Tiling window manager
Tiling is a term from the world of graphical user interfaces. It means the tile-like arrangement of windows next to each other, free of overlaps. Depending on the surface tiling may be the only option to display multiple windows on the desktop, or a possibility among others.
The technical arrangement of several tiles ( tiles engl. ) of an image or a graphic next to each other is called tiling. The tile representation enables a repeating pixel repeated side by side and / or with each other to represent, in order to create the impression of a large area. This is also referred to as tiling method is often used for background images are used, which represent a recurring pattern or a texture.
Another use of the tile representation is the representation of large-format images: here the image is decomposed before the display in many fields and displays only the tiles of the displayed image part. In this way, images can be delivered bandwidth- and memory- friendly, which could be due to their size not shown otherwise. Application areas are map services like Google Maps or high-resolution panoramic images ( Panos ).
A similar procedure is also used for the representation of so-called photo mosaics on the application. If an image is made up of many individual images together to form one large image, one speaks of the stitching.
- 2.1 Microsoft Windows 2.1.1 history
- 2.1.2 Third-party software
- 2.2.1 List of Window Managers for X with tiling
History
Xerox PARC
As a first graphical user interface with tiling applies the CEDAR developed by Xerox PARC. The Xerox Star also used for tiling array of windows, but knew partly overlapping windows.
Siemens RTL Tiling Window Manager
Another early tiling window manager with was the Siemens RTL tiling window manager from the year 1988., He is still regarded as an object lesson for his algorithms for automatic sizing, placement, arrangement and out, on icons and recovery. RTL ran on X11R2 and R3, mainly on Siemens' own systems, such Sinix.
Andrew Project
The Andrew Project ( AP or tAP ) was a desktop client system (similar to the early Gnome) for X with a window manager that tiling and overlapping dominated.
Known tiling window manager with a
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows since Windows 95 includes a window manager which, although by default operates overlapping, optionally can also work with tiling.
To organize windows as tiles, the taskbar is first selected. Multiple windows can be selected by holding the Control key (Ctrl or Ctrl ) while clicking. Then follows a right-click and from the context menu choose " Tile Horizontally " or " Tile " (Windows XP). This feature has not been reintroduced in the redesign of the taskbar in Windows 7. Instead, it is possible to pull window to the left or right edge of the active screen ( to attach it there), so that they each occupy one half of the screen and a representation of two windows side by side is possible.
With the introduction of Windows 8, the concept of tile representation was introduced system-wide. Here are the tiles programs and the well-known mobile phones apps in the context of a tile-based Start screen dar These can display static or dynamic content ( Live Tiles ).
History
The first version ( Windows 1.0 ) was based out of a window manager with tiling to part because of a legal dispute with Apple, who claimed the rights to the metaphor of the desktop with overlapping windows. But because of complaints followed the next version ( Windows 2.0 ) of the desktop metaphor. All later versions of the operating system stopped at this approach as the default behavior.
Third-party software
There are third-party software, add the sophisticated tiling functionalities ( in parenthesis license under which the software is available ):
- WindowSizer - Arranges windows as tiles on ( Shareware)
- WinSplit - Arranges windows as tiles on key bindings to ( Freeware)
- HashTWM - window manager with automatic tiling ( MIT/X11 )
- GridMove - Arranges windows in sophisticated layouts with Hotkeys and multi-monitor support ( freeware / donationware )
- Bug.n - Dynamic window manager with tiling, who tried to copy the functionality of dwm (GPL )
- MaxTo - Places window on a user-defined grid by monitoring windows that are maximized or use hotkeys ( Shareware)
- TwinPlay - Arranges windows as tiles on key bindings to ( Demoware / closed source )
X Window System
In the X Window System, the window manager is a separate program. X itself is its approach requires no specific window manager and the current X Protocol Version X11 explicitly mentions the possibility of using tiling window managers. The Siemens RTL Tiled Window Manager ( published in 1988 ) was the first who implemented strategies for automatic arrangement and size. Another window manager with Tiling from this period was the Cambridge Window Manager, developed by IBM Academic Information System Group.
After a long time have been developed no new tiling window manager. In 2000, the first versions of larswm and Ion were published.
List of window managers for X with tiling
- Awesome - to provide dwm derivative of the option window with tags
- Compiz - Although Compiz is actually a window manager with compositing, he has a grid plug- in that adds the keyboard shortcut for tiling and windows allowed in the tiling layout.
- Dwm allowed by switching tiling layouts by clicking on an ASCII art " icons " in the status bar. Default is a larswm -like combination of the main area and stack area represented by a [] = character glyph. There is also a non- tiling flow layout similar
- Echinus
- Evilwm, which allows you to move windows and resize represented by a fish- like > <>. There are third-party patches to add a Fibonacci layout according to the golden section, a grid layout, a complete free grid layout and a horizontal stacking arrangement.
- I3 intends an improved dynamic tiling window manager inspired by wmii to be.
- Ion combines tiling with a tabbing interface. The display is divided into non-overlapping areas of manually (frames). Each frame can contain multiple windows or. Only one of these is visible and fills the entire frame.
- KWin, the KDE window manager, since version 4.5 provides an experimental tiling function. Currently this is but removed in the development version 4.10.
- Larswm implements a form of dynamic Tiling: The display is split vertically into two sections (tracks). The left track is filled with a single window. The right track contains all the other windows, one stacked over the other.
- Lucca WM
- Matchbox specifically aimed at mobile devices and embedded applications where multiple arranged as tiles windows do not fit well. He does not allow overlapping the main window (although, as with many window managers with tiling, dialog boxes are " specifically " with stack management), but he does this by showing only one window, tiled display instead of multiple windows. This can be viewed as a one -page layout.
- Musca includes manual tiling, support for multiple screens, virtual desktops and mouse or keyboard navigation.
- Plpwm is a configuration of the plwm window manager toolkit that supports tiling.
- Qtile is a tiling window manager with a written and configured in Python.
- Ratpoison - keyboard controlled GNU Screen for X
- Scrotwm - another minimalist tiling window manager with a
- StumpWM - ratpoison in LISP
- Tritium
- TrsWM
- WMFs
- Wmii - developed in parallel with dwm from the same author
- Xmonad - automatic tiling window manager with a written and extensible in Haskell
Third-party applications with tiling for X.Org
- Tile is a small command, which allows, among other tiling window managers.
- Stiler ( formerly known as " Poor man 's Tiling Window manager" ( tiling window manager with a poor man ) ) is permitted under any window manager a simple Python script that tiling.
- PyTyle is a manual Tilingmanager, which can be injected to each EWMH -compliant window manager.
Other
- The Oberon operating system of the ETH Zurich includes a window manager with tiling.
- Omero, part of the OS Plan B, developed at the URJC Madrid, windows classified as standard as tiles.
Application programs with tiling
Although tiling is not the default mode of window managers on any of the most common platforms, most application programs show co-existing functions in a similar manner. Examples include e -mail clients, IDEs, sidebars in web browsers and the context-sensitive Help in Microsoft Office. In addition, HTML frames can be considered as an implementation of tiling based on a markup language. Tiling window manager with extend this useful property beyond coexistent functions in application programs to concurrently existing application programs within a desktop. The document interface with tabbing can be a meaningful addition to the tiling is because it avoids multiple windows for the same function on the screen.