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Comment by dmm | Hacker News Reader

As an enthusiastic XFCE user, do you mind answering a question? How do you usually launch applications?

I can appreciate the discoverability provided by a nested start menu but I've grown very fond of text launchers with autocomplete provided by gnome, mac os, dmenu, etc.

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Here's what I did back when I used XFCE a couple of years ago:

The xfce whiskermenu plugin includes a text search feature that looks similar to the one from Windows. On Xubuntu the whiskermenu is the default "start menu" while in some other distros you may need to add it in the panel settings. Finally, in the keyboard shortcuts bind Super to the xfce4-popup-whiskermenu command, to bring up whisker menu for a text search.

> Finally, in the keyboard shortcuts bind Super to the xfce4-popup-whiskermenu command, to bring up whisker menu for a text search.

I've had this trigger the popup menu when there is another shortcut that binds the Super key in combination with something else. Say, if I had something under Super+R, then the menu would also open. Though maybe this has been patched out in the newer versions, I remember that issue being the case in an XFCE desktop from 2020.

But other than that, this is indeed a really nice and usable setup!

Same, so I rebound whiskermenu to Meta+Space.

I worked around this issue using xcape to map my Super key to another key combo:

  xcape -e "Super_L=Alt_L|F1"

Then set the keyboard shortcut for xfce4-popup-whiskermenu to the new combo (Alt+F1 in this case). This allows other Super shortcuts to work without triggering whiskermenu.

ksuperkey[0] addresses this, though it is unfortunately not widely packaged so you likely have to compile it. I haven't used it in a while, but it worked well when last I did.

[0] https://github.com/hanschen/ksuperkey

Not parent commentator, but in my case I do the following:

  rofi -show run

The above command is mapped to Command-R Similarly Command is mapped `xfce4-popup-whiskermenu`

Both land on a search box and you can search to your heart content and select the option that works for you :-)

+1 for Rofi

I use rofi on pretty much any desktop environment, it's super great. I'm eagerly awaiting its window-search feature getting wayland support (Knowing wayland it will be compositor-specific though...).

For super common stuff, I have icons in my panel for them and I use the mouse. I open Terminal so often that I gave it its own global keyboard shortcut.

For less often used things, I use the xfce program launcher, which I think is what you're looking for. I have it mapped to some keyboard shortcut (the muscle memory is so automatic I don't even remember what the shortcut is and I'm not at my PC at the moment). It automatically focuses the text entry box, so no need for the mouse at all. Here's a screenshot from the linked article: https://alexxcons.github.io/images/blogpost_8/appfinder.png

Not the parent but I have the Xfce AppFinder bound to the Super (Windows) key. I think I'm somewhat misusing it, but it's fast enough that I can strike Super and then immediately start typing the name of what I want. Dropped keys are rare, but it's not quite as fast as something like dmenu.

I use XFCE4 together with Albert https://albertlauncher.github.io/

I'm also an old hardcore user of xfce (xubuntu) but I can't live without https://ulauncher.io/ or similar projects.

I bind <ctrl> + <esc> to the "Application Finder". This makes it launch with keybindings matching those that launch the Windows start menu. I start typing the program and it narrows down the results until the program is selected. Then, I hit <enter> and it opens the program.

* In Applications -> Settings Manager -> Keyboard Shortcuts

* + Add

* command: xfce4-appfinder

* shortcut: Ctrl + Escape

----

My other favorite bindings are to tile a window into a quadrant of the screen.

Applications -> Settings Manager -> Window Manger -> Keyboard

Search "Tile window to the top-left", et c.

I hold ctrl + alt and then one of

    qwe
    a d
    zxc

These commands tile the window to

    <top-left> <top> <top-right>
    <left>               <right>
    <bot-left> <bot> <bot-right>

<super+R> (at least on my settings, don't remember if that is the default) opens "Application Launcher", which gives you a search prompt that finds (AFAICT) by executable name and definitions in .desktop and .service files.

with a few exceptions... keyboard shortcuts!

examples: https://github.com/walderf/dotfiles/blob/e9d4e732cd25b248b4a...

or, an image visual: https://i.imgur.com/ANly2SU.png

basically super+<key(s)> all the things!

Are you using WhiskerMenu? It should really have replaced the default application launcher by now. It upgrades the launching experience from Windows 98 to at least Windows 7.

Most of the time, I use dmenu_run (bound to super-R) for launching usual applications, and the menu for seldom-used ones.

I use gmrun for many years, in every DE, bind to Alt+F2. I am happy that now there is a new home here https://github.com/wdlkmpx/gmrun. I cannot imagine using something else.

I know my desktop is a mess but I usually have one window with many terminals open.

So if I want to start a program without going through the menu Alt Tab to the terminal window, then I start it from the commandline (gimp, code, blender, godot, etc.)

For browser windows and terminals I have special Launcher buttons on the panel. For the rest, sometimes from the menu, often straight from the command line in a terminal.

I just right click the desktop and use the menu that pops up

I usually open a term and run "screen myapp"

I don't run that many applications though.

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