i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

Mod-Arrow cycles but not Mod-Shift-Arrow

Sat, 05 Jul 2014 07:19:22 +0000

Say you have three ore more windows, horizontally side by side (just an example case). Pressing `$mod+left` multiple times, will move the focus to the left, and will cycle whenever the focused window is the leftmost one (I mean, the rightmost window will get the focus). The same does not occur with `$mod+shift+left`, which move the window to the left, however, not cycling. Intuitively or from an UI design point of view, both or none of both, should cycle. Is this on purpose? I if it is, what's the rational for this? If it is not, is there a way to make `$mod+shift+` cycling too? If there is no easy way to make it cycle the same, is it a good idea to open a ticket for this (red‑face)?

Comment by ANOKNUSA for
Say you have three ore more windows, horizontally side by side (just an example case). Pressing `$mod+left` multiple times, will move the focus to the left, and will cycle whenever the focused window is the leftmost one (I mean, the rightmost window will get the focus).

The same does not occur with `$mod+shift+left`, which move the window to the left, however, not cycling.

Intuitively or from an UI design point of view, both or none of both, should cycle.

Is this on purpose? I if it is, what's the rational for this? If it is not, is there a way to make `$mod+shift+<direction>` cycling too? If there is no easy way to make it cycle the same, is it a good idea to open a ticket for this (red‑face)?

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 18:57:55 +0000

The rationale for this is that when I move a window to the right, I don't want it popping up on the left side of the screen. Your example of 3 windows is probably the only imaginable case where cycling like that would be feasible. It would make any complex layout nearly impossible, however.

Comment by tigrezno for
Say you have three ore more windows, horizontally side by side (just an example case). Pressing `$mod+left` multiple times, will move the focus to the left, and will cycle whenever the focused window is the leftmost one (I mean, the rightmost window will get the focus).

The same does not occur with `$mod+shift+left`, which move the window to the left, however, not cycling.

Intuitively or from an UI design point of view, both or none of both, should cycle.

Is this on purpose? I if it is, what's the rational for this? If it is not, is there a way to make `$mod+shift+<direction>` cycling too? If there is no easy way to make it cycle the same, is it a good idea to open a ticket for this (red‑face)?

Mon, 07 Jul 2014 18:22:38 +0000

the thing is that cycling focus and moving a container are different actions and subject to different behaviours IMHO.