i3wm is a tiling window manager. This means that it positions windows on the screens by subdividing the space horizontally or vertically and draws the windows borders. There are several tiling window managers available for linux, such as Qtile or awesome, but I use i3wm becasue why not.
The configuration file of i3wm is .i3/config, but you can read all about configuring i3 in the official user guide. Here I will just add some quick notes on interesting points.
I use a fork of i3 called i3-gaps. Basically, it is the same as vanilla i3 but it allows for a spacing to be defined between windows.
I use a little program called xcwd to open new terminals in the same directory as the working directory of the currently focused window. I include the compiled program in my dotfiles repo:
bindsym $mod+Return exec $myterm -c=$(~/.dotfiles/bin/kitty-config) -d "`$HOME/.dotfiles/bin/xcwd`"
I also use this program in my ranger launch script in order to open a ranger instance within a terminal with the right working directory.
I use playerctl to issue commands to my music players and pactl to control the pulse audio volume levels. Just bind the relevant XF86... key to the right command:
# media player controls
bindsym XF86AudioPrev exec playerctl previous
bindsym XF86AudioNext exec playerctl next
bindsym XF86AudioPlay exec playerctl play-pause
# pulse audio controls
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-mute 0 toggle
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 +5%
bindsym $mod+F12 exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 +5%
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 -5%
bindsym $mod+F11 exec --no-startup-id pactl set-sink-volume 0 -5%
Binding the screen backlight controls is a piece of cake. Bind the keys X86MonBrightness[Up|Down] to the brightness+ and brightness- programs in the package jappeace/brightnessctl.
For some reason, the traditional xbacklight -[inc|dec] <value> would not work in my XPS 13 9370.
bindsym XF86MonBrightnessUp exec brightness+
bindsym XF86MonBrightnessDown exec brightness-
I use the Alt key as $mod and the Super key as application launcher (I call it $sup). I have just a couple of application bindings.
bindsym $mod+Shift+w exec qutebrowser
bindsym $mod+Control+w exec firefox
bindsym $mod+Shift+t exec thunderbird
bindsym $mod+Shift+f exec $myterm --class wm-floating lf "`$HOME/.dotfiles/bin/xcwd`"
Interesting note: when I press Super+g a new terminal opens in the Gaia Sky folder. This I use a lot.
You can define some windows to start in floating mode (i.e. not tiled) by default. To know what to put in class=, you can use xprop and just click on the window. Then look up the value of the key containing CLASS.
I use these:
for_window [title="alsamixer"] floating enable border pixel 1
for_window [class="Blueman-manager"] floating enable border pixel 1
for_window [class="GParted"] floating enable border normal
for_window [class="Lxappearance"] floating enable sticky enable border normal
for_window [class="qt5ct"] floating enable sticky enable border normal
for_window [class="Qtconfig-qt4"] floating enable sticky enable border normal
for_window [class="Skype"] floating enable border normal
for_window [class="Grub-customizer"] floating enable border normal
for_window [title="Volume Control"] floating enable border normal
for_window [class="Gsimplecal"] floating enable border normal
for_window [class="Arandr"] floating enable border normal
for_window [class="Nemo"] floating enable border normal
for_window [class="Gaia Sky - 2.1.0"] floating enable border normal
for_window [class="Gaia Sky"] floating enable border normal
I use a modified version of the i3exit script found everywhere on the internet. I have mine in the bin folder. My script contains an additional entry called slock, bound to the k key and which runs slock. I need this because my laptop does not have a physical key to switch off the screen, so slock is perfect for me. The regular lock entry is bound to i3lock-fancy, which takes a screenshot, blurs it and displays it.
I use xinput to set the touchpad speed and enable tapping at startup. This works well with the Dell XPS 13 9370.
#
# TRACKPAD - Dell XPS13
#
# trackpad speed
exec_always "xinput set-prop 'DELL07E6:00 06CB:76AF Touchpad' 'libinput Accel Speed' 0.6"
# tapping enabled
exec_always "xinput set-prop 'DELL07E6:00 06CB:76AF Touchpad' 'libinput Tapping Enabled' 1"
In Gnome Shell, I used to have a very short keyboard repeat interval and a reasonable delay. That was essential for me to use vim comfortably. To mimic this in i3wm, you can just use xset:
# Repeat interval and delay
exec_always --no-startup-id xset r rate 200 35 # initial delay 300 ms, repeat 35 ms
I found that mons is a very good option to manage screens and beamers. It is very simple to use and it just works, and instead of messing around with xrandr, most of the time I just use mons. It has a daemon mode which automatically resets the display when unplugging devices.
exec --no-startup-id mons -a > /dev/null 2>&1
I like fancy transparencies and tearing-free videos, so I just use compton as my screen compositor.
exec --no-startup-id compton
To manage and automount the plug-and-play USB drives, I use udiskie. It just gets the job done.
Additionally, I like to use ranger as a file manager, so I want to use it as well when using the 'Browse disk...' option from udiskie. To do so, I start it like this:
exec --no-startup-id udiskie -f "/home/tsagrista/.dotfiles/bin/ranger-term" --tray
The ranger-term script starts a new terminal and launches ranger in it, accepting the working directory as an argument.
All my i3 theming needs are covered by pywal, which is an amazing utility to generate color palettes from wallpapers and apply themes to several programs in an integrated fashion. It is just outstanding. Try it.
At startup, I either restore the last configuration (including wallpaper plus color schemes for i3, ranger, polybar, vim, etc.) using
exec --no-startup-id wal -R
or I set the desired theme directly,
exec --no-startup-id wal -a 80 --theme path/to/theme.json