jns

I've been an #fvwm user for a long time (early 2000's) and I've always appreciated it being more configurable than any other window manager out there.

But lately, there's been a few excellent scriptable window managers popping up that have it beat. After many random attempts, I've finally switched the main desktop to #awesomewm

The biggest challenge has been how to make it not look so darn flat. I like my #cde / #motif / #4dwm / whatever style borders, so getting that implemented in awesomewm took me an embarrassingly long time, but the fact that I was able to do it, is certainly a testament to it's customizability.

Video of what it looks like:

https://toobnix.org/w/a2fuZ7zcdWfESMvfbigN3U

#gopher post with details: gopher://gopher.linkerror.com/0/phlog/2026/20260520

git repo: https://linkerror.com/git/jns/awesomewm_config/src/branch/main/

motif/cde/4dwm/whatever borders in aweseomewm

PeerTube
May 20 at 6:06pmWeb
Show threadjnsMay 20

I explained this in the gopher post, but i suppose i ought to elaborate here as well - it's about more than just looks, but also functionality.

For instance - by default, a maximized window in awesomewm is not move-able. So I wrote my own maximize/restore function which makes them movable.

Awesomewm events are relatively low level, and do not implement a double-click signal, so i had to implement that for the close button as well.

Getting the L-shaped corners to fit right, and make all the border resize actions behave as expected also took a bit of fiddling.

Show threadEthan BlantonMay 20

@jns I love this! I also used Fvwm for many, many years (about 1994 to 2015, maybe?) with only a few short diversions (E, sawfish) in the early 2000s, and then subsequently switched to Awesome. I also changed my window management habits (most of my tags are not floating), but there are still things I miss from Fvwm!

The git link doesn't work for me, it seems to require a login; I'd love to look at your decor if it could be opened up!

Show threadjnsMay 20
@elb The git link works :) You just have to create an account, and then you can view it - my gitea requires login to prevent ai scraping, but any one can create an account.