eyebrowse
=========
.. image:: https://raw.github.com/wasamasa/eyebrowse/master/img/eyebrows.gif
About
-----
``eyebrowse`` is a global minor mode for Emacs that allows you to
manage your window configurations in a simple manner, just like tiling
window managers like i3wm with their workspaces do. It displays their
current state in the modeline by default. The behaviour is modeled
after `ranger <https://ranger.github.io/>`_, a file manager written in
Python.
Screenshot
----------
.. image:: https://raw.github.com/wasamasa/eyebrowse/master/img/scrot.png
See the lighter and the modeline indicator at the right side of the
bottom modeline? That's what you get to see after enabling eyebrowse.
Installation
------------
Install via ``package.el`` from the `Marmalade
<https://marmalade-repo.org/>`_ or `MELPA (stable)
<http://melpa.org/>`_ repository by setting them up if you haven't
already and executing ``M-x package-install RET eyebrowse RET``.
Quick Tutorial
--------------
Use ``M-x eyebrowse-mode`` to enable ``eyebrowse`` interactively. If
you want to enable it automatically on startup, add ``(eyebrowse-mode
t)`` to your init file (either ``~/.emacs`` or
``~/.emacs.d/init.el``).
You start with your current window config on slot 1. Once you hit
``C-c C-w 2``, you will see the modeline indicator appearing and
showing slot 1 and 2 with slot 2 slightly emphasized. Slot 1 has been
saved automatically for you and contains your last window config. Do
something meaningful like a window split, then hit ``C-c C-w 1``. The
window config on slot 2 is saved and the window config from slot 1 is
loaded. Try switching back and forth between them with ``C-c C-w '``
to get a feeling for how subsequent window manipulations are handled.
To make keeping track of workspaces easier, a tagging feature was
added. Use ``C-c C-w ,`` to set a tag for the current window config,
it will both appear in the modeline indicator and when using ``M-x
eyebrowse-switch-to-window-config``. Setting the tag to an empty
value will undo this change.
Key bindings
------------
The default key bindings are:
============== ================================
Key bind Function
============== ================================
``C-c C-w <`` Switch to previous window config
``C-c C-w >`` Switch to next window config
``C-c C-w '`` Switch to last window config
``C-c C-w "`` Close current window config
``C-c C-w ,`` Rename current window config
``C-c C-w 0`` Switch to window config ``0``
\... ...
``C-c C-w 9`` Switch to window config ``9``
============== ================================
Further Customization
---------------------
Use ``M-x customize-group RET eyebrowse`` for a list of customizable
options. The more interesting ones would be
``eyebrowse-wrap-around`` and ``eyebrowse-switch-back-and-forth``
which affect both wrap around and lazier switching. It is also
possible to change the behaviour of creation of new workspaces by
customizing ``eyebrowse-new-workspace``. By default the last one is
simply cloned, setting it to ``t`` will start out with as empty of a
slate as possible (by just displaying a single window with the scratch
buffer in it).
The prefix for each binding defaults to ``C-c C-w``, but you can change
it to something else by customizing ``eyebrowse-keymap-prefix``. If
you want to change it in your init file, insert the customization
before loading ``eyebrowse.el``. This includes enabling it with an
auto-loaded function, such as ``eyebrowse-setup-evil-keys``,
``eyebrowse-setup-opinionated-keys`` or ``eyebrowse-mode``.
If you're not happy with the default keybindings, a riskier set can be
enabled additionally either by executing ``M-:
(eyebrowse-setup-opinionated-keys)`` interactively or inserting
``(eyebrowse-setup-opinionated-keys)`` in your init file. If the
function detects the `evil <https://bitbucket.org/lyro/evil/wiki/Home>`_ package, it
will enable extra key bindings for it as well.
The extra key bindings are:
=============== ================================
Key bind Function
=============== ================================
``C-<``, ``gT`` Switch to previous window config
``C->``, ``gt`` Switch to next window config
``C-'``, ``zx`` Switch to last window config
``C-"``, ``gc`` Close current window config
``M-0`` Switch to window config ``0``
\... ...
``M-9`` Switch to window config ``9``
=============== ================================
Internals
---------
This mode basically wraps what ``C-x r w`` and ``C-x r j`` would do,
but takes care of automatically saving and loading to a separate data
structure for you and does it in a slightly different manner (see
``window-state-put`` and ``window-state-get`` for more details) to
allow for features like persistency in combination with `desktop.el
<https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Saving-Emacs-Sessions.html#Saving-Emacs-Sessions>`_.
Notes
-----
The ``window-state-put`` and ``window-state-get`` functions do not
save all window parameters. If you use features like side windows
that store the window parameters ``window-side`` and ``window-slot``,
you will need to customize ``window-persistent-parameters`` for them
to be saved as well:
.. code:: elisp
(add-to-list 'window-persistent-parameters '(window-side . writable))
(add-to-list 'window-persistent-parameters '(window-slot . writable))
See `#52 <https://github.com/wasamasa/eyebrowse/issues/52>`_ for
further discussion.
Contributing
------------
If you find bugs, have suggestions or any other problems, feel free to
report an issue on the issue tracker or hit me up on IRC, I'm always on
``#emacs``. Patches are welcome, too, just fork, work on a separate
branch and open a pull request with it.
Alternatives
------------
The two most popular window configuration packages are `elscreen
<https://github.com/shosti/elscreen>`_ and `escreen
<https://github.com/emacsmirror/escreen>`_. Both are fairly old and
have their share of bugs. The closest package I've found so far to
eyebrowse with workspace-specific buffers would be `perspective
<https://github.com/nex3/perspective-el>`_. `wconf
<https://github.com/ilohmar/wconf>`_ is a minimal alternative with
half the lines of code (and features). To have fancy features such
as morphing, try `workgroups <https://github.com/tlh/workgroups.el>`_
or `workgroups2 <https://github.com/pashinin/workgroups2>`_.
Name
----
Actually, I wanted to name this mode "eyebrows" for no real reason,
but then a silly typo happened. The typo stuck. So did the new name.