The Emacs Window Management Almanac

https://karthinks.com/software/emacs-window-management-almanac/

by dargscisyhp • 2 years ago

198 37 2 years ago

karthinks.com

mark_l_watson• 2 years ago

That is a good exploration. I am on a mobile device right now but I can’t wait to try:

ace-window and ace-window-display-mode

frames-only-mode

I admit my guilt: in about 40 years of using Emacs I mostly have always just used next-window, creating new windows under or next to, and when working on remote servers relying on tmux.

cmrdporcupine2• 2 years ago

I'm the same, 30 years & C-x 1/2/3 C-x o, and that's about the extent of it.

But tbh it's actually pretty powerful and sufficient for my purposes and I wish the various tiling window managers were just that.

celrod• 2 years ago

EXWM is ;). I used it for about a year, but ultimately found the performance, and in particular a low language server locking up the window manager, unacceptable.

sbrother• 2 years ago

I’ve also been doing exactly that for 20 years and will probably do it for 20 more years :) it works everywhere and is perfectly adequate and flexible!

alakra• 2 years ago

Yes. Same for me as well. It just works and is easy for my fingers to remember without consciously thinking about it.

wegwerff• 2 years ago

Similarly. I do have

     (global-set-key (kbd "M-o") #'other-window)

since C-x o is a bit much, but I don't feel any need for all these extra packages.

But it's nice to have such an in-depth reference, Karthik's articles are always very educational and interesting.

trocado• 2 years ago

I use the <apps> key, usually I hit it with the base of my right hand.

chungus• 2 years ago

nice writeup, I'd like to share a great complementary package that has been indispensable for me: zygospore

"zygospore lets you revert C-x 1 (delete-other-window) by pressing C-x 1 again"

https://github.com/LouisKottmann/zygospore.el

gumby2• 2 years ago

Ideally, ahouldn’t it be undo?

I suppose that would be weird, but c-u c-x 1 would be consistent.

syene2• 2 years ago

… c-u c-x 1 would be consistent.

It seems like a Vim or a Kakoune thing to get stuck up attaching strict logic to the “command language”. Lisps have a concept of do-what-I-mean (DWIM)—the computer anticipates what the user intends to do, overlooking trivial errors.† There’s some subjectivity involved in making commands do-what-[you]-mean, but what’s the point of ‘C-x 1’-ing after we’ve just ‘C-x 1’-ed anyway? None. So why not make that into a convenient way to undo the previous ‘C-x 1’?

The ‘undo’ command only acts on changes in buffers, and there’s always winner-mode and its undo, but as a zygospore user—it seems very natural from the get go. I repeat the ‘C-x 1’ if I press it accidentally, and more often I find myself temporarily magnifying a buffer to take up the whole screen to do some focussed editing, which I can come out of with another ‘C-x 1’ (as long as I don’t change the window configuration further).

†: from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DWIM

ParetoOptimal• 2 years ago

You might want to investigate winner mode for redoing and undoing all window configuration changes:

https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/WinnerMode

hollerith3• 2 years ago

I configure my Emacs to avoid splitting the frame into multiple windows -- similar to how a web browser never splits the browser window into multiple viewports. (Also my Emacs never makes a second frame.)

(The way I achieve that has changed over the years because the old way stops working.)

The way I do it now, the frame does split in some situations (e.g., when Emacs shows me a *Completions* buffer) but AFAICR I never need to manually invoke the delete-window command to get rid of the second window: it always goes away by itself.

eviks2• 2 years ago

similar to how a web browser never splits the browser window into multiple viewports.

Unless you have a browsers that does exactly that (e.g., Vivaldi), allowing you to view multiple pages at once!

BenFeldman1930• 2 years ago

I use a Brave extension that opens always a new window. Window management is then left to my WM, XMonad.

dctoedt• 2 years ago

I configure my Emacs to avoid splitting the frame into multiple windows

Is that to address a particular problem?

I use multi-window frames a fair amount. (Latest Mac OS, latest Emacs.) I've noticed that sometimes a multi-window frame will seemingly freeze up and be unresponsive to the keyboard or trackpad, including multiple Ctrl-G commands. But then C-x 5 2 will work to create a new frame. And I can go back to the frozen frame and C-x 5 0 to kill that frame.

hollerith3• 2 years ago

It is not to work around a bug. I do it because I am in the habit of making the text (and other UI elements) big.

jbstack• 2 years ago

For me, it doesn't make sense to have my application's functionality overlap with my window manager. Having two separate methodologies and sets of keysbindings to move and switch between areas of the screen depending on what happens to be in those areas is arbitrary and inconsistent. The way I switch between Firefox and LibreOffice should be the same as the way I switch between two text editing windows/frames. I therefore prefer to use frames rather than windows in Emacs, and let my WM handle them. For the same reason I've never seen the appeal of tmux pane management. If I used a WM, Emacs windows management, and tmux panes, I'd need three different ways to manage what are essentially all the same concept.

bloopernova• 2 years ago

This article is very in-depth and I really like that the author took the time to draw good diagrams.

ww520• 2 years ago

Nice article. Good explanation and good guidelines.

Sometimes the evenly split windows don't cut it. I put the following function in the init.el file and bind "C-x 7" to it to adjust the current window and its peer to 70% and 30% sizes vertically. Same for horizontally with a "C-x 8" key binding.

    (defun partial-size-window ()
      "Set the two split windows to 70% and 30% vertically."
      (interactive) 
      (let ((size (- (truncate (* .70 (frame-height))) (window-height)))) 
        (if (> size 0) 
            (enlarge-window size))))

    (defun partial-size-window-h ()
      "Set the two split windows to 70% and 30% horizontally."
      (interactive) 
      (let ((size (- (truncate (* .70 (frame-width))) (window-width)))) 
        (if (> size 0) 
            (enlarge-window-horizontally size))))

jackcviers3• 2 years ago

golden-ratio works for this as well.

medstrom2• 2 years ago

yup, unlike the name implies, it does not only do the golden ratio (1.618:1)

Though now I also found https://git.sr.ht/~wklew/golden

emporas• 2 years ago

golden-ratio is very convenient. I also split the frame to two windows at most, and most of the times i focus on one window, and the other window takes just 25% of the screen space.

What i have not found a solution yet, is when one window is expanded to 75% of space, then it collapses to 25%, the notes i wanted to focus on get moved up or down. After some trial and error i put my cursor somewhere downward not far from the text i want to be displayed, and most of the time it gets displayed after collapsing the space.

I have yet to figure out how to select a region, and golden ratio keep that in display after rebalancing.

BaculumMeumEst• 2 years ago

I think zoom-mode is the more recommended package for this functionality nowadays, but I will defer to someone who knows more. I just know golden-ratio was a little jank when I tried it recently, but zoom works well.

mcguire• 2 years ago

In case the author sees this, I enjoyed the nod to the Acme editor.

ashton314• 2 years ago

Something I’d like to add to Karthink’s notes on `windmove-mode`: you can set `windmove-default-keybindings` to move through windows with Ctrl-<arrow keys>

    (windmove-default-keybindings 'control)

I have this in my config (as well as in my minimalist (really minimalist) starter kit [1]) and it’s a game-changer!

[1] https://codeberg.org/ashton314/emacs-bedrock

roboben• 2 years ago

Just checked my .emacs and I am doing exactly the same. I prefer over C-x O since it is one key less to press and more flexible.

thy77• 2 years ago

Hi. I want to call hledger-balance-sheet and have it open to the right at 30% and leave my .hledger.journal open on the left,and selected, instead of replacing it.

The Emacs Window Management Almanac

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