How is i3 for a general purpose desktop? For coding it sounds great, but the same machine is used when I'm browsing the web or playing games or whatever.
Applications that works in fullscreen (mpv, vlc, video games) requires you to set them fullscreen/floating, either yourself with a keybinding (Mod+f on awesome) or through the wm's config file. Some applications do not like tiling at all, some java gui apps from what I remember, but there are so few of them that I can't actually give you any example.
I say give it a shot, but beware: controlling your desktop entirely from your keyboard is addictive.
(awesome 4.x is more mouse friendly than awesome 3.5: in addition to the above, you can also change a few client modes with the mouse: float/tiled, maximize, stick (ie. display on all workspaces), on-top, close.)
Keyboard only: adding/removing columns/masters, moving a client to the master area, resize master area, move client to another workspace/screen.