Keep placeholder alive when application exists.
I'm using saved layouts, but some programs reopen their windows when changing their settings or even when starting.
When I start said program, the window gets swallowed by the corresponding container, then the application closes and reopens the window and it lands at the end of the container.
It would be great if I could tell the placeholder to stay where it is and go back into "placeholding mode" until another matching window is spawned.
Is there any way to configure placeholders to behave that way, that I just missed in the docs?
The answer is "no," but I'm curious: When you say some applications "reopen their windows...even when starting," which ones are you talking about?
The *Steam* client does something like this. Between self-updating and additional windows for sale notifications it is quite unpredictable.
Steam is a lost cause, since it seems to manage windows internally. Users of floating WMs won't notice anything odd, but several tilers have problems with it: Tooltips grabbing focus, pop-ups moving on their own, poor window sizing, etc. It uses stupid fading effects too, even without compositing.
I would love some kind of persisted placeholders. My usual setup are some terminals with logs and automatic testing suites (guard). From time to time, these have to be restarted or they just crash out $REASON. It would be nice when I could restart them on my side and i3 would put it in its old place
I run x2go, so a bunch of windows go away and eventually come back. – I would like them to be where I left them! The placeholder mechanism is too weak. Even without x2go, I would want my terminals to end up at the same place, i.e. I close the window and I open them again. That should be supported.