Windows 8 is a damn good OS I have to say. Many people don't seem keen, although in my experience so far they don't seem to have given it much of a chance. Accept that it has a complete split personality and move between the two as and when is necessary. Or don't. Stay away from the new stuff altogether if you would rather.. You are rarely forced to use 'new style/metro' applications if you would rather not. But even if you stay entirely in the traditional desktop environment I still think Windows 8 has something to offer. It's fast, it's stable, and with technology like storage spaces, really brings some serious improvements to the table.
One thing has been getting to me lately however, - and that's Window management. I used to play around a lot with different Window Managers on Linux, and recently the idea of the tiling Window manager has been tickling my fancy. Watching all those YouTube videos of experienced RatPoison and XMonad users flitting around various Windows has led me to lust after some hardcore window management for my Windows 8 desktop.
So... what is it I'm actually after - What are the requirements here...? Well, firstly - I need some kind of virtual desktop capability. Bog standard use of the PC should be fine with about four, although if I'm doing some particular job, I should anticipate adding another 2 or so, so 4-6 virtual desktops are required for sure. On top of that, when I flick to each of these desktops, I want to be able to easily tile Windows and snap them to a particular area with the keyboard only.
I have played around with a few different tiling Window managers, and bug.n seemed fairly promising. Unfortunately however, certain Windows like the explorer file copy dialog box just weren't playing ball, and there were certain concepts that I just wasn't getting on with.. (Improved documentation for bug.n would certainly not go amiss).
So after playing for some time with bug.n and a few other candidates, looking for a window manager that would give me tiling functionality, *and* virtual desktops, I suddenly came to a realisation.. I might get away with running two pieces of software - one to handle the virtual desktops, and another to handle the Window management.. And so, after trial and error, I present my perfect solution to my Window management woes...
GridMove
GridMove is an amazing little piece of software for Windows. It slices the screen up into a grid and lets you assign hotkeys to snap Windows to different parts of it. Not *quite* a tiling Window manager, in that it doesn't automatically tile, but this is more than good enough.. And previous experience tells me that not all Windows like to be snapped to a tile automatically anyway, so this solution should be far less troublesome! So GridMove sorts me out for Window management. I slice my single 27" 2560x1440 screen into quarters. Tempting to slice it into 6, but seeing as I have virtual desktops too, 4 Windows per desktop should be fine.With GridMove taking care of Window positioning.. what can we use for virtual desktops? Well, I gave VirtuaWin a try, and it's solid enough, but I couldn't quite get on with it.. I was after something more, and luckily enough I found just the thing:
goScreen
goScreen is a brilliant piece of software. Unlike the free VirtuaWin it's shareware, but inexpensive, and well worth it. With goScreen I have created a number of desktops and assigned hotkeys to them. Anything to do with [M]ail for example, I hit Ctrl-Shift-M. For tunes, Ctrl-Shift-t. For my Chrome window Ctrl-Shift-C.. It's brilliant! Not only can I create and name each desktop, but there are some very pleasant transition effects to choose from. I love it! It's proven very reliable and when combined with GridMove gives me the perfect Windows experience!So with my Windows 8 box now loaded with GridMove and goScreen, I have Windows that snap to the grid. I have virtual desktops containing my lovely tiled Windows, and order reigns! I can't imagine going back now.. In fact, my whole way of working has changed over the last few hours since I finished tinkering with these tools..
The management of individual windows, and the desktop(s) which they reside on are an important part of building an optimal environment.. Next time you are resizing or dragging a window around the screen - ask yourself, 'is this optimal?'.
