i3wm is the best thing since sliced windows, but the default config file contains some poor defaults.
This isn't my i3.config, but it contains all of the critical "must-have" alterations that I am always recommending to people who see my i3 setup and go "wow, I have tried tiling window managers before but I never realised they could actually be great!".
All modifications are annotated with #/
This version is based on the default config emitted by Ubuntu 15.04.
| # This file has been auto-generated by i3-config-wizard(1). | |
| # It will not be overwritten, so edit it as you like. | |
| # | |
| # Should you change your keyboard layout some time, delete | |
| # this file and re-run i3-config-wizard(1). | |
| # | |
| # i3 config file (v4) | |
| # | |
| # Please see http://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html for a complete reference! | |
| set $mod Mod4 | |
| # Font for window titles. Will also be used by the bar unless a different font | |
| # is used in the bar {} block below. | |
| # This font is widely installed, provides lots of unicode glyphs, right-to-left | |
| # text rendering and scalability on retina/hidpi displays (thanks to pango). | |
| font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 8 | |
| # Before i3 v4.8, we used to recommend this one as the default: | |
| # font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1 | |
| # The font above is very space-efficient, that is, it looks good, sharp and | |
| # clear in small sizes. However, its unicode glyph coverage is limited, the old | |
| # X core fonts rendering does not support right-to-left and this being a bitmap | |
| # font, it doesn’t scale on retina/hidpi displays. | |
| # Use Mouse+$mod to drag floating windows to their wanted position | |
| floating_modifier $mod | |
| #/ another non-default. press mod+(workspace) to change to a workspace, press it | |
| #/ again to change back to the one you just left: | |
| workspace_auto_back_and_forth yes | |
| # start a terminal | |
| bindsym $mod+Return exec i3-sensible-terminal | |
| # kill focused window | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+q kill | |
| # start dmenu (a program launcher) | |
| bindsym $mod+d exec dmenu_run | |
| # There also is the (new) i3-dmenu-desktop which only displays applications | |
| # shipping a .desktop file. It is a wrapper around dmenu, so you need that | |
| # installed. | |
| #/ it was a pain in the neck at first, but i'm glad I learned the names | |
| #/ of the binaries for everything rather than the ubuntu-style "fancy name". | |
| #/ for e.g. the PDF viewer is actually called 'evince'. | |
| #/ makes it easier to find the source, easier to find the actual binary and | |
| #/ its supporting files, etc. | |
| # bindsym $mod+d exec --no-startup-id i3-dmenu-desktop | |
| # change focus | |
| #/ better to keep in sync with vim, better to keep vim in sync | |
| #/ with the rest of the world's vim. "jkl;" is a nice idea, but | |
| #/ you wouldn't use a DVORAK keyboard, would you? | |
| bindsym $mod+h focus left | |
| bindsym $mod+j focus down | |
| bindsym $mod+k focus up | |
| bindsym $mod+l focus right | |
| # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys: | |
| bindsym $mod+Left focus left | |
| bindsym $mod+Down focus down | |
| bindsym $mod+Up focus up | |
| bindsym $mod+Right focus right | |
| # move focused window | |
| ## see earlier admonition about the madness of "jkl;" | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+h move left | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+j move down | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+k move up | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+l move right | |
| # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys: | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+Left move left | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+Down move down | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+Up move up | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+Right move right | |
| # split in horizontal orientation | |
| #/ mod+h and mod+v are nice defaults for "split horizontal/ | |
| #/ vertical", but this idiom is a noble sacrifice for the sake | |
| #/ of avoiding the consistency hell that is "jkl;" | |
| #- bindsym $mod+h split h | |
| bindsym $mod+s split h | |
| # split in vertical orientation | |
| bindsym $mod+v split v | |
| #/ not a default binding, but it helps for when you can't | |
| #/ quite remember that it's mod+s, not mod+h. I used to use | |
| #/ it a lot more than I do now that I remember mod+s | |
| bindsym $mod+t layout toggle split | |
| # enter fullscreen mode for the focused container | |
| bindsym $mod+f fullscreen | |
| # change container layout (stacked, tabbed, default) | |
| #/ using mod+s for "split h" means it can't be used for | |
| #/ "layout stacking". that's ok, this is miles better. why | |
| #/ have "mod+s" a mnemonic for stacking when you can't have | |
| #/ a mnemonic for the other two because "mod+d" is taken? | |
| #/ "qwe" are adjacent on the keyboard, which makes this a much | |
| #/ more natural set of bindings, abandoning all pretentions of | |
| #/ mnemonic for logical proximity: | |
| bindsym $mod+q layout stacking | |
| bindsym $mod+w layout tabbed | |
| bindsym $mod+e layout default | |
| # toggle tiling / floating | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+space floating toggle | |
| # change focus between tiling / floating windows | |
| bindsym $mod+space focus mode_toggle | |
| # focus the parent container | |
| bindsym $mod+a focus parent | |
| # focus the child container | |
| # this is set to mod+d and commented out by default in the standard | |
| # i3 config. we have (hopefully) already seen the benefits of | |
| # adjacent bindings with "mod+[qwe]", let's apply the same here: | |
| bindsym $mod+z focus child | |
| # switch to workspace | |
| bindsym $mod+1 workspace 1 | |
| bindsym $mod+2 workspace 2 | |
| bindsym $mod+3 workspace 3 | |
| bindsym $mod+4 workspace 4 | |
| bindsym $mod+5 workspace 5 | |
| bindsym $mod+6 workspace 6 | |
| bindsym $mod+7 workspace 7 | |
| bindsym $mod+8 workspace 8 | |
| bindsym $mod+9 workspace 9 | |
| bindsym $mod+0 workspace 10 | |
| # move focused container to workspace | |
| #/ original i3 config doesn't follow the window when you move it, | |
| #/ which is what I want about 0.1% of the time. the other 99.9% of | |
| #/ the time, I want it to follow: | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+exclam move workspace 1; workspace 1 | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+at move workspace 2; workspace 2 | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+numbersign move workspace 3; workspace 3 | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+dollar move workspace 4; workspace 4 | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+percent move workspace 5; workspace 5 | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+asciicircum move workspace 6; workspace 6 | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+ampersand move workspace 7; workspace 7 | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+asterisk move workspace 8; workspace 8 | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+parenleft move workspace 9; workspace 9 | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+parenright move workspace 10; workspace 10 | |
| # reload the configuration file | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+c reload | |
| # restart i3 inplace (preserves your layout/session, can be used to upgrade i3) | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart | |
| # exit i3 (logs you out of your X session) | |
| bindsym $mod+Shift+e exec "i3-nagbar -t warning -m 'You pressed the exit shortcut. Do you really want to exit i3? This will end your X session.' -b 'Yes, exit i3' 'i3-msg exit'" | |
| # resize window (you can also use the mouse for that) | |
| mode "resize" { | |
| # These bindings trigger as soon as you enter the resize mode | |
| # Pressing left will shrink the window’s width. | |
| # Pressing right will grow the window’s width. | |
| # Pressing up will shrink the window’s height. | |
| # Pressing down will grow the window’s height. | |
| #/ see earlier admonition about the madness of "jkl;" | |
| bindsym h resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt | |
| bindsym j resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt | |
| bindsym k resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt | |
| bindsym l resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt | |
| # same bindings, but for the arrow keys | |
| bindsym Left resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt | |
| bindsym Down resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt | |
| bindsym Up resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt | |
| bindsym Right resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt | |
| # back to normal: Enter or Escape | |
| bindsym Return mode "default" | |
| bindsym Escape mode "default" | |
| } | |
| bindsym $mod+r mode "resize" | |
| # Start i3bar to display a workspace bar (plus the system information i3status | |
| # finds out, if available) | |
| bar { | |
| status_command i3status | |
| } |
| #!/usr/bin/env python | |
| # based on cb-exit used in CrunchBang Linux <http://crunchbanglinux.org/> | |
| import pygtk | |
| pygtk.require('2.0') | |
| import gtk | |
| import os | |
| import getpass | |
| class i3_exit: | |
| def disable_buttons(self): | |
| self.cancel.set_sensitive(False) | |
| self.logout.set_sensitive(False) | |
| self.suspend.set_sensitive(False) | |
| self.reboot.set_sensitive(False) | |
| self.shutdown.set_sensitive(False) | |
| def cancel_action(self,btn): | |
| self.disable_buttons() | |
| gtk.main_quit() | |
| def logout_action(self,btn): | |
| self.disable_buttons() | |
| self.status.set_label("Exiting i3, please standby...") | |
| os.system("i3-msg exit") | |
| def suspend_action(self,btn): | |
| self.disable_buttons() | |
| self.status.set_label("Suspending, please standby...") | |
| os.system("i3-lock") | |
| os.system("dbus-send --system --print-reply \ | |
| --dest=\"org.freedesktop.UPower\" \ | |
| /org/freedesktop/UPower \ | |
| org.freedesktop.UPower.Suspend") | |
| gtk.main_quit() | |
| def reboot_action(self,btn): | |
| self.disable_buttons() | |
| self.status.set_label("Rebooting, please standby...") | |
| os.system("dbus-send --system --print-reply \ | |
| --dest=\"org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit\" \ | |
| /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Manager \ | |
| org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.Manager.Restart") | |
| def shutdown_action(self,btn): | |
| self.disable_buttons() | |
| self.status.set_label("Shutting down, please standby...") | |
| os.system("dbus-send --system --print-reply \ | |
| --dest=\"org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit\" \ | |
| /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Manager \ | |
| org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.Manager.Stop") | |
| def create_window(self): | |
| self.window = gtk.Window() | |
| title = "Log out " + getpass.getuser() + "? Choose an option:" | |
| self.window.set_title(title) | |
| self.window.set_border_width(5) | |
| self.window.set_size_request(500, 80) | |
| self.window.set_resizable(False) | |
| self.window.set_keep_above(True) | |
| self.window.stick | |
| self.window.set_position(1) | |
| self.window.connect("delete_event", gtk.main_quit) | |
| windowicon = self.window.render_icon(gtk.STOCK_QUIT, gtk.ICON_SIZE_MENU) | |
| self.window.set_icon(windowicon) | |
| #Create HBox for buttons | |
| self.button_box = gtk.HBox() | |
| self.button_box.show() | |
| #Cancel button | |
| self.cancel = gtk.Button(stock = gtk.STOCK_CANCEL) | |
| self.cancel.set_border_width(4) | |
| self.cancel.connect("clicked", self.cancel_action) | |
| self.button_box.pack_start(self.cancel) | |
| self.cancel.show() | |
| #Logout button | |
| self.logout = gtk.Button("_Log out") | |
| self.logout.set_border_width(4) | |
| self.logout.connect("clicked", self.logout_action) | |
| self.button_box.pack_start(self.logout) | |
| self.logout.show() | |
| #Suspend button | |
| self.suspend = gtk.Button("_Suspend") | |
| self.suspend.set_border_width(4) | |
| self.suspend.connect("clicked", self.suspend_action) | |
| self.button_box.pack_start(self.suspend) | |
| self.suspend.show() | |
| #Reboot button | |
| self.reboot = gtk.Button("_Reboot") | |
| self.reboot.set_border_width(4) | |
| self.reboot.connect("clicked", self.reboot_action) | |
| self.button_box.pack_start(self.reboot) | |
| self.reboot.show() | |
| #Shutdown button | |
| self.shutdown = gtk.Button("_Power off") | |
| self.shutdown.set_border_width(4) | |
| self.shutdown.connect("clicked", self.shutdown_action) | |
| self.button_box.pack_start(self.shutdown) | |
| self.shutdown.show() | |
| #Create HBox for status label | |
| self.label_box = gtk.HBox() | |
| self.label_box.show() | |
| self.status = gtk.Label() | |
| self.status.show() | |
| self.label_box.pack_start(self.status) | |
| #Create VBox and pack the above HBox's | |
| self.vbox = gtk.VBox() | |
| self.vbox.pack_start(self.button_box) | |
| self.vbox.pack_start(self.label_box) | |
| self.vbox.show() | |
| self.window.add(self.vbox) | |
| self.window.show() | |
| def __init__(self): | |
| self.create_window() | |
| def main(): | |
| gtk.main() | |
| if __name__ == "__main__": | |
| go = i3_exit() | |
| main() | |