External workspace bars
-<michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
-May 2010 +<michael@i3wm.org>
+April 2013
This document describes why the internal workspace bar is minimal and how an -external workspace bar can be used. It explains the concepts using i3-wsbar -as the reference implementation.
i3 comes with i3bar by default, a simple bar that is sufficient for most users. +In case you are unhappy with it, this document explains how to use a different, +external workspace bar. Note that we do not provide support for external +programs.
The internal workspace bar of i3 is meant to be a reasonable default so that you can use i3 without having too much hassle when setting it up. It is quite -simple and intended to stay this way. So, there is no way to display your own -information in this bar (unlike dwm, wmii, awesome, â¦).
We chose not to implement such a mechanism because that would be duplicating -already existing functionality of tools such as dzen2, xmobar and similar. -Instead, you should disable the internal bar and use an external workspace bar -(which communicates with i3 through its IPC interface).