easywindowswitcher is a small (Python) script for enabling X window users to more easily change focus between windows that are spread across multiple monitors.
Upgrade your alt-tab!
Note: easywindowswitcher has only been tested in Ubuntu 16.04 under Unity. Your mileage may vary.
Because my desktop runs quad monitors and I got so dang tired of having to change between alt-tab and alt-tilde to target the correct Chrome window.
Not to mention how alt-tab handles switching to the last focused window and sometimes focuses onto the wrong window on the wrong monitor.
As such, I decided that it'd be easier to just write a script to be able to switch focus to either the closest left or right window, or to focus onto the window of a particular monitor.
The result is easywindowswitcher!
- Python 3
wmctrl(install using e.g.sudo apt-get install wmctrl)xdotool(install using e.g.sudo apt-get install xdotool)
Currently easywindowswitcher is only available to be installed from source. It will (maybe) be eventually published as a pip package.
Thankfully, installing from source isn't too hard!
git clone git@github.com:DevinSit/easy-window-switcher.git
cd easy-window-switcher
make install
easywindowswitcher is currently pretty small and, as such, supports just two modes of easy window switching: relative direction and absolute monitor position.
Switch focus to the closest left or right window:
easywindowswitcher direction left
easywindowswitcher direction right
Switch focus to the window on the given monitor (indexed from left-to-right, starting at 0):
# Monitor 0 would be the left-most monitor
easywindowswitcher monitor 0
# Monitor 1 would be the monitor to the right of the left-most monitor (i.e. monitor 0)
easywindowswitcher monitor 1
Obviously calling easywindowswitcher commands directly from a command line isn't exactly the most optimal way to use it. Binding some preset commands to some keyboard shortcuts is much more effective!
Since I'm a vim aficionado, might I suggest ctrl+super+alt+[h/l] for easywindowswitcher direction [left/right]?
And for the absolute monitor positions, I quite like ctrl+alt+[1/2/3] for easywindowswitcher monitor [0/1/2].
But you do you!
easywindowswitcher is currently configured to only work with my personal monitor configuration, which is two 1080p monitors stack vertically, followed by a 3440x1440 ultrawide in the center, and a 2560x1440 monitor on right that's in portrait.
If your setup just happens to be the same, then you're in luck! Otherwise, see below for how to customize the code to work with your setup.
- Go into
easywindowswitcher/data_models/workspace_grid.pyand adjust theWORKSPACE_HEIGHTandWORKSPACE_WIDTHconstants according to the comment in the file explaining how they work. - Go into
easywindowswitcher/services/window_focuser.pyand adjust theNUMBER_OF_MONITORSconstant. - Still in
window_focuser.py, adjust the logic of_calculate_which_monitor_window_is_onso that it correctly indexes your monitor setup from left-to-right, top-to-bottom (or whatever you want).
While GitHub issues are used for public-facing requests, bug reports, etc, a separate Trello board is what I personally use to organize what is currently being worked on and what is coming in the future.
It can be found here.
I don't really expect anyone else to actually contribute to this (tiny) project. On the off chance that you do, feel free to open an issue or a pull request. I'll gladly take a look and see if I can help you out!
- Devin Sit
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.