Window manager

Scheme of the layers of the graphical user interface

A window manager controls windows decoration

A window manager or window manager is a computer program that controls the location and appearance of windows under a window system in a graphical user interface.

Actions associated with the window manager are usually open, close, minimize, maximize, move, scale and keep a list of open windows. It is also very common for the window manager to integrate elements such as: the window decorator, a panel, a virtual desktop viewer, icons and a wallpaper.

The Windows, Haiku OS (MIT free software) and Mac OS X platforms offer a window manager standardized by their vendors and/or developers and integrated into the operating system itself. On the other hand, the X Window System, popular in the field of Unix and similar systems, such as GNU/Linux, allows the user to choose between various managers. Window managers differ from one another in many ways, including appearance, memory consumption, customization options, multiple or virtual desktops, and similarity to certain existing desktop environments, among others.

X Window Managers

On systems using the X Window System, there is a clear distinction between the window manager and the window system. Strictly a window manager for the X Window System, it does not directly interact with the video hardware, mouse or keyboard, which are the responsibility of the X server.

Window Managers for the X Window System

Popular

Other window managers

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows XP allows the user to change a limited number of window management options, mainly aesthetic ones.

Windows Vista has a built-in window composition manager called the Desktop window manager. This window manager can be used by various user interfaces with varying levels of sophistication. By default it uses the Windows Aero glass environment with 3D acceleration.

Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) is used by default on modern Windows systems to provide a file manager and panels, along with many window manager functions; Aspects of Windows can be modified through the provided configuration utilities, by modifying the Windows registry, or by using third-party tools, such as Resource Hacker.

Haiku OS

Haiku OS inherited its window manager from its father, if one could say so, the BeOS operating system, the operating system of which its kernel was sold and when it was sold by BE inc to the PDA manufacturer, Palm, Be inc, its previous owners, previously released the window manager and other programs that made up the beos system as free software under the MIT license, leaving the door open for the creation of a kernel that could fill the gap and thus build on the kernel that initially became known as NewOS grew into what we know today as Haiku OS.

Aside from the common functions like grabbing, climbing etc, Haiku OS's interface provides a unique feature, which makes sense of why its windows are framed by a yellow tab and not by a bar as is common in other systems. operating, this reason is known as ¨Stack & Tile¨ and it is the ability to use any window of the operating system as the tabs are used in a browser but independent of the application you can put several applications in a single window by pressing the win key, to this we can add that if instead of putting the window on top of another to merge it we bring it closer to its edges these windows stick together as if it were a single window but with two tab contexts, this function is unique in Haiku OS so far.

Mac OS X

Mac OS X has its own built-in system and window manager. However, it is possible to use the X Window System and window managers for it, such as XMonad.

Others

There are window managers for less common environments, such as Webwm, a window manager for web pages.

Window manager types

Window managers can be divided into three classes based on the way they handle windows. This categorization is not strictly exclusive, as there are window managers that implement features from various categories.

Window Layout Managers

Window layout managers allow all windows to be created and drawn separately and then combined and drawn in various 2D and 3D environments. This allows for a wide variety of interface styles and the presence of 2D and 3D visual effects.

Mac OS X was the first operating system packaged with a window composition manager. It was followed by Linux distributions thanks to Compiz and others, and later Windows Vista.

Stack Window Managers

All window managers that have overlapping windows and do not handle composition are stacked window managers, although not all use the same methodologies. These managers allow multiple windows to overlap by drawing the bottommost windows first.

Tile Window Managers

Tile window managers or tiling window managers position all windows to fill the entire screen without overlapping. That is why it is said that it places the windows in a kind of mosaic, Microsoft Windows 1.0 uses this type of positioning and currently there are many managers of this type for X Window.