https://github.com/mntnoe/wmbinder

Configuration example:

import gtk
from wmbinder.commands import *

if __name__ == '__main__':
    bind("<Mod5>z"      , spawn , "xclip -selection primary -o | xclip -selection clipboard -i")
    bind("<Mod5>x"      , spawn , "xterm")
    bind("<Mod5>t"      , focus , "Firefox"      , cmd="firefox")
    bind("<Mod5>Return" , focus , "XTerm"        , cmd="xterm")
    bind("<Mod5>s"      , focus , "File Manager" , cmd="nautilus ~")
    bind("<Mod5>v"      , focus , "Vim"          , cmd="gvim --servername VIM")
    bind("<Mod5>n"      , nextWindow)
    bind("<Mod5>e"      , prevWindow)
    bind("<Mod5>k"      , close)

    gtk.main()

New highlights:

• The application pager now uses icons
• Per application configuration.
• Minimize windows by using special workspaces

Note that I have converted my Colemak key bindings to Qwerty to give an idea of the placement I use. Also note that this work is not finished. There are still lot of things I want to behave differently, and I need to do some cleanup here and there.

Still, I hope you can get inspired by some of my ideas. Enjoy

• Whole config (incl. icons)

• xmonad.hs (html)
• App.hs (html)
• BorderColors.hs (html)
• Commands.hs (html)
• Config.hs (html)
• DMenu.hs (html)
• IM.hs
• Layout.hs (html)
• MyApps.hs (html)
• Pager.hs (html)
• Panel.hs (html)
• Utils.hs (html)
• Workspace.hs (html)

• Labeled pager addon for DynamicLog
• Fast navigation between workspaces
• Application specific border colors
• Modified Scratchpad using GNU Screen
• Host specific settings (layouts and widgets)

To use these modules, you must put them in ~/.xmonad and then reenable support for user modules in your xmonad source. Simply look for a line in Core.hs containing runProces “ghc” ["--make", "xmonad.hs" ...] and remove the “-i” entry from the list. This switch was unfortunately added to fix a bug on case insensitive file systems. Note that a solution is under development, placing user modules in ~/.xmonad/lib, thus solving the issue with case insensitive systems, see issue 230.

I will try to make some darcs patches for xmonad-contrib if I get time. Until then, I hope you can get inspired by some of my ideas. Enjoy

• xmonad.hs (html)
• xmonad_qwerty.hs (html)
• BorderColors.hs (html)
• DMenu.hs (html)
• Dzen.hs (html)
• Layout.hs (html)
• Obsolete.hs (html)
• Pager.hs (html)
• ScratchpadPrime.hs (html)
• ServerMode.hs (html)
• Util.hs (html)

fvwm-mntnoe-2008-08-1.tar.bz2

It is a 100 % keyboard driven Fvwm config, that aims to make window handling efficient by making the keyboard commands easy to hit. Two instances of conky (one is double buffered, the other in its own window) and xfce4-panel is visible in the screenshots.

All window handling uses the AltGr (right Alt on the US keyboard) key as modifier, to avoid conflicts with applications. AltGr is easy to reach, but seldom used, except for “local characters”. The most frequently used commands are the easiest to hit. For example, instead of using CTRL-F1,F2,F3,F4 to switch workspace, AltGr-U,I,O,P is used instead. The “root menu” is called with AltGr-L.

The window titlebar is replaced by a colored border; the color which depends on the application. This actually improves the readability (IMHO), as the “real” information comes closer to each other. Also it uses less screen space which is crucial on a 12″ laptop

Also, I found a copy of my original Fvwm config from 2005, so it’s available for download again, thanks to the guys at guistyles.com. The link at the post had been broken for a while.

DestroyMenu MenuDaimi
AddToMenu MenuDaimi
+ DynamicPopupAction PipeRead "$[FVWM_USERDIR]/menus/my_menu.sh"

and let the shell script output the menu. I use it, for example, to keep a list of shortcuts to my assignments:

cat << eos
DestroyMenu recreate MenuDaimi
AddToMenu MenuDaimi
eos

echo '+ "dADS1"    Title'
find $HOME/A/aflv_* -name "*.tex" -printf
	'+ %%24x24/mimetypes/gnome-mime-application-x-tex.png%%"%f"t
	Exec exec gvim -c "cd %H" %pn'
...

(Note that the find command should be written as one line.) This will list all LaTeX files in $HOME/A/aflv_*, and selecting an entry will start GVIM in the corresponding directory. Nice…

One could get creative and sort the files after date, skip files more than a week old etc. But please be careful not to forget to actually work on the assignments

BTW he has many other exiting things in his config, so check it out.

Personally I prefer to start my applications from a terminal, but it is useful for programs you don’t use very often. And a little cool

Please keep in mind that these keybindings are the ones that work for me. The best keybindings for you may depend on you way of work, type of keyboard and your preferences.

The syntax of an FVWM keybinding instruction is:

Key <Keyname> <Context> <Modifiers> <Function>

Context is where the binding is active (A for All), and the Modifiers may be N (None), A (All), S (Shift), M (Meta/Alt), C (Control), 4 (Winkey) and 5 (Alt Gr).

Window switching

First, I want to be able to switch between windows quickly:

Key K A 5		Prev (CurrentPage, AcceptsFocus, !Iconic) FocusRaiseFunc
Key J A 5		Next (CurrentPage, AcceptsFocus, !Iconic) FocusRaiseFunc

Alt Gr-K changes between the last two open windows, and Alt Gr-J cycles through all of them. Unlike standard Alt-Tab behaviour, you don’t have to release the modifier key to focus the window, making your system far more responsive.

As a supplement, I also use some kind of Alt-Tab behaviour, except that I use different bindings for distinct classes of windows.

Key Tab A M 		ShowClassList
Key Tab A 4 		ShowOtherList
Key Tab A C 		ShowIconList

As I got a lot of open terminals, I prefer to split it up, so that Alt-Tab switches between terminal emulators, and Winkey-Tab for the others. Minimized windows is restored by Control-Tab. In that way they won’t disturb. See the implementation of the functions.

Windows movement

Window Packing moves the window a given direction until it hits something. It was implemented by Tavis Ormandy and is well described here.

Key A			WT1246 5	PackWrapperLeft
Key D			WT1246 5	PackWrapperRight
Key W			WT1246 5	PackWrapperUp
Key S			WT1246 5	PackWrapperDown

Shift for smaller step movements:

Key A			WT1246 5S	Move w-50p w+0
Key D			WT1246 5S	Move w+50p w+0
Key W			WT1246 5S	Move w+0 w-50p
Key S			WT1246 5S	Move w+0 w+50p

When I work with a window, I like to center it. It is good for the ergonomics, as I can look straight ahead. When I am finished with the window, I usually pack it into a corner.

Key V WT1246 5		CenterFunc

Actually, I rarely use these three operations:

Key H WT1246 5		Iconify
Key G WT1246 5		WindowShade
Key M WT1246 5		Maximize

Instead, when I want to get a window out of the way, I put it on an empty desktop/workspace (see MoveToDescFunc below). This way, I keep only the relevant information on the screen.

If you have a big window, lowering it is often more handy than switching between the others to find the right one:

Key R WT1246 5		Raise
Key F WT1246 5		Lower

Always on top is handy when a window should be used for reference (instructions, etc.):

Key Z WT1246 5		Layer 0 6
Key X WT1246 5		Layer 0 4

The window operations menu contains function like FvwmIdent, Sticky and Destroy, which I only use occasionally.

Key E WT1246 5		Menu MenuWindowOps Interior 0 0

To redistribute the windows on the screen:

Key Leftbracket A 5	All (CurrentDesk, !Iconic,
			AcceptsFocus, CirculateHit) PlaceAgain
			Anim

Application launching is done from a menu which I will cover in a later post. On the danish keyboard, the

You can’t really describe what FVWM is like. Unlike most other window managers, who has a more or less “specific” way of behaving, FVWM doesn’t have a specific behaviour. Your won’t get a great experience just because you use FVWM. But if you use FVWM with a nice configuration, we are talking a different story…

You’ll need to spend an certain amount of time fine-tuning your configuration. If you don’t have time for that, and is satisfied using the “mainstream environments”, FVWM is probably not for you.

Again, take a look at the thread I linked to in my last post. It contains a nice pep talk and demonstration of some of FVWM’s capabilities.

You may also look at fvwm.org. Unfortunately, the website tries to emulate a window manager, which makes navigating through it a pain. A bit pity if you ask me. Though it may not look so, FVWM is being actively developed.

Then one day, like many FVWM-using gentoo’ers did, I stumbled across taviso‘s famous post at forums.fvwm.org. First impression: No iCandy? Forget it…

A little later, I saw some awesome screenshots at lynucs.org. Can’t find them now, but they whetted my appetite. I was soon working eagerly with different setups.

My first setup was a completely back-to-the-roots. It didn’t depend on big libraries, so it was fast, and didn’t crash for unexplainable reasons. If something was wrong, you could easily find out what. Oh, and it was, dare I say, good looking…

However, I spent too much time maintaining it, so I found some sort of compromise. My next setup included no fancy themes, and used “bigger” things like the panel from XFCE. This time, it was also fully keyboard driven. This is the one that has evolved to my current setup.

In the next couple of days, I will tell you some of the considerations I made during this period.