https://faq.i3wm.org/questions/Frequently asked questions and answers about the i3 window managerenCopyright i3, 2012Tue, 13 May 2014 15:31:45 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/Is there any way to make a hotkey that opens a terminal in floating mode? I have `$mod Mod4` set to open regular terminals (which are tiled/non-floating by default), and would like to have for example `$mod+shift Mod4` open a terminal in floating mode.Mon, 12 May 2014 07:39:08 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?answer=3795#post-id-3795Here's a worked example of what badboy_ suggested # Scratchpad terminal. # https://faq.i3wm.org/question/2420/dropdown-terminal-in-i3/ # Using a custom title string with criteria is deliberate and keeps things simple. exec --no-startup-id terminator -l KJ -T "Life is beautiful." for_window [instance="terminator" title="Life"] floating enable, move scratchpad, scratchpad show; for_window [instance="terminator" title="Life"] resize grow left 300, resize grow right 300, resize grow down 150, resize grow up 100, move scratchpad; bindsym Menu [instance="terminator" title="Life"] scratchpad show bindsym Print [instance="terminator" title="Life"] scratchpad showMon, 12 May 2014 17:20:37 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?answer=3795#post-id-3795https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?comment=3810#comment-3810Thanks Adaephon for the floating enable correction. Regarding the absolute setting of floating window size, see https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3727/how-to-resize-container-to-a-predefined-size/Tue, 13 May 2014 15:31:45 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?comment=3810#comment-3810https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?comment=3805#comment-3805Thanks, this worked well. I removed the resize commands, since my terminal seems to have a weird size at startup, but I never restart my machine anyway, so I'll just resize the terminal manually when needed. They should implement a "set size" command, in addition to the resize command.Tue, 13 May 2014 07:49:04 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?comment=3805#comment-3805https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?comment=3803#comment-3803`floating enable` should not ne be necessary, as `move scratchpad` automatically enables floating. Tue, 13 May 2014 07:20:57 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?comment=3803#comment-3803https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?answer=3791#post-id-3791There are different solutions: 1. You could use the [scratchpad](http://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html#_scratchpad), and use a script to check if a scratchpad terminal is already opened or open one. 2. Give your terminal a special instance name and use [for_window](http://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html#_arbitrary_commands_for_specific_windows_for_window) to make it floatingMon, 12 May 2014 08:00:28 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?answer=3791#post-id-3791https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?comment=3792#comment-3792Interesting, I've never heard of the scratchpad before. I'll do some testing!Mon, 12 May 2014 08:05:20 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?comment=3792#comment-3792https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?answer=3793#post-id-3793With `xterm`, `roxterm` and probably most other gtk-based terminal emulators you can change the class of the window with `--class CLASSNAME`. Use this to separate between floating and tiled windows: for_window [class="FXTerm"] floating enable bindsym $mod+Mod4 exec xterm bindsym $mod+Shift+Mod4 exec xterm --class FXTerm (This may also work with some other terminal emulators, but probably not with `rxvt`) In i3 *floating* is an attribute that can be attributed to a window only after it has been created. It cannot be passed as parameter to `exec` and chaining `exec` and `floating enable` in a single command is unreliable because of timing issues. `for_window` can be used execute commands for a certain windows (depending on their title, class or a few other parameters). Aside from changing the class, you could set a title, but many shell configurations try to change the terminal title, so there could be some timing issues there. Changing the class has the possible drawback (advantage?) that some X Resources (usually defined in `~/.Xresources` or `~/.Xdefaults`) may have to be changed to work with the new class.Mon, 12 May 2014 08:51:56 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/3790/hotkey-for-opening-floating-terminal/?answer=3793#post-id-3793