So for a long time pretty much every computer used the traditional like windows layout with moveable windows that minimized or maximized and had a taskbar and start menu and whatnot. You had some minor changes with Mac and stuff, but now you can really have some radically different ways to use a computer.
Personally I have differing preferences if I’m using a laptop or a desktop.
On my desktop I prefer a dock and to use the mouse to click around. More of the windows style. Then on a laptop (which I use most often) I use a heavily gesture based navigation.
Currently I have Gnome modified so that when I am in a program, like the web browser I’m in typing this, it is full screen. The top bar is hidden, and there’s no dock of any kind. Not even one that pops up when I move the mouse to the edge of the screen. Instead I have everything for navigation hidden inside the task view. I swipe up on the trackpad with 3 fingers to bring it up. That’s how I see time, battery life, and the other topbar stuff too. If switching quickly between two things I put one of them in a 2nd desktop and use a 3 finger side swipe to move back and forth.
I’m curious to know what other unique or highly custom navigation methods people are using on Linux. I know tiling window managers are pretty popular. Is there a general consensus on what’s best these days? Or is everyone doing slightly different things?
My desktop computer monitor is a 28 inch 4K screen, so yes, it is on the upper end of the median screen size, I guess. I ran Hyprland on my laptop (13 inch 1080p) for some time but I like my environment harmonized, so I use the same configuration there, too.
For easier management I make use of labwc’s areas and snapping feature to have windows proportionally the same size on both screens. The areas use percentages by default, which makes it quite easy. I have top, bottom, left, and right, the four corner quarters and two different center regions.
On my laptop I usually only use the center region for the browser.