While many Linux users have a strong preference for a window manager of choice, for those just making their way over from Windows or Mac, it may be hard to understand what a window manager is, or that it's even something you have a choice in. A window manager is the part of your system that dictates how individual application windows look, and how you can interact with, control, and arrange them.
There are many choices, some more popular than others. Yesterday, we wished the GNOME Project a happy twenty-first birthday and launched a cheat sheet for interacting with GNOME 3's windows via hotkeys. But others are popular too; our article on "5 reasons the i3 window manager makes Linux better" was last week's most-read article.
How to choose is up to you, but it's common to select a window manager that is a part of a larger desktop environment providing a collection of applications and tools designed to work together to create a seamless experience beyond just arranging windows. But one of the great powers of Linux is that you can mix and match as you choose, creating a totally customized experience that's right for you.
We've asked this question a couple of times before in years past, focused more on the desktop environment than the window manager itself. But we suspect you've got opinions on both, and this is your chance to tell us.
And we know we've left some out. There are just way too many options to include here, so we stuck with the ones that have performed the best in our past polls, as well as some that we've seen emerging interest in, either in the comments or in articles submitted by readers.
If you've got a favorite that's not included here, let us know what it is in the comments, and of course, why it's your window manager of choice.
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