My killer i3 setup
tldr;
I moved to i3 just over a week ago, and since then I have been adding more and more features. Some of them just bring back wmii functionality, and some just make i3 all the more awesome.
Here is a short list of the changes I have made:
- Mod+P launches a custom dmenu. I used Mod+P because they are my programs, it just made sense (and it is that way in i3). I also direct it to my custom script, this is so that it opens the app in the current workspace every time.
- Add dynamic tagging to open any workspace you can type (longer description here
- Mod+Arrow keys move +1, -1, +10 and -10 of the current workspace.
- Mod+Numbers go to the respective number in the current ten spaces (more info below).
- Change the colors slightly to be focussed around my favourite color #44bbff
- Add key bindings for volume control with amixer
- Mod+Y moves the current workspace to the output left of the current one. It just wraps around from the left one, so because I have two monitors this is sufficient as a 'move to other monitor' key.
- Added buttons to my statusbar using py3status so I can sleep my screens, suspend my computer and start my screensaver.
Workspace Blocks, What?
As mentioned above, if you press Mod+Arrow keys, it moves +1, -1, +10 and -10 of the current workspace for left, right, up and down respectively. I.e if I am in workspace 5, and press Mod+Up, I will be in workspace 15. Then if I press Mod+Left, I will be in workspace 14. This is great and all, but if you love to be able to press Mod+Num key, you would always return to 1-10. I have changed it so that now whenever you press 0-9, you move to that space within the current group of 10 spaces. So if you are in space 14, and press Mod+9, you would end up in space 19. This allows you to have sets of workspaces that you can move freely between with the Mod+Up and Mod+Down key bindings.
Final Notes
Do keep in mind you will most likely want to copy chunks of my config, because certain things are very specific to me, like my start up programs (bottom of config).
here is a repo of my ~/.i3 directory
If you are wondering what all the xkcd scripts are for, they relate to my , my for changing the background and my conkyrc
Here is a photo of my desktop + status bar + conky setup on my left monitor: