GNOME is planning a new and unconventional way of managing windows, aiming to revamp the user experience and improve multitasking. The current window management functionality of GNOME has remained more or less the same for quite some time. It's simple and can be enhanced with some tiling functionality using GNOME extensions like Forge. However, the GNOME design team has come up with a fresh concept that could potentially revolutionize how we handle multiple windows on the same screen space.
The traditional way of handling multiple windows has not changed significantly over the years. Usually, when new windows are opened, existing ones get moved out of view, hiding their content. This can be annoying, especially when multitasking. There are ways to get around this, like using workspaces, taskbars, switchers, and more recently, tiling. But all these methods have some flaws. This is where GNOME's new window management concept comes into play.
Key Concepts
The new window management concept aims to achieve three main things:
1. It should be autonomous, with the option for user-side adjustment.
2. It should use workspaces as part of the overall workflow.
3. It should have access to richer window metadata.
The concept includes three potential layout states for window management, namely Mosaic, Maximization, and Manual Tiling.
Mosaic
"Mosaic" would be the default behavior. When you open an app, the window opens centered on the screen in the size that works best for it. When more windows are opened, the existing windows would move aside automatically to make space for the new ones.
Maximization
If a window wants to be maximized, instead of fitting in a tile, it will move to its own workspace.
Manual Tiling
You would also be able to manually tile these windows, provided there's enough space. If there's no space for the Mosaic layout, then you would be prompted to pick another window to go alongside the already tiled one.
Richer Window Metadata
In traditional tiling window managers, they cannot take into account the optimum window sizes of apps and are just limited to the amount of screen space available. This causes various apps to look very odd. For example, a PDF reader app, besides a bunch of other tiled windows, would make the text too small to read properly.
This is where richer window metadata comes in. The plan is to consider the size of a window beyond which the content stops looking good. This would allow the new window management system to integrate far better than any traditional tiling system.
It's important to note that this idea is in the very early stages of development and is bound to evolve significantly along the way. The mockups discussed won't necessarily be how they will be in the final product. The team has also shared that there's no timeline or roadmap for this, and it is a GNOME 46 or later thing for them.
It is certainly exciting to see that GNOME is willing to completely reimagine the window management concept. The new approach promises to enhance user experience and improve productivity, especially when working with multiple windows on the same screen.