Products · Broad category
tiling window managers
Raised as a usability problem by 44 people on Hacker News over 18 years (2009–2026), in 41 threads.
This is a broad category rather than one product, so its issues aren't ranked on the home page.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Cumbersome and confusing without a rigid workflowUnreviewed
20092026- Exploring tiling WMs requires installing and manually assembling bars, tools and workarounds2026-05-24
- Fullscreen a window is hard to find or do in other tiling WMs2024-08-26
- Hard to remember keyboard shortcuts needed to operate tiling window managers2024-08-26
Each new window forces decisions about position, workspace and resizingUnreviewed
20092026- Adding a new window next to others forces extra regrouping steps and breaks focus2026-04-25
- Forces manual window rearranging once a few windows fill the layout, creating friction for temporary windows2026-01-31
- Constantly re-planning window layouts as tasks change is exhausting and never feels right2022-02-08
Windows end up oddly sized and must be floated manuallyUnreviewed
20092026- Automatic grid forces windows into wrong sizes, unlike manual sizing2023-09-05
- Windows end up oddly sized and unusable, or must be floated manually2021-12-05
- Windows become tiny and unusable when more than three or four are open2012-09-11
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Keyboard-only browsers are less intuitive than using a mouse for web browsing2026-08-31
- Exploring tiling WMs requires installing and manually assembling bars, tools and workarounds2026-05-24
- Adding a new window next to others forces extra regrouping steps and breaks focus2026-04-25
- Forces manual window rearranging once a few windows fill the layout, creating friction for temporary windows2026-01-31
- Fixes for fuzzy fonts and strobing are buried in obscure GitHub threads2025-11-14
- Stacking window managers waste space on a draggable window bar2025-09-25
- Selecting text in one pane jumps focus to prompt, losing scroll position2024-08-28
- Fullscreen a window is hard to find or do in other tiling WMs2024-08-26
- Hard to remember keyboard shortcuts needed to operate tiling window managers2024-08-26
- Keeps bouncing off tiling window managers; forced tiling feels less intuitive than overlapping windows2024-06-06
- Tiling managers behave strangely and are hard to use2024-06-06
- Automatic grid forces windows into wrong sizes, unlike manual sizing2023-09-05
- Windows tile in unusable ways, forcing constant manual micromanagement2023-07-26
- Tiling window managers need a steep learning curve and lots of configuration to set up2023-06-13
- Tiling window managers need constant manual window moving and resizing, and many apps don't fit2023-03-04
- Auto-tiling often places windows wrongly, and many programs must be forced into floating mode2023-03-03
- Tiled windows end up awkwardly sized, forcing scrolling that overlapping windows avoid2023-01-04
- Configuring screen locker and volume keys takes a long time, so users give up on tiling window managers2022-07-05
- Tiling makes windows awkward sizes, causing needless scrolling and constant manual resizing2022-06-17
- Tiling window managers force window sizes that are wrong for large screens, making them unusable2022-06-11
- Hard to learn; too many keyboard shortcuts to master2022-05-17
- Memorizing many exotic keybindings and getting apps to cooperate is hard2022-02-11
- Constantly re-planning window layouts as tasks change is exhausting and never feels right2022-02-08
- Constant window fiddling and preemptive positioning creates a heavy cognitive burden2022-02-08
- Windows end up oddly sized and unusable, or must be floated manually2021-12-05
- Broken for mouse-driven workflow, making them unusable beyond programming and typing2021-09-22
- Tiling window managers become cumbersome and confusing without a rigid workflow2021-04-14
- With more than about five windows open, tiled layouts become a huge mess2021-03-17
- Tiling window managers have less mouse support than wanted, and making mouse support work is involved2020-12-16
- Spent too much time tweaking toolbar and UI configuration to get it working2020-09-16
- Auto-tiled windows break websites that switch to mobile layout or become unusable2020-09-16
- Juggling 10-12 windows on one screen with tiling or virtual desktops feels much harder2020-08-09
- Too many keyboard shortcuts to memorize for tiling window managers2020-03-30
- Users can't tell where windows are and must alt-tab or hunt with the mouse2020-02-17
- Every new window forces decisions about workspace, position and resizing, causing cognitive overload2019-03-11
- Every new window forces decisions about position, workspace and resizing of other windows2019-03-11
- Tiling window managers are awkward for mouse-heavy programs with many floating windows open2019-03-01
- Steep learning curve and hours of configuration needed to get them working2019-02-26
- Alt-based keybindings clash with Emacs and Firefox shortcuts2017-09-01
- Window manager gets in the way or lacks features, forcing time-wasting configuration2017-04-12
- Tiling window managers are hard to use with a mouse for splitting screen2017-04-03
- No usable defaults, so everything must be configured from scratch2016-06-28
- Tiled layouts make windows too small or fit too little on screen2016-04-27
- Tiled windows waste space on sidebars the user doesn't need, and can't be overlapped to cover them2016-01-19
- Window arrangement requires memorising keyboard shortcuts and editing config files instead of dragging with the mouse2015-12-13
- Requires learning shortcuts and internalizing the layout system to use2014-12-17
- Tiling window managers are hard to configure, requiring specific programming languages2013-10-05
- Windows become tiny and unusable when more than three or four are open2012-09-11
- Users must consult a manual to learn unlabeled keyboard controls2012-06-21
- No simple way to keep a small chat status window in a corner2009-11-12