Xmonad Configuration for DVORAK

I’ve been using Xmonad for a couple of months now, and I really quite like it for software development. I would say it’s most useful with large dual monitors, but I’ve even tried it on a netbook (with limited usability success). Before using Xmonad, I would constantly loose track of windows. In Linux it was terminal windows. Being a command line guru, I would pull up a terminal to do everything from edit a text file in vim to just using a terminal as a launcher to quickly type ‘firefox &’ or some other application. Having to alt+tab through the inevitable piles of terminals I would have up was annoyingly painful, and instead of finding the one I want I would likely just launch a new one and add to the mess.

Now I’ve gotten my Xmonad habits and workflow down.

Workspaces 1 and 2 are used on the first monitor

Workspaces 3 and 4+ are used on the second monitor

 

Workspace 1: Browser and a terminal on the bottom for quick trivial commands

Workspace 2: Eclipse or other IDE

Workspace 3: 2-3 terminals and IRC window (most terminal related work done here)

Workspace 4: Usually a full screen application I’m testing

Workspace 4+: Misc usages as needed

 

And, of course, I’ve got all of the keyboard shortcuts optimized for the DVORAK homerow. Here’s my xmonad.hs configuration file if anyone wants to try my shortcut scheme.

 

import XMonad
import XMonad.Config.Gnome
import XMonad.Hooks.ManageHelpers
import XMonad.Layout.Gaps
import XMonad.Actions.FloatKeys
import XMonad.Actions.CycleWS
import XMonad.Hooks.ManageDocks
import XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog
import XMonad.Util.EZConfig
import XMonad.Util.Run
import XMonad.Layout.NoBorders
import XMonad.Layout.ResizableTile
import XMonad.Actions.DwmPromote
import System.Exit

import qualified System.IO.UTF8
import qualified XMonad.StackSet as W
import qualified Data.Map as M

myManageHook = composeAll (
[ manageHook gnomeConfig
, className =? “Unity-2d-panel” –> doIgnore
, className =? “Unity-2d-launcher” –> doIgnore
, className =? “Gimp” –> doFloat
, className =? “novagui” –> doFloat
, isFullscreen –> doFullFloat
])

myKeys = \c -> mkKeymap c $
[ (“M-S-<Return>”, spawn “gnome-terminal”)

— launch programs
, (“M-r f f”, spawn “firefox”)
, (“M-r M-c”, spawn “chromium-browser”)
, (“M-r M-r”, spawn “grun”)
, (“M-r h a l t”, spawn “sudo shutdown -h now”)
, (“M-r s s”, spawn “scrot”)
, (“M-r s S-s”, spawn “scrot -s”)
, (“M-r v”, spawn “gvim”)

— Rotate through the available layout algorithms
, (“M-<Space>”, sendMessage NextLayout)
, (“M-S-<Space>”, sendMessage FirstLayout)

— close focused window
, (“M-w”, kill)
— Resize viewed windows to the correct size
, (“M-S-r”, refresh)

— Sceen lock
, (“M-l”, spawn $ “gnome-screensaver-command -l”)

— Toggle float
, (“M-d”, withFocused $ windows . W.sink)

— These are all DVORAK optimized navigation keys

— Move window focus with right/left index fingers
, (“M-u”, windows W.focusDown)
, (“M-h”, windows W.focusUp )
, (“M-<Return>”, dwmpromote )
— Swap window
, (“M-S-u”, windows W.swapDown >> windows W.focusDown)
, (“M-S-h”, windows W.swapUp >> windows W.focusUp)

— Resize the master area with right/left middle fingers
, (“M-t”, sendMessage Expand)
, (“M-e”, sendMessage Shrink)
, (“M-S-e”, sendMessage MirrorShrink)
, (“M-S-t”, sendMessage MirrorExpand)

— Change windows in the master area with right/left ring fingers
, (“M-n”, sendMessage (IncMasterN 1))
, (“M-o”, sendMessage (IncMasterN (-1)))

, (“M-s”, nextScreen)
, (“M-a”, prevScreen)
, (“M-S-s”, shiftNextScreen >> nextScreen)
, (“M-S-a”, shiftPrevScreen >> prevScreen)

— Quit xmonad
, (“M-S-q”, io (exitWith ExitSuccess))

— Restart xmonad
, (“M-q”, restart “xmonad” True)
] ++
— mod-[1..9], Switch to workspace N
— mod-shift-[1..9], Move client to workspace N
[(m ++ (show k), windows $ f i)
| (i, k) <- zip (XMonad.workspaces c) [1 .. 9]
, (f, m) <- [(W.greedyView, “M-“), (W.shift, “M-S-“)]
] ++

— moving floating window with key
[(c ++ m ++ k, withFocused $ f (d x))
| (d, k) <- zip [\a->(a, 0), \a->(0, a), \a->(0-a, 0), \a->(0, 0-a)] [“<Right>”, “<Down>”, “<Left>”, “<Up>”]
, (f, m) <- zip [keysMoveWindow, \d -> keysResizeWindow d (0, 0)] [“M-“, “M-S-“]
, (c, x) <- zip [“”, “C-“] [20, 2]
]

myLayouts = gaps [(U, 24)] $ layoutHook gnomeConfig

main = xmonad gnomeConfig {
manageHook = myManageHook
, layoutHook = myLayouts
, borderWidth = 2
, terminal = “gnome-terminal”
, normalBorderColor = “#000099”
, focusedBorderColor = “#009900”
, modMask = mod4Mask
, keys = myKeys }