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AfterStep AfterStep was originally based on the look and feel of the NeXTStep interface, it provides end users with a consistent, clean, and elegant desktop. The goal of AfterStep development is to provide for flexibility of desktop configuration, improving aestetics, and efficient use of system resources. hot Beryl Beryl is a combined window manager and composite manager written in C using OpenGL to provide acceleration. It is designed to be highly flexible, extensible, and portable, while all the while keeping in mind that the users knows how they want their desktops to act better than we do. With Beryl the rather esoteric concept of the computer desktop is brought down to a more human level, allowing for a more native and intuitive understanding of your workspace. hot Compiz Compiz is a compositing window manager that uses 3D graphics acceleration via OpenGL. It provides various new graphical effects and features on any desktop environment, including Gnome and KDE. hot Enlightenment The Enlightenment DR16 window manager was released in 2000, along with its dependencies Imlib and Fnlib, and remains in heavy usage today. While rumors of its death still circulate, DR16.6 was release on Nov 2nd, 2003, and it remains in development today with a long life still ahead of it. DR16 has been the choice of power users and artists due to its low overhead, highly graphical, widely theme-able, extremely configurable, yet unobtrusive interface. Nearly all functions of the window manager can be handled without mouse input, including application launching via e16keyedit. It also remains highly portable, with ports avalible for Linux on all platforms, FreeBSD, IRIX, Solaris X86 and Sparc, HP-UX, AIX, OS/2, and more. hot icewm icewm is a nice window manager designed for speed, usability and consistency. It has full GNOME compliance, partial KDE compliance, a default configuration fully usable without tweaking and optional use of mouse. hot Window Maker Window Maker is an X11 window manager originally designed to provide integration support for the GNUstep Desktop Environment. In every way possible, it reproduces the elegant look and feel of the NEXTSTEP[tm] user interface. It is fast, feature rich, easy to configure, and easy to use. It is also free software, with contributions being made by programmers from around the world. hot 9wm 9wm is an X window manager which attempts to emulate the Plan 9 window manager 8-1/2 as far as possible within the constraints imposed by X. It provides a simple yet comfortable user interface, without garish decorations or title-bars. aewm aewm is a minimalist window manager for X11. It has no nifty features, but is light on resources and extremely simple in appearance. It should eventually make a good reference implementation of the ICCCM. A few separate programs are included to handle running programs, switching between windows, etc. aewm++ aewm++ is a C++ rewrite of aewm. This will be the foundation for the next release of sapphire window manager. Many key window manager features will be added like GNOME support, Net WM spec support. aewm2 aewm2 is an X11R6 window manager based on aewm and 9wm. aewm2 features keyboard control, Decklin Foster's original menu (and a shell script to generate hierarchical menus), and a rudimentary widget set and datatypes. AI-VDi Artificial Intelligence Voice Desktop Interface: an Open Source Window Manager Project based on KDE ajaxWM ajaxWM is a themeable Web-based window manager, terminal emulator, and SSH proxy. It is partially based on ajaxterm. It has been written to allow remote controlling a computer even when you are behind a proxy blocking non-HTTP(S) transfer and are not allowed to install any additional software. alloywm alloywm is based on Decklin Foster's aewm. alloywm strives for ICCCM compliance, speed, and the a tiny memory footprint. amiwm amiwm is an X window manager that tries to make your display look and feel like an Amiga® Workbench® screen. It is fully functional and can do all the usual window manager stuff, like moving and resizing windows. Anarchy Anarchy is a window manager for the X Window System and is implemented in less than 500 lines of CLOS oriented Scheme code.Despite its small code size, it supports most functions expected of a basic window manager (move, resize, hide, minimize, maximize, list windows, root menu). arm0nia project A group of projects that intend to create software for making UNIX and UNIX like operating systems, more powerfull and friendly. Our first goal is to create a Dynamic Modular Desktop Environment. awesome awesome is a window manager for X. It manages windows in several layout modes, such as tiled or floating. Each layout can be applied dynamically. Windows can be grouped by tags, and each window can be tagged with one or multiple tags, and each tag can have its own layout. B4Step B4Step is a Window Manager running under X11R6 (Solaris and Linux), featuring a new innovating way to manage window banners. BadWM BadWM is a minimalistic window manager for the X Window System licensed under the GNU General Public License that is based on evilwm. It has no window decorations but a simple 1 pixel border, no icons and no menu. Blackbox Blackbox is a fast, light window manager you have been looking for without all those annoying library dependancies. blwm blwm is a Windows like window manager (in Portugese). Clementine Clementine is a window manager for X, based on aewm. Clementine is re-written in C++. This project aims to create a small, fast window manager with a minimum amount of extra features added in order to make it useable. Clementine will be as small as possible within these constraints of usability, but no smaller. CLFSWM CLFSWM (Common Lisp FullScreen Window Manager) is an X11 window manager where windows are almost always fullscreen maximized or tiled. It can be driven using the keyboard alone or with the mouse. CTWM Claude's Tab Window Manager: A highly-configurable window manager based on the classic TWM window manager. It supports xpms, multiple workspaces, advanced icon managment, animated icons and backgrounds, 3D titles and borders. cwm c(alm)wm is a window manager for X11 initially inspired by evilwm. It developed out of modifications to evilwm, but eventually the code base of evilwm did not accomodate well for the new features added. So calmwm was written from scratch. cwm has several novel features, including the ability to search for windows. It features a very simple and attractive aesthetic. dvtm dvtm brings the concept of tiling window management, popularized by X11-window managers like dwm, to the console. As a console window manager, it tries to make it easy to work with multiple console based programs like vim, mutt, cmus, or irssi. dvtm is intended to be used where X11 isn't available or over SSH. It can be seen as a lightweight alternative to GNU screen. dynamic window manager dwm is a fast and simple window manager for X11. It manages windows in tiling and floating modes. Either mode can be applied dynamically, optimizing the environment for the application in use and the task performed. Windows can be tagged with one or multiple tags. Selecting certain tags displays all windows that are accordingly tagged. dwm is the little brother of wmii. echinus echinus is a lightweight window manager for X based on dwm's source code. It manages windows in tiled, maximized, and floating layouts. It is extremely small, rather fast, and supports Xft. It features nice titlebars, multiple desktops, theming support, a simple configuration file, the ability to switch desktops with the mouse wheel, X bitmaps for title buttons, and true transparency support (through xcompmgr). Efsane Efsane is a window manager in Turkish. It is programmed in C++ and with OOB technique. EPIwm intended to be small, fast, configurable while maintening a large feature set. It is a computer school project from EPITA under GPL evilwm evilwm is a minimalist window manager for X. It features no window decorations apart from a simple 1 pixel border, no icons, good keyboard control, including repositioning and maximise toggles. failsafewm failsafewm is an extremely minimalistic window manager. Firebox Firebox manages your windows. It tends to comply with the ICCCM/Motif/EWMH standards for window management. It aims to be small and fast. Fluxbox Fluxbox is yet another windowmanager for X. It's based on the Blackbox 0.61.1 code. Fluxbox looks like blackbox and handles styles, colors, window placement and similar thing exactly like blackbox (100% theme/style compability). Fluxspace Fluxspace blends Fluxbox's window management with new desktop management capabilities. It leverages existing components and the power of Python to help build a flexible desktop environment around Fluxbox and other lightweight window managers. flwm flwm is an X window manager based on wm2 by Chris Cannam, with changes to make it more user-friendly without (I hope) sacrificing any of the clean minimalist design of wm2. FOX Window Manager FOX Window Manager uses the FOX toolkit and provides a clean, stable, and fast window manager primarily for business or professional usage. Fresco Fresco is a windowing system derived from a powerful structured graphics toolkit originally based on InterViews. Fresco extends earlier incarnations to the status of a full windowing system, in command of the video hardware (via GGI, SDL, DirectFB or GLUT) and processing user input directly rather than peering with a host windowing system. FVWM FVWM is an ICCCM compliant multiple virtual desktop window manager for X11 created by Robert Nation and derived originally from twm code. FVWM-95 FVWM-95 is a hack based on fvwm2.x. It tries to emulate the good features of a well known product without bloating the regular fvwm code. Golem Golem's design goals are that it be fast and lightweight, as well as very customizable. GWM (Generic Window Manager) is an extensible Window Manager for the X Window System Version 11 Hackedbox Hackedbox is a stripped down version of Blackbox. The toolbar and Slit have been removed. The goal of Hackedbox is to be a small "feature-set" window manager, with no bloat. Interface WM Interface WM is a highly-extensible window manager written in Objective-C, optimized for use in a GNUstep environment. Ion Ion is an unusual kind of window manager that brings a text-editorish, keyboard friendly user interface to window management. It is based on PWM. Kahakai Kahakai is a continuation of Waimea window manager with planned support for extensibility with Python (initially) and Ruby/Perl further down the road. Karmen Karmen is an easy-to-use window manager for X. It is designed to "just work". There is no configuration file and no library dependencies except Xlib. Window selection is done in click-to-focus style. It aims at ICCCM compliance. larswm larswm is a rewrite of 9wm that adds automatic tiling, virtual desktops and many more features to make it a highly productive user environment. Despite the high level of automation, it uses very little CPU time and memory while running. Lo-Tek Lo-Tek is a fast, clean, sexy, and 100% vector theme, in keeping with the Blackbox tradition. lwm lwm is a window manager for X that tries to keep out of your face. There are no icons, no button bars, no icon docks, no root menus, no nothing: if you want all that, then other programs can provide it. There's no configurability either: if you want that, you want a different window manager; one that helps your operating system in its evil conquest of your disc space and its annexation of your physical memory. Matchbox Matchbox is an Open Source base environment for the X Window System running on non-desktop embedded platforms such as handhelds, set-top boxes, kiosks and anything else for which screen space, input mechanisms or system resources are limited. Matchbox consists of a number of interchangable and optional applications that can be tailored to a specific non desktop platform to enhance usability in a 'constrained' enviroment. Meta Window Manager MetaWM is a modular codebase intended to reduce redundancy between window managers, and provide a platform for experimentation for new aspiring window manager developers. Metacity Metacity is a simple window manager that integrates nicely with GNOME 2. Metisse Metisse is a window manager developped by the In Situ project. Available under the GPL Licence and in exclusivity for Mandriva Linux, Metisse differs from a classic 3D desktop ("the cube") in the way that it offers innovative windows interactions, thus enforcing work efficiency. miwm Microscopic Window Manager: a minimalist window manager with virtual workspaces. MIWM is written in C++, for the X window system. mlvwm mlvwm is a Macintosh like virtual window manager. This window manager is developed under FreeBSD 2.2 with XFree86 3.2 on Libretto 50. This window manager needs the XPM library. Multi-Cursor Window Manager A Multi-Cursor window manager is a modified Unix window manager which provides multiple cursors. This allows multiple users to simultaneously interact with a Unix desktop environment. Using a modified x2x client users can capture the keyboard and mouse input from their workstation and send to their personal cursor on a shared computer display. Multiple cursors are distinguished by different colors, and users can simultaneously interact with separate windows. NovaWM NovaWM is developed with speed, size, and style in mind. NovaWM was also developed with the idea of intergration and digital media in mind and so future versions of NovaWM are planned to support easy application intergration and have support for intergration of digital media applications. Openbox Openbox is a standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager. Openbox works with your applications, and makes your desktop easier to manage. This is because the approach to its development was the opposite of what seems to be the general case for window managers. Openbox was written first to comply with standards and to work properly. Only when that was in place did the team turn to the visual interface. Openbox is fully functional as a stand-alone working environment, or can be used as a drop-in replacement for the default window manager in the GNOME or KDE desktop environments. OpenMotif OpenMotif is the publicly licensed version of Motif, the industry standard user interface toolkit for UNIX and Linux systems. Oroborus Oroborus is a small, themeable window manager for X which provides all the necessary window management functions as well as a themeable desktop, full keyboard controls and virtual desktops. Oroborus doesn't provide any kind of dock, toolbar, program launcher, background changer or root menu as these are added weight and their functions can be provided by seperate applications. It is GNOME compliant. pawm Pawm is a window manager for the X Window system. So it's not a 'desktop' and doesn't offer you a huge pile of useless options, just the facilities needed to run your X applications and at the same time having a friendly and easy to use interface. pekwm pekwm is based on aewm++, but has a number of new functions such as window grouping and configurable Rootmenu. perlwm perlwm is a window manager written in perl! Using perl will allow extra logic to be defined in configuration files. Phluid Phluid emphasizes efficiency, speed, and beauty. It uses rasterman's Imlib2 library as the image/font rendering backend. Phluid also attempts to be flexible and compliant with the ICCCM standard. Piewm Piewm is a window manager with pie menus. plwm The Pointless Window Manager: a set of window managing primitives for the Python programming language. It consists of a C module for the basic X functions, and a Python module with the necessary tools to create your own window manager. PWM PWM is a lightweight window manager that does not support icons, memory-exhausting themes or CPU-eating superfluous graphical effects. There are no buttons in the title bar either and only "sloppy" focus mode is supported. It does support multiple workspaces, frame shading, primitive menus and Window Maker dockapps. PycaWM PycaWM is a reparenting window manager written in Python. It is meant to be easily extended/modified. PyWM PyWM is a small, simple python-programmable X window manager that's packed with features yet very easy to learn and use. PyWM is a "pythonised" version of the fast light FLWM window manager, and gives you easy-to-use tools to create your own personal dream desktop. qlwm qlwm is yet another window manager for the X11 system. Because it makes heavy use of a high level API it can be kept small, stable and easy to maintain. One of the design rules was to get a non-intrusive environment that does not bother the user with unnecessary details or features while providing comfort and high functionality. qvwm qvwm is a window manager that provides a strong solution for a Windows 95 like environment on X Window System. ratpoison Ratpoison is a simple Window Manager with no fat library dependencies, no fancy graphics, no window decorations, and no rodent dependence. It is largely modelled after GNU Screen which has done wonders in the virtual terminal market. Rio Rio is a window manager for X which attempts to emulate the window management policies of Plan 9?s rio window manager. sawfish Sawfish is an extensible window manager using a Lisp-based scripting language --all window decorations are configurable and all user-interface policy is controlled through the extension language. This is no layer on top of twm, but a wholly new architecture. Despite this extensibility its policy is very minimal compared to most window managers. Its aim is simply to manage windows in the most flexible and attractive manner possible. Screen Screen is a full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal between several processes, typically interactive shells. Each virtual terminal provides the functions of the DEC VT100 terminal and, in addition, several control functions from the ANSI X3.64 (ISO 6429) and ISO 2022 standards. scwm Scheme Constraints/Configurable Window Manager: a window manager with a powerful dynamic configuration language based on Guile Scheme. Scwm has many, many advanced features, often implemented in the configuration language itself Stump Window Manager Stump Window Manager is a tiling, keyboard driven X11 Window Manager written entirely in Common Lisp. Stumpwm attempts to be customizable yet visually minimal. There are no window decorations, no icons, and no buttons. It does have various hooks to attach your personal customizations, and variables to tweak. stwm Shell-controllable TWM provides a shell-based interface which enables to operate windows without mouse operation. subtle Subtle is a tiling window manager with a slightly different approach to place the windows: the placement is done by tiling windows that arrange every child window either in a horizontal or a vertical manner. Client or even tiling windows can be moved/dragged into a tile, and will be arranged according to the tile type. Every window can be swapped, as well as shaded inside of its parent tile. SWM sWM was written for small computer system with very little amount of memory and small screen sizes. It was written to speed up working with laptops or even PDA's. You need a minimum of about 12k of diskspace (minimal mode). It uses even less memory than a rxvt. TinyWM TinyWM is a tiny window manager that I created as an exercise in minimalism. It is also maybe helpful in learning some of the very basics of creating a window manager. It is only around 50 lines of C. There is also a Python version using python-xlib. Toy'd Toy'd is an advanced window manager built on top of Aoof-Wm, an advanced object oriented framework designed specifically for the development of portable window management systems. treewm treewm is a window manager that tries to implement a new concept. In addition to the client windows the user can create desktops which can themselves contain windows and desktops. TrsWM TrsWM is based on Ion. The fundamental principles behind this project are the reduction of manual window positioning and the ability to completely manage windows using only the keyboard. Twindy Twindy is a window manager for linux (& possibly any system running an X server?) inspired by Tracktion, the multitrack audio editor/sequencer for Windows and OS X. Twindy tries to apply Tracktion's workflow, where everything is on screen at once, to a window manager. As such, there are two panels, a main panel where new windows/programs open by default and may be selected using tabs, and a lower panel, which can only hold one window/program at a time. VTWM VTWM is an extension of TWM, implements a Virtual Desktop that sports a fully-configurable 3D interface. VTWM's is user-configurable: The VD's initial scale, size, and position. The colors of the VD, the real screen, and the windows within. The windows that may or may not be represented within. External image (XPM) files can decorate the VD and the real screen. VWD VWD operates like MS Windows 9x, allowing users to migrate from the Windows platform to the Linux platform without great impact. w9wm w9wm is a quick & dirty hack based on 9wm that provides support for virtual screens. Waimea Waimea is a virtual desktop window manager for X11 designed to be fast and highly customizable. It uses Blackbox image rendering engine (Blackbox styles support) and can use Xrender extension for rendering fonts (anti-aliased font support). WeeWM WeeWM is a window manager for XFree that is fast, ultra light, all can be done with keyboard. WindowLab WindowLab is a small and simple window manager of novel design. It has a click-to-focus but not raise-on-focus policy, a window resizing mechanism that allows one or many edges of a window to be changed in one action, and an innovative menubar that shares the same part of the screen as the taskbar. Window titlebars are prevented from going off the edge of the screen by constraining the mouse pointer, and when appropriate the pointer is also constrained to the taskbar/menubar in order to make target menu items easier to hit. wm2 Using wm2, you can move windows around the screen, resize windows both horizontally and vertically, hide windows, restore hidden windows and delete windows. wm2 also adds a stylish frame to each managed window. wmG A window manager for X that is minimalistic, and designed for use with Gnome. It is GTK based, and so matches GTK programs better than any other window manager. It is fully ICCCM and Gnome compliant, as well as partial Mwm compliance. wmii wmii is a dynamic window manager for X11, which is highly customizable and usable with keyboard and mouse. It supports conventional, tabbed and tiled window management with low memory footprint. It is highly modularized and uses an inter-process communication interface which conforms to the 9P2000 protocol of Plan 9. wmx a window manager for X. It's based on wm2, and it retains a similar look and feel xmonad xmonad is a tiling window manager for X. Windows are arranged automatically to tile the screen without gaps or overlap, maximising screen use. Window manager features are accessible from the keyboard; a mouse is optional. xmonad is extensible in Haskell, allowing for powerful customisation. Custom layout algorithms, key bindings, and other extensions may be written by the user in config files. Layouts are applied dynamically, and different layouts may be used on each workspace. Xinerama is fully supported, allowing windows to be tiled on several physical screens. XSWM XSWM is a fast and light window manager for Linux/BSD based on EvilWM. Features: No mouse needed, key shortcuts, and on screen display of messages. yeahwm yeahwm a minimalist wm for X based on evilwm. Features include: Sloppy Focus, BeOS-like tabbed titles, Support for Xinerama, and good keyboard control. ZWM ZWM is a SDL based Window Manager and Widget library intended to be used in cross platform Applications.
