So, to move a window to a
|
||
specific workspace and immediately switch to that workspace, you can configure
|
||
the following keybinding:
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
-------------------------------------------
|
||
bindsym mod+x move workspace 3; workspace 3
|
||
-------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
[[command_criteria]]
|
||
|
||
Furthermore, you can change the scope of a command, that is, which containers
|
||
should be affected by that command, by using various criteria. These are
|
||
prefixed in square brackets to every command. If you want to kill all windows
|
||
which have the class Firefox, use:
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
------------------------------------
|
||
bindsym mod+x [class="Firefox"] kill
|
||
|
||
# same thing, but case-insensitive
|
||
bindsym mod+x [class="(?i)firefox"] kill
|
||
------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
The criteria which are currently implemented are:
|
||
|
||
class::
|
||
Compares the window class (the second part of WM_CLASS)
|
||
instance::
|
||
Compares the window instance (the first part of WM_CLASS)
|
||
window_role::
|
||
Compares the window role (WM_WINDOW_ROLE).
|
||
id::
|
||
Compares the X11 window ID, which you can get via +xwininfo+ for example.
|
||
title::
|
||
Compares the X11 window title (_NET_WM_NAME or WM_NAME as fallback).
|
||
con_mark::
|
||
Compares the mark set for this container, see <<vim_like_marks>>.
|
||
con_id::
|
||
Compares the i3-internal container ID, which you can get via the IPC
|
||
interface. Handy for scripting.
|
||
|
||
The criteria +class+, +instance+, +role+, +title+ and +mark+ are actually
|
||
regular expressions (PCRE). See +pcresyntax(3)+ or +perldoc perlre+ for
|
||
information on how to use them.
|
||
|
||
[[exec]]
|
||
|
||
=== Executing applications (exec)
|
||
|
||
What good is a window manager if you can’t actually start any applications?
|
||
The exec command starts an application by passing the command you specify to a
|
||
shell. This implies that you can use globbing (wildcards) and programs will be
|
||
searched in your $PATH.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
exec [--no-startup-id] command
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
# Start the GIMP
|
||
bindsym mod+g exec gimp
|
||
|
||
# Start the terminal emulator urxvt which is not yet startup-notification-aware
|
||
bindsym mod+Return exec --no-startup-id urxvt
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
The +--no-startup-id+ parameter disables startup-notification support for this
|
||
particular exec command. With startup-notification, i3 can make sure that a
|
||
window appears on the workspace on which you used the exec command. Also, it
|
||
will change the X11 cursor to +watch+ (a clock) while the application is
|
||
launching. So, if an application is not startup-notification aware (most GTK
|
||
and Qt using applications seem to be, though), you will end up with a watch
|
||
cursor for 60 seconds.
|
||
|
||
=== Splitting containers
|
||
|
||
The split command makes the current window a split container. Split containers
|
||
can contain multiple windows. Every split container has an orientation, it is
|
||
either split horizontally (a new window gets placed to the right of the current
|
||
one) or vertically (a new window gets placed below the current one).
|
||
|
||
If you apply this command to a split container with the same orientation,
|
||
nothing will happen. If you use a different orientation, the split container’s
|
||
orientation will be changed (if it does not have more than one window).
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
---------------------------
|
||
split <vertical|horizontal>
|
||
---------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
bindsym mod+v split vertical
|
||
bindsym mod+h split horizontal
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Manipulating layout
|
||
|
||
Use +layout default+, +layout stacking+ or +layout tabbed+ to change the
|
||
current container layout to default, stacking or tabbed layout, respectively.
|
||
|
||
To make the current window (!) fullscreen, use +fullscreen+, to make
|
||
it floating (or tiling again) use +floating enable+ respectively +floating disable+
|
||
(or +floating toggle+):
|
||
|
||
*Examples*:
|
||
--------------
|
||
bindsym mod+s layout stacking
|
||
bindsym mod+l layout default
|
||
bindsym mod+w layout tabbed
|
||
|
||
# Toggle fullscreen
|
||
bindsym mod+f fullscreen
|
||
|
||
# Toggle floating/tiling
|
||
bindsym mod+t floating toggle
|
||
--------------
|
||
|
||
=== Focusing/Moving containers
|
||
|
||
To change the focus, use the focus command: +focus left+, +focus right+, +focus down+ and +focus up+.
|
||
|
||
There are a few special parameters you can use for the focus command:
|
||
|
||
parent::
|
||
Sets focus to the +Parent Container+ of the current +Container+.
|
||
child::
|
||
The opposite of +focus parent+, sets the focus to the last focused
|
||
child container.
|
||
floating::
|
||
Sets focus to the last focused floating container.
|
||
tiling::
|
||
Sets focus to the last focused tiling container.
|
||
mode_toggle::
|
||
Toggles between floating/tiling containers.
|
||
|
||
For moving, use +move left+, +move right+, +move down+ and +move up+.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
-----------------------------------
|
||
focus <left|right|down|up>
|
||
focus <parent|child|floating|tiling|mode_toggle>
|
||
move <left|right|down|up> [<px> px]
|
||
-----------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Note that the amount of pixels you can specify for the +move+ command is only
|
||
relevant for floating containers. The default amount is 10 pixels.
|
||
|
||
*Examples*:
|
||
----------------------
|
||
# Focus container on the left, bottom, top, right:
|
||
bindsym mod+j focus left
|
||
bindsym mod+k focus down
|
||
bindsym mod+l focus up
|
||
bindsym mod+semicolon focus right
|
||
|
||
# Focus parent container
|
||
bindsym mod+u focus parent
|
||
|
||
# Focus last floating/tiling container
|
||
bindsym mod+g focus mode_toggle
|
||
|
||
# Move container to the left, bottom, top, right:
|
||
bindsym mod+j move left
|
||
bindsym mod+k move down
|
||
bindsym mod+l move up
|
||
bindsym mod+semicolon move right
|
||
|
||
# Move container, but make floating containers
|
||
# move more than the default
|
||
bindsym mod+j move left 20 px
|
||
----------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Changing (named) workspaces/moving to workspaces
|
||
|
||
To change to a specific workspace, use the +workspace+ command, followed by the
|
||
number or name of the workspace. To move containers to specific workspaces, use
|
||
+move workspace+.
|
||
|
||
You can also switch to the next and previous workspace with the commands
|
||
+workspace next+ and +workspace prev+, which is handy, for example, if you have
|
||
workspace 1, 3, 4 and 9 and you want to cycle through them with a single key
|
||
combination. Similarily, you can use +move workspace next+ and +move workspace
|
||
prev+ to move a container to the next/previous workspace.
|
||
|
||
[[back_and_forth]]
|
||
To switch back to the previously focused workspace, use +workspace
|
||
back_and_forth+.
|
||
|
||
To move a container to another xrandr output such as +LVDS1+ or +VGA1+, you can
|
||
use the +move output+ command followed by the name of the target output. You
|
||
may also use +left+, +right+, +up+, +down+ instead of the xrandr output name to
|
||
move to the the next output in the specified direction.
|
||
|
||
*Examples*:
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
bindsym mod+1 workspace 1
|
||
bindsym mod+2 workspace 2
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
bindsym mod+Shift+1 move workspace 1
|
||
bindsym mod+Shift+2 move workspace 2
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
# switch between the current and the previously focused one
|
||
bindsym mod+b workspace back_and_forth
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
|
||
==== Named workspaces
|
||
|
||
Workspaces are identified by their name. So, instead of using numbers in the
|
||
workspace command, you can use an arbitrary name:
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
bindsym mod+1 workspace mail
|
||
...
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
|
||
If you want the workspace to have a number *and* a name, just prefix the
|
||
number, like this:
|
||
|
||
*Example*:
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
bindsym mod+1 workspace 1: mail
|
||
bindsym mod+2 workspace 2: www
|
||
...
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
|
||
Note that the workspace will really be named "1: mail". i3 treats workspace
|
||
names beginning with a number in a slightly special way. Normally, named
|
||
workspaces are ordered the way they appeared. When they start with a number, i3
|
||
will order them numerically.
|
||
|
||
[[resizingconfig]]
|
||
|
||
=== Resizing containers/windows
|
||
|
||
If you want to resize containers/windows using your keyboard, you can use the
|
||
+resize+ command:
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------
|
||
resize <grow|shrink> <direction> [<px> px] [or <ppt> ppt]
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Direction can be one of +up+, +down+, +left+ or +right+. The optional pixel
|
||
argument specifies by how many pixels a *floating container* should be grown or
|
||
shrunk (the default is 10 pixels). The ppt argument means percentage points
|
||
and specifies by how many percentage points a *tiling container* should be
|
||
grown or shrunk (the default is 10 percentage points).
|
||
|
||
I recommend using the resize command inside a so called +mode+:
|
||
|
||
.Example: Configuration file, defining a mode for resizing
|
||
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
mode "resize" {
|
||
# These bindings trigger as soon as you enter the resize mode
|
||
|
||
# They resize the border in the direction you pressed, e.g.
|
||
# when pressing left, the window is resized so that it has
|
||
# more space on its left
|
||
|
||
bindsym j resize shrink left
|
||
bindsym Shift+j resize grow left
|
||
|
||
bindsym k resize grow down
|
||
bindsym Shift+k resize shrink down
|
||
|
||
bindsym l resize shrink up
|
||
bindsym Shift+l resize grow up
|
||
|
||
bindsym semicolon resize grow right
|
||
bindsym Shift+semicolon resize shrink right
|
||
|
||
# back to normal: Enter or Escape
|
||
bindsym Return mode "default"
|
||
bindsym Escape mode "default"
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
# Enter resize mode
|
||
bindsym mod+r mode "resize"
|
||
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
=== Jumping to specific windows
|
||
|
||
Often when in a multi-monitor environment, you want to quickly jump to a
|
||
specific window. For example, while working on workspace 3 you may want to
|
||
jump to your mail client to email your boss that you’ve achieved some
|
||
important goal. Instead of figuring out how to navigate to your mailclient,
|
||
it would be more convenient to have a shortcut. You can use the +focus+ command
|
||
with criteria for that.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
----------------------------------------------------
|
||
[class="class"] focus
|
||
[title="title"] focus
|
||
----------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Examples*:
|
||
------------------------------------------------
|
||
# Get me to the next open VIM instance
|
||
bindsym mod+a [class="urxvt" title="VIM"] focus
|
||
------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
=== VIM-like marks (mark/goto)
|
||
|
||
[[vim_like_marks]]
|
||
|
||
This feature is like the jump feature: It allows you to directly jump to a
|
||
specific window (this means switching to the appropriate workspace and setting
|
||
focus to the windows). However, you can directly mark a specific window with
|
||
an arbitrary label and use it afterwards. You do not need to ensure that your
|
||
windows have unique classes or titles, and you do not need to change your
|
||
configuration file.
|
||
|
||
As the command needs to include the label with which you want to mark the
|
||
window, you cannot simply bind it to a key. +i3-input+ is a tool created
|
||
for this purpose: It lets you input a command and sends the command to i3. It
|
||
can also prefix this command and display a custom prompt for the input dialog.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
mark identifier
|
||
[con_mark="identifier"] focus
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Example (in a terminal)*:
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
$ i3-msg mark irssi
|
||
$ i3-msg '[con_mark="irssi"] focus'
|
||
------------------------------
|
||
|
||
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
|
||
TODO: make i3-input replace %s
|
||
*Examples*:
|
||
---------------------------------------
|
||
# Read 1 character and mark the current window with this character
|
||
bindsym mod+m exec i3-input -p 'mark ' -l 1 -P 'Mark: '
|
||
|
||
# Read 1 character and go to the window with the character
|
||
bindsym mod+g exec i3-input -p 'goto ' -l 1 -P 'Goto: '
|
||
---------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Alternatively, if you do not want to mess with +i3-input+, you could create
|
||
seperate bindings for a specific set of labels and then only use those labels.
|
||
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
|
||
|
||
=== Changing border style
|
||
|
||
To change the border of the current client, you can use +border normal+ to use the normal
|
||
border (including window title), +border 1pixel+ to use a 1-pixel border (no window title)
|
||
and +border none+ to make the client borderless.
|
||
|
||
There is also +border toggle+ which will toggle the different border styles.
|
||
|
||
*Examples*:
|
||
----------------------------
|
||
bindsym mod+t border normal
|
||
bindsym mod+y border 1pixel
|
||
bindsym mod+u border none
|
||
----------------------------
|
||
|
||
[[stack-limit]]
|
||
|
||
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
|
||
TODO: not yet implemented
|
||
=== Changing the stack-limit of a container
|
||
|
||
If you have a single container with a lot of windows inside it (say, more than
|
||
10), the default layout of a stacking container can get a little unhandy.
|
||
Depending on your screen’s size, you might end up with only half of the title
|
||
lines being actually used, wasting a lot of screen space.
|
||
|
||
Using the +stack-limit+ command, you can limit the number of rows or columns
|
||
in a stacking container. i3 will create columns or rows (depending on what
|
||
you limited) automatically as needed.
|
||
|
||
*Syntax*:
|
||
--------------------------------
|
||
stack-limit <cols|rows> <value>
|
||
--------------------------------
|
||
|
||
*Examples*:
|
||
-------------------
|
||
# I always want to have two window titles in one line
|
||
stack-limit cols 2
|
||
|
||
# Not more than 5 rows in this stacking container
|
||
stack-limit rows 5
|
||
-------------------
|
||
|
||
image:stacklimit.png[Container limited to two columns]
|
||
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
|
||
|
||
=== Reloading/Restarting/Exiting
|
||
|
||
You can make i3 reload its configuration file with +reload+. You can also
|
||
restart i3 inplace with the +restart+ command to get it out of some weird state
|
||
(if that should ever happen) or to perform an upgrade without having to restart
|
||
your X session. To exit i3 properly, you can use the +exit+ command,
|
||
however you don’t need to (simply killing your X session is fine as well).
|
||
|
||
*Examples*:
|
||
----------------------------
|
||
bindsym mod+Shift+r restart
|
||
bindsym mod+Shift+w reload
|
||
bindsym mod+Shift+e exit
|
||
----------------------------
|
||
|
||
[[multi_monitor]]
|
||
|
||
== Multiple monitors
|
||
|
||
As you can see in the goal list on the website, i3 was specifically developed
|
||
with support for multiple monitors in mind. This section will explain how to
|
||
handle multiple monitors.
|
||
|
||
When you have only one monitor, things are simple. You usually start with
|
||
workspace 1 on your monitor and open new ones as you need them.
|
||
|
||
When you have more than one monitor, each monitor will get an initial
|
||
workspace. The first monitor gets 1, the second gets 2 and a possible third
|
||
would get 3. When you switch to a workspace on a different monitor, i3 will
|
||
switch to that monitor and then switch to the workspace. This way, you don’t
|
||
need shortcuts to switch to a specific monitor, and you don’t need to remember
|
||
where you put which workspace. New workspaces will be opened on the currently
|
||
active monitor. It is not possible to have a monitor without a workspace.
|
||
|
||
The idea of making workspaces global is based on the observation that most
|
||
users have a very limited set of workspaces on their additional monitors.
|
||
They are often used for a specific task (browser, shell) or for monitoring
|
||
several things (mail, IRC, syslog, …). Thus, using one workspace on one monitor
|
||
and "the rest" on the other monitors often makes sense. However, as you can
|
||
create an unlimited number of workspaces in i3 and tie them to specific
|
||
screens, you can have the "traditional" approach of having X workspaces per
|
||
screen by changing your configuration (using modes, for example).
|
||
|
||
=== Configuring your monitors
|
||
|
||
To help you get going if you have never used multiple monitors before, here is
|
||
a short overview of the xrandr options which will probably be of interest to
|
||
you. It is always useful to get an overview of the current screen configuration.
|
||
Just run "xrandr" and you will get an output like the following:
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
$ xrandr
|
||
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 800, maximum 8192 x 8192
|
||
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
|
||
LVDS1 connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 261mm x 163mm
|
||
1280x800 60.0*+ 50.0
|
||
1024x768 85.0 75.0 70.1 60.0
|
||
832x624 74.6
|
||
800x600 85.1 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
|
||
640x480 85.0 72.8 75.0 59.9
|
||
720x400 85.0
|
||
640x400 85.1
|
||
640x350 85.1
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Several things are important here: You can see that +LVDS1+ is connected (of
|
||
course, it is the internal flat panel) but +VGA1+ is not. If you have a monitor
|
||
connected to one of the ports but xrandr still says "disconnected", you should
|
||
check your cable, monitor or graphics driver.
|
||
|
||
The maximum resolution you can see at the end of the first line is the maximum
|
||
combined resolution of your monitors. By default, it is usually too low and has
|
||
to be increased by editing +/etc/X11/xorg.conf+.
|
||
|
||
So, say you connected VGA1 and want to use it as an additional screen:
|
||
-------------------------------------------
|
||
xrandr --output VGA1 --auto --left-of LVDS1
|
||
-------------------------------------------
|
||
This command makes xrandr try to find the native resolution of the device
|
||
connected to +VGA1+ and configures it to the left of your internal flat panel.
|
||
When running "xrandr" again, the output looks like this:
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
$ xrandr
|
||
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2560 x 1024, maximum 8192 x 8192
|
||
VGA1 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 338mm x 270mm
|
||
1280x1024 60.0*+ 75.0
|
||
1280x960 60.0
|
||
1152x864 75.0
|
||
1024x768 75.1 70.1 60.0
|
||
832x624 74.6
|
||
800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
|
||
640x480 72.8 75.0 66.7 60.0
|
||
720x400 70.1
|
||
LVDS1 connected 1280x800+1280+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 261mm x 163mm
|
||
1280x800 60.0*+ 50.0
|
||
1024x768 85.0 75.0 70.1 60.0
|
||
832x624 74.6
|
||
800x600 85.1 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
|
||
640x480 85.0 72.8 75.0 59.9
|
||
720x400 85.0
|
||
640x400 85.1
|
||
640x350 85.1
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
Please note that i3 uses exactly the same API as xrandr does, so it will see
|
||
only what you can see in xrandr.
|
||
|
||
See also <<presentations>> for more examples of multi-monitor setups.
|
||
|
||
=== Interesting configuration for multi-monitor environments
|
||
|
||
There are several things to configure in i3 which may be interesting if you
|
||
have more than one monitor:
|
||
|
||
1. You can specify which workspace should be put on which screen. This
|
||
allows you to have a different set of workspaces when starting than just
|
||
1 for the first monitor, 2 for the second and so on. See
|
||
<<workspace_screen>>.
|
||
2. If you want some applications to generally open on the bigger screen
|
||
(MPlayer, Firefox, …), you can assign them to a specific workspace, see
|
||
<<assign_workspace>>.
|
||
3. If you have many workspaces on many monitors, it might get hard to keep
|
||
track of which window you put where. Thus, you can use vim-like marks to
|
||
quickly switch between windows. See <<vim_like_marks>>.
|
||
|
||
== i3 and the rest of your software world
|
||
|
||
=== Displaying a status line
|
||
|
||
A very common thing amongst users of exotic window managers is a status line at
|
||
some corner of the screen. It is an often superior replacement to the widget
|
||
approach you have in the task bar of a traditional desktop environment.
|
||
|
||
If you don’t already have your favorite way of generating such a status line
|
||
(self-written scripts, conky, …), then i3status is the recommended tool for
|
||
this task. It was written in C with the goal of using as few syscalls as
|
||
possible to reduce the time your CPU is woken up from sleep states. Because
|
||
i3status only spits out text, you need to combine it with some other tool, like
|
||
i3bar. Use a pipe to connect them: +i3status | i3bar -d+.
|
||
|
||
Regardless of which application you use to display the status line, you
|
||
want to make sure that it registers as a dock window using EWMH hints. i3 will
|
||
position the window either at the top or at the bottom of the screen, depending
|
||
on which hint the application sets. With i3bar, you can use +-d+ or +-dbottom+
|
||
for positioning it at the bottom and +-dtop+ to position it at the top of the
|
||
screen.
|
||
|
||
=== Giving presentations (multi-monitor)
|
||
|
||
When giving a presentation, you typically want the audience to see what you see
|
||
on your screen and then go through a series of slides (if the presentation is
|
||
simple). For more complex presentations, you might want to have some notes
|
||
which only you can see on your screen, while the audience can only see the
|
||
slides.
|
||
|
||
[[presentations]]
|
||
==== Case 1: everybody gets the same output
|
||
This is the simple case. You connect your computer to the video projector,
|
||
turn on both (computer and video projector) and configure your X server to
|
||
clone the internal flat panel of your computer to the video output:
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------
|
||
xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768 --same-as LVDS1
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------
|
||
i3 will then use the lowest common subset of screen resolutions, the rest of
|
||
your screen will be left untouched (it will show the X background). So, in
|
||
our example, this would be 1024x768 (my notebook has 1280x800).
|
||
|
||
==== Case 2: you can see more than your audience
|
||
This case is a bit harder. First of all, you should configure the VGA output
|
||
somewhere near your internal flat panel, say right of it:
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------
|
||
xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768 --right-of LVDS1
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------
|
||
Now, i3 will put a new workspace (depending on your settings) on the new screen
|
||
and you are in multi-monitor mode (see <<multi_monitor>>).
|
||
|
||
Because i3 is not a compositing window manager, there is no ability to
|
||
display a window on two screens at the same time. Instead, your presentation
|
||
software needs to do this job (that is, open a window on each screen).
|