Layouts

lain/layout
.
|-- termfair
|-- termfair.center
|-- cascade
|-- cascade.tile
|-- centerwork
|-- centerwork.horizontal

Usage

Just specify your favourites in the usual way, or set them on specific tags like this:

awful.layout.set(lain.layout.termfair, tag)

How do layouts work?

termfair

I do a lot of work on terminals. The common tiling algorithms usually maximize windows, so you'll end up with a terminal that has about 200 columns or more. That's way too much. Have you ever read a manpage in a terminal of this size?

This layout restricts the size of each window. Each window will have the same width but is variable in height. Furthermore, windows are left-aligned. The basic workflow is as follows (the number above the screen is the number of open windows, the number in a cell is the fixed number of a client):

     (1)                (2)                (3)
+---+---+---+      +---+---+---+      +---+---+---+
|   |   |   |      |   |   |   |      |   |   |   |
| 1 |   |   |  ->  | 2 | 1 |   |  ->  | 3 | 2 | 1 |  ->
|   |   |   |      |   |   |   |      |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+      +---+---+---+      +---+---+---+

     (4)                (5)                (6)
+---+---+---+      +---+---+---+      +---+---+---+
| 4 |   |   |      | 5 | 4 |   |      | 6 | 5 | 4 |
+---+---+---+  ->  +---+---+---+  ->  +---+---+---+
| 3 | 2 | 1 |      | 3 | 2 | 1 |      | 3 | 2 | 1 |
+---+---+---+      +---+---+---+      +---+---+---+

The first client will be located in the left column. When opening another window, this new window will be placed in the left column while moving the first window into the middle column. Once a row is full, another row above it will be created.

Default number of columns and rows are respectively taken from nmaster and ncol values in awful.tag, but you can set your own.

For example, this sets termfair to 3 columns and at least 1 row:

lain.layout.termfair.nmaster = 3
lain.layout.termfair.ncol    = 1

You can also set a global border:

lain.layout.termfair.global_border_width = 1 -- default is 0

termfair.center

Similar to termfair, but with fixed number of vertical columns. Cols are centerded until there are nmaster columns, then windows are stacked as slaves, with possibly ncol clients per column at most.

        (1)                (2)                (3)
   +---+---+---+      +-+---+---+-+      +---+---+---+
   |   |   |   |      | |   |   | |      |   |   |   |
   |   | 1 |   |  ->  | | 1 | 2 | | ->   | 1 | 2 | 3 |  ->
   |   |   |   |      | |   |   | |      |   |   |   |
   +---+---+---+      +-+---+---+-+      +---+---+---+

        (4)                (5)
   +---+---+---+      +---+---+---+
   |   |   | 3 |      |   | 2 | 4 |
   + 1 + 2 +---+  ->  + 1 +---+---+
   |   |   | 4 |      |   | 3 | 5 |
   +---+---+---+      +---+---+---+

Like termfair, default number of columns and rows are respectively taken from nmaster and ncol values in awful.tag, but you can set your own.

For example, this sets termfair.center to 3 columns and at least 1 row:

lain.layout.termfair.center.nmaster = 3
lain.layout.termfair.center.ncol    = 1

Also, `lain.layout.termfair.global_border_width` will be applied here too.

`cascade`
-------

Cascade all windows of a tag.

You can control the offsets by setting these two variables:

```lua
lain.layout.cascade.offset_x = 64
lain.layout.cascade.offset_y = 16

The following reserves space for 5 windows:

lain.layout.cascade.nmaster = 5

That is, no window will get resized upon the creation of a new window, unless there's more than 5 windows.

You can also set a global border:

lain.layout.cascade.global_border_width = 1 -- default is 0

cascade.tile

Similar to awful.layout.suit.tile layout, however, clients in the slave column are cascaded instead of tiled.

Left column size can be set, otherwise is controlled by mwfact of the tag. Additional windows will be opened in another column on the right. New windows are placed above old windows.

Whether the slave column is placed on top of the master window or not is controlled by the value of ncol. A value of 1 means "overlapping slave column" and anything else means "don't overlap windows".

Usage example:

lain.layout.cascade.tile.offset_x      = 2
lain.layout.cascade.tile.offset_y      = 32
lain.layout.cascade.tile.extra_padding = 5
lain.layout.cascade.tile.nmaster       = 5
lain.layout.cascade.tile.ncol          = 1

extra_padding reduces the size of the master window if "overlapping slave column" is activated. This allows you to see if there are any windows in your slave column.

Setting offset_x to a very small value or even 0 is recommended to avoid wasting space.

Also, lain.layout.cascade.global_border_width will be applied here too.

centerwork

You start with one window, centered horizontally:

+--------------------------+
|       +----------+       |
|       |          |       |
|       |          |       |
|       |          |       |
|       |   MAIN   |       |
|       |          |       |
|       |          |       |
|       |          |       |
|       |          |       |
|       +----------+       |
+--------------------------+

This is your main working window. You do most of the work right here. Sometimes, you may want to open up additional windows. They're put on left and right, alternately.

+--------------------------+
| +---+ +----------+ +---+ |
| |   | |          | |   | |
| |   | |          | |   | |
| |   | |          | |   | |
| +---+ |   MAIN   | +---+ |
| +---+ |          | +---+ |
| |   | |          | |   | |
| |   | |          | |   | |
| |   | |          | |   | |
| +---+ +----------+ +---+ |
+--------------------------+

Please note: If you use Awesome's default configuration, navigation in this layout may be very confusing. How do you get from the main window to satellite ones depends on the order in which the windows are opened. Thus, use of awful.client.focus.bydirection() is suggested. Here's an example:

globalkeys = awful.util.table.join(
    -- [...]
    awful.key({ modkey }, "j",
        function()
            awful.client.focus.bydirection("down")
            if client.focus then client.focus:raise() end
        end),
    awful.key({ modkey }, "k",
        function()
            awful.client.focus.bydirection("up")
            if client.focus then client.focus:raise() end
        end),
    awful.key({ modkey }, "h",
        function()
            awful.client.focus.bydirection("left")
            if client.focus then client.focus:raise() end
        end),
    awful.key({ modkey }, "l",
        function()
            awful.client.focus.bydirection("right")
            if client.focus then client.focus:raise() end
        end),
    -- [...]
)

centerwork.horizontal

Same as centerwork, except that the main window expands horizontally, and the additional windows are put ontop/below it. Useful if you have a screen turned 90°.

Pre 4.0 uselesstile patches

Useless gaps have been integrated in Awesome 4.0, so the useless* layouts have been removed.

Following are a couple of uselesstile variants that were not part of lain: they are kept for reference.

Xmonad-like

If you want to have awful.layout.suit.tile behave like xmonad, with internal gaps two times wider than external ones, download this as lain/layout/uselesstile.

Inverted master

Want to invert master window position? Use this version. You can set single_gap with width and height in your theme.lua, in order to define the window geometry when there's only one client, otherwise it goes maximized. An example:

theme.single_gap = { width = 600, height = 100 }

What about layout icons?

They are located in lain/icons/layout.

To use them, define new layout_* variables in your theme.lua. For instance:

theme.lain_icons         = os.getenv("HOME") ..
                           "/.config/awesome/lain/icons/layout/default/"
theme.layout_termfair    = theme.lain_icons .. "termfair.png"
theme.layout_centerfair  = thema.lain_icons .. "centerfair.png"  -- termfair.center
theme.layout_cascade     = theme.lain_icons .. "cascade.png"
theme.layout_cascadetile = theme.lain_icons .. "cascadetile.png" -- cascade.tile
theme.layout_centerwork  = theme.lain_icons .. "centerwork.png"
theme.layout_centerhwork = theme.lain_icons .. "centerworkh.png" -- centerwork.horizontal

Credits go to Nicolas Estibals for creating layout icons for default theme.

You can use them as a template for your custom versions.