However, I love the concept of a scrollable window manager like PaperWM [3]. When I had a smaller screen (24" 16:9) I complained a lot about the unused space on my screen. With PaperWM I was finally happy with its dimensions, because I could have a huge IDE on the left and a small part of terminal on the right. This way I could see if something was being printed to the terminal, while my editor took up 80% of the screen.
[0]: https://i3wm.org/
[1]: https://swaywm.org/
I may try it out. It sounds a bit like playing a real time strategy game with a large scrollable map, something I'm very used to.
If you mean the UI, then tiling window managers like Sway are quite different.
But I don't think UIs will ever be factor that draws people to Linux et al., it'll mostly be the feeling of freedom.
While not flashy, I really appreciate the keyboard-driven/instant approach they offer. The killer thing for me: I never guess where something will open
edit: hah, look at all these window manager posts - hi friends
(can’t live with a MacOS anymore)
- Top bar which acts as a status bar rather than a global menubar
- Somewhat modal UX that works best with keeping 1-3 windows on screen at all times
- No way to minimize windows
- Inclination towards gestures over keystrokes
- Simplified mobile-esque app UIs that eschew menubars entirely in favor of hamburger menus
- Greatly reduced levels of configurability relative to other DEs
- Heavily padded widgets that seem better suited to touch than KB+M
- Use of touch-inspired designs like switches over checkboxes
- No traditional desktop
…among others.
Don't get me wrong, it's very polished which is what leads me to use it, but it's not really a traditional desktop environment.
- No AppIndicators in default spec
- All UI is scaled to work for touch interfaces
- Default windowing support amounts to split-screen
- App "icon" style launcher, even using the same sliding-widget model people loathe on iPad
- Quick-settings menu pane in the top corner, almost identical to the iOS/iPad one in GNOME 40
I could go on, but I think it's safe to say that GNOME (especially GNOME 40) is derivative of iPad UI design. Other visual cues (dock, lockscreen, stylesheet, calendar, etc.) are pretty plainly inspired by the Mac UI.