KWin

KWin

KWin 4.4 with Cube effect.
Developer(s) KDE
Stable release 4.7.4  (7 December 2011; 2 months ago (2011-12-07))[1] [±]
Preview release

4.8 Beta2  (December 7, 2011; 2 months ago (2011-12-07))[2]

[±]
Written in C++ (Qt)
Operating system Linux, BSD, other Unix-like
Type X window manager
License GNU General Public License

KWin is a window manager for the X Window System. It is an integral part of the KDE Software Compilation, although it can be used on its own or with other desktop environments.

Contents

History

Name Version KDE Version Details
KWM 1.0 1.0
KWin 2.0 2.0 Extended support for themes and window effects.
KWin 3.0 3.2 Improved support for the extended ICCCM standards from freedesktop.org
KWin 4.0 4.0 Compositing support and Compiz-like effects.
KWin 4.4 4.4 Maximizing and tiling by snapping to the screen-edges, grouping and tabbing.[3]
KWin 4.5 4.5 Tiling[4]

Look and feel

There are many window decorations for KWin, including the default Oxygen, Microsoft Windows-like Redmond, and Keramik. IceWM themes can also be used with it, provided the kdeartwork package is installed.

Compositing

Currently available compositing backends include XRender, OpenGL 1.x, OpenGL 2.x, and OpenGL ES 2.0.[5]

Included effects

As of KDE 4.3 the following effects are built-in:

Accessibility

Name Description
Invert Inverts the color of the desktop and windows
Looking glass A screen magnifier that looks like a fish eye lens
Magnifier Magnify the section of the screen that is near the mouse cursor
Sharpen Makes the entire desktop look sharper
Snap Helper Helps locate the centre of the screen when moving a window
Track mouse Display a mouse cursor locating effect when activated
Zoom Magnify the entire desktop

Appearance

Name Description
Explosion Make windows explode when they are closed
Fade Make windows smoothly fade in and out when they are shown or hidden
Fade Desktop Fade between virtual desktops when switching between them
Fall apart Close windows fall into pieces
Highlight Windows Highlight the appropriate window when hovering over taskbar entries
Login Smoothly fade to the desktop when logging in
Logout Desaturate the desktop when displaying the logout dialog
Magic Lamp Simulate a magic lamp when minimizing windows
Minimize animation Animate the minimizing of windows
Mouse mark Allows you to draw lines over your desktop
Scale In Animate the appearance of windows
Sheet Make modal dialogues smoothly fly in and out when shown or hidden
Slide Slide windows across the screen when switching virtual desktops
Sliding popups Sliding animation for Plasma Popups
Taskbar Thumbnails Display window thumbnails when hovering over taskbar entries
Thumbnail aside Display window thumbnails on the edge of the screen
Translucency Make windows translucent under different conditions
Wobbly windows Deform windows while they are moving

Candy

Name Description
Snow Simulate snow falling on the desktop

Focus

Name Description
Dialog parent Darkens the parent windows of the currently active dialogue
Dim Inactive Darken inactive windows
Dim screen for administrator mode Darkens the entire screen when requesting root privileges
Slide Back Slide back windows losing focus

Tools

Name Description
Show FPS Show kwins performance in the corner of the screen
Show Paint Highlight areas of the desktop that have been recently updated

Window management

Name Description
Box switch Display thumbnails of windows in the alt+tab window switcher
Cover switch Display a Cover Flow effect for the alt+tab window switcher
Desktop cube Display each of the desktops on a slice of a cube
Desktop Cube Animation Animate desktop switching with a cube
Desktop grid Zoom out so all desktops are displayed side-by-side in a grid
Flip switch Flip through windows that are in a stack for the alt+tab window switcher
Present windows Zoom out until open windows can be displayed side by side
Resize Window Effect to outline geometry while resizeing a window

See also

References

External links