4 <%inherit file="_templates/i3.mako" />
5 <div id="info" class="clearfix">
8 <a href="/screenshots/" title="view more screenshots of i3">
9 <img id="screenshot" src="/screenshots/i3-9.bigthumb.png" width="375" height="234" alt="i3 screenshot">
13 <h2>Do What I Mean. Good Docs. Clean Code. Sounds good?</h2>
15 Then you will love i3. Watch the <a href="/screenshots/">screencast</a>,<br>
16 read the <a href="/docs/4.0/userguide.html">User’s Guide</a> and <a
17 href="/downloads/">install i3</a>!
21 <span style="font-weight: bold; color: #3A8ECD; margin-right: .5em">➡</span>
22 Download the latest version
23 <span style="margin-left: 2em; color: #c0c0c0">4.0.2</span>
30 i3 is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiling_window_manager">tiling
31 window manager</a>, completely written from scratch. The target platforms are
32 GNU/Linux and BSD operating systems, our code is Free and Open Source Software
33 (FOSS) under the BSD license. i3 is primarily targeted at advanced users and
34 developers. Based upon the experiences we made when wanting to hack/fix wmii,
35 we agreed upon the following goals for i3:
40 Write well readable, well <strong>documented</strong> code. Create additional
41 documentation on how to extend i3 by explaining its internal workings.
43 This includes being modifiable by people who do know how to program but who are
44 not necessarily familiar with all of X11’s internals. That is, document why
45 things happen and when they happen so that the user gets a picture of the whole
46 process a Window Manager is responsible of by just reading the source code.
49 Use xcb as far as possible (it does not provide functions for some features
50 yet, like XKB) instead of Xlib. xcb has a much cleaner API and should be faster
51 in quite a lot of situations.
54 Implement multi-monitor correctly, that is by assigning each workspace to a
55 virtual screen. Especially make sure that attaching and detaching new monitors
56 like video projectors works during operation and does the right thing. Also
57 provide support for rotated monitors.
60 Use a tree as data structure. This allows for more flexible layouts than
61 the column-based approach used by other window managers.
64 Implement different modes, like in vim. You can use different keybindings
65 when in the 'resize' mode than when you are in the default mode, for
69 Do <strong>not</strong> use programs such as autoconf/automake for configuration and
70 creating unreadable/broken makefiles. Instead, use a clean makefile which automatically
71 enables/disables features for specific platforms. Also, document the dependencies
72 properly, so that package maintainers have an easy job packaging i3.
75 Implement an IPC interface for other programs. Provide subscription to
76 certain events and accept commands.
78 This approach should be more lightweight than wmii’s usage of the 9P filesystem.
79 Furthermore, core functionality does not depend on a separate program, so that i3
80 runs faster, especially when your system is under load.
86 The usual elitism amongst minimal window managers: Don’t be bloated, don’t be fancy
87 (simple borders are the most decoration we want to have), don’t add support for Xft
90 However, we do not enforce unnecessary limits such as a maximum amount of source lines
91 of code. If it needs to be a bit bigger, it will be.