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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?

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[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip -2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

How much "r" are in Strawberrystrudel?

[-] nekobeko@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Writing two paragraphs qualifies someone as an AI?

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Well, i guess there's a misinderstanding about what a wm is (a stacking one, like Gnome, KDE, XFCE, is also one just like a tiling one like i3) so i was not sure if you're a bot. No offense intended.

[-] OccasionallyFeralya@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

People typically distinguish between “window managers” which are usually pretty barebones and “desktop environments” like Gnome and KDE. Also Gnome’s and KDE aren’t actually the window managers, Mutter and KWin are (respectively)

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 1 points 11 hours ago

Yes, but i've kept it surface-level. XFCE's is also xfwm.

this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2026
64 points (97.1% liked)

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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