I later moved to bspwm, maybe you might want to look at that as well --> bspwm

Well, in this article, I will follow step by step procedure of setting up i3. My dotfiles

  • First of all, install i3, i3lock & i3status. Generally, installing i3 will pull these as dependencies.

  • Edit your .xinitrc to launch i3.

      exec i3
    
      # If you wish to log to a file
      exec i3 -V >> ~/.i3/i3log 2>&1
    
  • During the first run, i3 will ask for your default keybinding. Some help on keyboard layout is here.

  • Now, lets start editing the configuration files. The main config file is present at ~/.i3/config. First, one would prefer to have named workspaces. So the following has to be done for number of named workspaces you want. Check here.

      # Name the workspaces
      set $tag1 "1: www"
    
      # switch to workspace
      bindsym $mod+1 workspace $tag1
    
      # move focused container to workspace
      bindsym $mod+Shift+1 move container to workspace $tag1
    
  • Wow, so now we have named workspaces (for which you have to login again) let us change some settings for i3bar in ~/.i3/config. Colors can be set here along with some position settings. Check for bar in config file as there are some defaults present. Help on these settings is available here.

      # Start i3bar to display a workspace bar (plus the system information i3status
      # finds out, if available)
      bar {
              colors {
                      # Whole color settings
                      background #000000
                      statusline #ffffff
                      separator  #666666
    
                      # Type             border  background font
                      focused_workspace  #008fff #007fff #ffffff
                      active_workspace   #333333 #5f676a #ffffff
                      inactive_workspace #333333 #222222 #888888
                      urgent_workspace   #aa0000 #990000 #ffffff
              }
              # i3bar position
              position top
              # Using custom i3status.conf
              status_command i3status -c ~/.i3/i3status.conf
      }
    
  • Edit the i3status config file if you want to tweak it. Don't forget to copy it to your home directory. Check out my i3status config. Official wiki is here.

      cp /etc/i3status.conf ~/.i3/i3status.conf
    
  • Some applications have to launched at startup, like setting wallpaper, network manager applet etc.. This can be done from config file. Official wiki here.

      # Startup programs
      exec --no-startup-id nm-applet
      exec --no-startup-id feh --bg-fill ~/Pictures/Dark-pattern.jpg
    
  • Next, we have to set up our screenlock, for which I use i3lock. I have a small shell script which does some magic. After that, some keybindings have to be done. Official wiki here.

      # Custom KeyBinds
      bindsym Control+mod1+l exec sh ~/.i3/i3lock.sh
      bindsym Print exec scrot '%Y-%m-%d-%T_$wx$h_scrot.png' -e 'mv $f ~/Pictures/screenshots/'
    
  • Now, we have a screen looking something like this (Don't forget to get some cool wallpaper):

Clean Screen

Beautification

  • So, now let us transform our ugly looking setup :P, fonts first. Use a good font and change the setting in ~/.i3/config.

      font pango: Monospace 8
    
  • Next up are out ugliest component. GTK Apps :P. Instead of editing configuration files and saving them, I highly recommend lxappearance, which has absolutely no dependencies! Use it set your GTK, Icon & Cursor theme. GTK themes are picked from ~/.themes & remaining from ~/.icons. My generated ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini looked like this

      [Settings]
      gtk-theme-name=Zukitwo
      gtk-icon-theme-name=Faenza-Dark
      gtk-font-name=Ubuntu 10
      gtk-cursor-theme-name=Ecliz
      gtk-cursor-theme-size=0
      gtk-toolbar-style=GTK_TOOLBAR_ICONS
      gtk-toolbar-icon-size=GTK_ICON_SIZE_LARGE_TOOLBAR
      gtk-button-images=0
      gtk-menu-images=1
      gtk-enable-event-sounds=1
      gtk-enable-input-feedback-sounds=1
      gtk-xft-antialias=1
      gtk-xft-hinting=1
      gtk-xft-hintstyle=hintfull
      gtk-xft-rgba=rgb
    
  • Use some cool theme and even now, if the buttons are ugly make sure that you have the required gtk-engine installed. For instance, I use Zukwito, so I need gtk-engine-murrine. Now, your gtk apps must be cool as in any other DE.

Screenshots

Dirty Screen

Other Apps

  • A list of applications that I use

       Type                | : Application
      ---------------------|------------
       **Window Manager**  | : i3
       **Editor**          | : GVim
       **Terminal**        | : Terminator
       **IRC Client**      | : Weechat
       **GTK Theme**       | : Zukwito
       **Icon Theme**      | : Faenza
       **Cursor Theme**    | : Ecliz
       **Music Player**    | : Cmus
       **Video Player**    | : Mplayer
    
  • My .vimrc along with molokai colorscheme is present here.

  • WeeChat configuration:

    • Install and enable autoload of some plugins ( beep.pl , buffers.pl etc..).

    • Make sure, your terminal emulator responds to urgent bell. In terminator, set Terminal bell to Window List Flash. To simulate bell

        echo -ne '\e'
      
        # Sleep & change workspace to see the effect
        sleep 5; echo -ne '\e'
      
IRC Screen

PS: Don't forget to push your dotfiles to github so that anyone else can use those.


2014-05-12 :: {linux}