i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

additional dock (docky, GLX-Dock, awn...)

Tue, 28 May 2013 13:32:46 +0000

Hi all, In my quest to make i3 even more awesome for me, I am trying different things and playing with some config files.
Currently I am using XFCE with i3 as window manager. This is great, because I am used to XFCE and it plays really well with the tiling wm.
What I tried today, was to use an additional dock (I tried the ones from the title) for some eye candy. Has anybody already have a similar setup? **docky** seems to run fine (unfortunately I can't put it on top of screen)
**GLX-Dock** was working on bottom (then I put it on the right edge and it screwd up. I had to kill it from another tty, because I wasn't even able to open a new terminal.
No luck so far with **awn**...
**xfce4-bar** works lovely. **Edit:**
As a new user to i3, I am interested to make the most of it. The i3 documentation is pretty good, but to achieve some more advanced/customized experience I prefer examples. That is the background for the (not so clear) question. I am (still) eager to see and hear what kind of launchers you use.
Where are the cli-die-hards that only use dmenu (or what have you). Where are the advantages. How does your config look like?
Are there also some "klickibunti" GUI guys, that prefer nice colorful menus? I mean who does not like to have a nice PC?
Of course I also like to hear from anyone that is somewhere in between (like most will be).
I hoped to see some solutions and inputs from other i3 users.

Comment by cee for
Hi all,

In my quest to make i3 even more awesome for me, I am trying different things and playing with some config files.
Currently I am using XFCE with i3 as window manager. This is great, because I am used to XFCE and it plays really well with the tiling wm.
What I tried today, was to use an additional dock (I tried the ones from the title) for some eye candy.

Has anybody already have a similar setup?

docky seems to run fine (unfortunately I can't put it on top of screen)
GLX-Dock was working on bottom (then I put it on the right edge and it screwd up. I had to kill it from another tty, because I wasn't even able to open a new terminal.
No luck so far with awn...
xfce4-bar works lovely.

Edit:
As a new user to i3, I am interested to make the most of it. The i3 documentation is pretty good, but to achieve some more advanced/customized experience I prefer examples. That is the background for the (not so clear) question. I am (still) eager to see and hear what kind of launchers you use.
Where are the cli-die-hards that only use dmenu (or what have you). Where are the advantages. How does your config look like?
Are there also some "klickibunti" GUI guys, that prefer nice colorful menus? I mean who does not like to have a nice PC?
Of course I also like to hear from anyone that is somewhere in between (like most will be).
I hoped to see some solutions and inputs from other i3 users.

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 06:58:45 +0000

I just wanted to know if anybody already has played with different dock applications.

Comment by joepd for
Hi all,

In my quest to make i3 even more awesome for me, I am trying different things and playing with some config files.
Currently I am using XFCE with i3 as window manager. This is great, because I am used to XFCE and it plays really well with the tiling wm.
What I tried today, was to use an additional dock (I tried the ones from the title) for some eye candy.

Has anybody already have a similar setup?

docky seems to run fine (unfortunately I can't put it on top of screen)
GLX-Dock was working on bottom (then I put it on the right edge and it screwd up. I had to kill it from another tty, because I wasn't even able to open a new terminal.
No luck so far with awn...
xfce4-bar works lovely.

Edit:
As a new user to i3, I am interested to make the most of it. The i3 documentation is pretty good, but to achieve some more advanced/customized experience I prefer examples. That is the background for the (not so clear) question. I am (still) eager to see and hear what kind of launchers you use.
Where are the cli-die-hards that only use dmenu (or what have you). Where are the advantages. How does your config look like?
Are there also some "klickibunti" GUI guys, that prefer nice colorful menus? I mean who does not like to have a nice PC?
Of course I also like to hear from anyone that is somewhere in between (like most will be).
I hoped to see some solutions and inputs from other i3 users.

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 06:30:25 +0000

Your question is not really clear, but as you apparently have a partial answer, why don't you answer yourself?

Comment by joepd for
Hi all,

In my quest to make i3 even more awesome for me, I am trying different things and playing with some config files.
Currently I am using XFCE with i3 as window manager. This is great, because I am used to XFCE and it plays really well with the tiling wm.
What I tried today, was to use an additional dock (I tried the ones from the title) for some eye candy.

Has anybody already have a similar setup?

docky seems to run fine (unfortunately I can't put it on top of screen)
GLX-Dock was working on bottom (then I put it on the right edge and it screwd up. I had to kill it from another tty, because I wasn't even able to open a new terminal.
No luck so far with awn...
xfce4-bar works lovely.

Edit:
As a new user to i3, I am interested to make the most of it. The i3 documentation is pretty good, but to achieve some more advanced/customized experience I prefer examples. That is the background for the (not so clear) question. I am (still) eager to see and hear what kind of launchers you use.
Where are the cli-die-hards that only use dmenu (or what have you). Where are the advantages. How does your config look like?
Are there also some "klickibunti" GUI guys, that prefer nice colorful menus? I mean who does not like to have a nice PC?
Of course I also like to hear from anyone that is somewhere in between (like most will be).
I hoped to see some solutions and inputs from other i3 users.

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:03:23 +0000

Guess this is not the best place for a user survey. Please provide your own answer for `xfce4-bar`, as that might help others in a similar quest.

Answer by Techlive Zheng for
Hi all,

In my quest to make i3 even more awesome for me, I am trying different things and playing with some config files.
Currently I am using XFCE with i3 as window manager. This is great, because I am used to XFCE and it plays really well with the tiling wm.
What I tried today, was to use an additional dock (I tried the ones from the title) for some eye candy.

Has anybody already have a similar setup?

docky seems to run fine (unfortunately I can't put it on top of screen)
GLX-Dock was working on bottom (then I put it on the right edge and it screwd up. I had to kill it from another tty, because I wasn't even able to open a new terminal.
No luck so far with awn...
xfce4-bar works lovely.

Edit:
As a new user to i3, I am interested to make the most of it. The i3 documentation is pretty good, but to achieve some more advanced/customized experience I prefer examples. That is the background for the (not so clear) question. I am (still) eager to see and hear what kind of launchers you use.
Where are the cli-die-hards that only use dmenu (or what have you). Where are the advantages. How does your config look like?
Are there also some "klickibunti" GUI guys, that prefer nice colorful menus? I mean who does not like to have a nice PC?
Of course I also like to hear from anyone that is somewhere in between (like most will be).
I hoped to see some solutions and inputs from other i3 users.

Sun, 15 Dec 2013 10:24:32 +0000

I am using docky, and it works fine. Okay, here are the screenshots. h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-1.png h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-2.png (Apparently, I don't have enough karma to upload the screenshot or post links) Currently status is, most of the docklets are working, the application window is not reflected in the docky, also no 3D background or auto-hiding, but it is enough for me now.

Comment by cee for
I am using docky, and it works fine.

Okay, here are the screenshots.

h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-1.png

h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-2.png

(Apparently, I don't have enough karma to upload the screenshot or post links)

Currently status is, most of the docklets are working, the application window is not reflected in the docky, also no 3D background or auto-hiding, but it is enough for me now.

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:24:52 +0000

Thank you. It seems that it is not automatically hidden and shown when mouse is over the hotspot (I guess that would be the default behavour). Anyway looks good, but meanwhile I dropped xfce-bar all together and using only the i3-statusbar.

Comment by Techlive Zheng for
I am using docky, and it works fine.

Okay, here are the screenshots.

h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-1.png

h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-2.png

(Apparently, I don't have enough karma to upload the screenshot or post links)

Currently status is, most of the docklets are working, the application window is not reflected in the docky, also no 3D background or auto-hiding, but it is enough for me now.

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 07:53:37 +0000

@cee screenshots updated, be aware of the blank spaces in 'h t t p s', as I don't have enough karma to post links.

Comment by cee for
I am using docky, and it works fine.

Okay, here are the screenshots.

h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-1.png

h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-2.png

(Apparently, I don't have enough karma to upload the screenshot or post links)

Currently status is, most of the docklets are working, the application window is not reflected in the docky, also no 3D background or auto-hiding, but it is enough for me now.

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 07:32:05 +0000

Do you have a screenshot?

Comment by Techlive Zheng for
I am using docky, and it works fine.

Okay, here are the screenshots.

h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-1.png

h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-2.png

(Apparently, I don't have enough karma to upload the screenshot or post links)

Currently status is, most of the docklets are working, the application window is not reflected in the docky, also no 3D background or auto-hiding, but it is enough for me now.

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:38:09 +0000

@cee Yes, as I said, it does not do auto-hiding at the moment, it seems i3 does not allow it or so.

Comment by cee for
I am using docky, and it works fine.

Okay, here are the screenshots.

h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-1.png

h t t p s://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35104299/i3-docky-2.png

(Apparently, I don't have enough karma to upload the screenshot or post links)

Currently status is, most of the docklets are working, the application window is not reflected in the docky, also no 3D background or auto-hiding, but it is enough for me now.

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:51:16 +0000

Sorry, did not read it well enough till the end.

Answer by cee for
Hi all,

In my quest to make i3 even more awesome for me, I am trying different things and playing with some config files.
Currently I am using XFCE with i3 as window manager. This is great, because I am used to XFCE and it plays really well with the tiling wm.
What I tried today, was to use an additional dock (I tried the ones from the title) for some eye candy.

Has anybody already have a similar setup?

docky seems to run fine (unfortunately I can't put it on top of screen)
GLX-Dock was working on bottom (then I put it on the right edge and it screwd up. I had to kill it from another tty, because I wasn't even able to open a new terminal.
No luck so far with awn...
xfce4-bar works lovely.

Edit:
As a new user to i3, I am interested to make the most of it. The i3 documentation is pretty good, but to achieve some more advanced/customized experience I prefer examples. That is the background for the (not so clear) question. I am (still) eager to see and hear what kind of launchers you use.
Where are the cli-die-hards that only use dmenu (or what have you). Where are the advantages. How does your config look like?
Are there also some "klickibunti" GUI guys, that prefer nice colorful menus? I mean who does not like to have a nice PC?
Of course I also like to hear from anyone that is somewhere in between (like most will be).
I hoped to see some solutions and inputs from other i3 users.

Wed, 10 Jul 2013 22:09:59 +0000

OK. So it seems most of you guys are pretty happy with i3 and don't want any other bars anywhere. Or it's maybe just me posing stupid questions (user serveys, as joepd called it). It took a while to write this answer because I wanted to test it on a clean install, since my main laptop already had (full) xfce and I then only switched window manager. Anyway, here is what I did. - installed xfce4-panel - added 'exec xfce4-panel' to ~/.i3/config (test first if it runs from cli) - installed xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin (nicer start menu for those who like it, not necessary) I guess that's it.