Gala is the window manager and compositor developed by elementary for the Pantheon desktop environment. Based on Mutter’s compositing infrastructure, it provides window management, desktop animations and a range of interactions designed to complement Pantheon’s visual appearance.
Gala is responsible for managing application windows, workspaces and graphical desktop transitions. Its multitasking view allows users to see open windows and move between workspaces, while animations help make changes to the desktop layout easier to follow.
The compositor is designed to integrate with other Pantheon components, including the desktop panel, dock and system interface. It also provides touchpad and touchscreen interactions for navigating windows and workspaces.
Earlier Gala releases supported X11 sessions alongside Wayland. Current development concentrates on Wayland, although the X11-capable releases remain relevant to existing installations.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Compositing window manager with integration into the Pantheon desktop.
- Multitasking view showing application windows and available workspaces.
- Workspace switching and window management animations.
- Touchpad gestures for navigating between workspaces and desktop views.
- Touchscreen gestures for interacting with the multitasking view.
- Keyboard shortcuts for controlling windows and moving between workspaces.
- Window switching with graphical previews and animated transitions.
- Window minimisation, maximisation and fullscreen management.
- Support for multiple monitors and display scaling.
- Window screenshot functionality with handling for associated menus.
- Integration with Pantheon’s desktop panel and dock.
- Support for graphical effects, including background blur where available.
- Internationalisation and translated user interface components.
- Integration with Mutter’s graphical composition and display management capabilities.
Website: github.com/elementary/gala
Support:
Developer: elementary team and contributors
License: GNU General Public License v3.0
Gala is written in Vala. Learn Vala with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Stacking Window Managers | |
|---|---|
| Openbox | Standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager |
| KWin | Window manager for the KDE Plasma Desktop |
| Mutter | Wayland display server and X11 window manager and compositor library |
| FVWM | Powerful ICCCM-compliant multiple virtual desktop window manager |
| berry | Healthy, bite-sized window manager |
| xfwm | Part of the Xfce desktop environment |
| Window Maker | NeXTSTEP-like window manager |
| JWM | Joe’s Window Manager |
| Gala | Designed by elementary for use with Pantheon |
| Fluxbox | Highly configurable and low resource |
| evilwm | Maximises screen real estate and provides good keyboard control |
| Worm | Tiny, dynamic, tag-based window manager |
| Blackbox | Similar to the NeXT interface and Window Maker |
| Enlightenment | Focuses on pushing the limits of existing technologies |
| PekWM | Originally based on the aewm++ window manager |
| Marco | MATE default window manager |
| 2bwm | Offers 2 borders, and written over the XCB library |
| cwm | OpenBSD fork of calmwn, a clean and lightweight window manager |
| IceWM | Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager |
| Sawfish | Extensible window manager using an Emacs Lisp-like scripting language |
| Moksha | Modern iteration of the Enlightenment window manager |
| Magpie | X11 window manager and compositor library |
| EMWM | Fork of the Motif Window Manager |
| sowm | Itsy bitsy floating window manager |
| CTWM | X11 window manager derived from twm |
| Compiz | OpenGL window and compositing manager |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Compositing Window Managers | |
|---|---|
| sway | i3-compatible tiling Wayland compositor and a replacement for i3 |
| KWin | Window manager for the KDE Plasma Desktop |
| Mutter | Wayland display server and X11 window manager and compositor library |
| Moksha | Modern iteration of the Enlightenment window manager |
| xfwm | Part of the Xfce desktop environment |
| Compiz | OpenGL window and compositing manager |
| Gala | Designed by elementary for use with Pantheon |
| Enlightenment | Focuses on pushing the limits of existing technologies |
| Magpie | X11 window manager and compositor library |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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