Compiz Fusion - Not only beautiful, but also convenient!

In our times, when it becomes more and more difficult to find a person who is able to wonder at the graphic 3d effects of the operating system, and the effects themselves become brighter and heavier, most users perceive them as unnecessary adornment and waste of system resources. Therefore, they simply simply disconnect without even looking at the essence.

But it can be not only beautiful, but also convenient!

So I want to talk about Compiz Fusion (formerly Beryl) - a composite window manager that deals with visual effects in Linux. Just tell not from the wow-effect and 3d-ryushechek, but about how with proper configuration with its help you can add maximum convenience and usability to your favorite system.
')




I want to warn the adherents of other systems and interfaces in advance: if you notice a familiar thing implemented in your favorite OS, you do not need to beat your chest and shout that it has been stolen. It is rather borrowed and reworked. And you will achieve nothing but a stupid holivar.

So, Compiz Fusion now comes bundled with most popular Linux distributions, and requires only normal XGL-compatible video card drivers to work. At the same time, the hardware requirements for it are significantly lower than those of other systems' 3d interfaces (Compiz feels fine on a machine with 512m of RAM and a 64m video card at the level of GeForce Fx5200)
But let's get down to business, even though Compiz comes in a box with a distribution kit, its standard configuration (in which most users stop to learn) is far from ideal, and a lot of interesting and useful features are disabled.
Therefore, it is best to pick up the Compiz Config Settings Manager ( CCSM ) file (even before this and install it ) and personalize it.

The first convenience: it is a banal transparency of windows. By pressing alt and turning the mouse scroller, you can quickly set any level of transparency for an arbitrary window (and for video as well.)

Very handy while watching a video and surfing.



Or you can expand the video to full screen, and on top of it: a translucent messenger.




Common Application Switcher ( alt + tab for streaming desktop windows ctrl + alt + tab - for windows on all desktops). Shows live-preview windows, while dimming everything except the active



Scale is a very useful feature. It allows you to see all open windows on the screen in one fell swoop and select the one you need. In addition to hot keying, it’s convenient to call hot-corners, i.e. pointing the cursor to the corner of the screen (by default - to the top pair, but this may seem inconvenient, since the control buttons for windows are also located there.) Also do not forget to include Scale Addons in ccsm with them you can zoom in on the windows without switching to them, and also close them with the middle mouse button (conveniently, when a large number of unnecessary windows accumulate, you can quickly sort and close unnecessary ones).

In Beryl, there were several options for displaying windows and the possibility of entering from the keyboard, in preview mode, but for some reason they were removed.



Shift Switcher - Disabled by default. Allows you to switch windows using visual effects that are very familiar to us from other operating systems. What does in my opinion Flip (analogue vistovskogo 3D switch) here is implemented better.
Another undocumented chip: in the Cover mode (analogous to the Mac CoverFlow), you can turn the windows at an arbitrary speed by holding down the left mouse button.
Users of multibutton rodents can attach this function to one of the additional buttons (at least I did). Very convenient.

Flip mode


Cover mode


This also includes Ring Switcher , which personally reminds me of a gallery on Symbian smartphones.



Expo Plugin - One of my favorite, and most convenient features. Allows you to see all desktops at the same time, and move in such a window.




Also very useful features are provided by the window decorator ( Emerald ), for example, the ability to hook a window on top of the rest with one click.

This function, coupled with transparency, is very useful when working with a terribly-multi-window Gimp.


MORE: By hovering the cursor over the window's title bar, and turning the scroller up, you will make the window curl into it.
(It is also very convenient with Gimp when you need to quickly get rid of unnecessary windows


Also, if desired, the window can be made visible on all desktops:


Group and Tab Windows - Also useful at times, but with the standard disabled feature. The name speaks for itself: allows you to group windows, and switch between them using tabs. It’s useful, many windows are open, and some of them are called in turn. Also, grouping of windows frees up space in kicerʻe (taskbar).
You can group windows using hotkeys (win + s - select, win + g - group, win + t connect into tabs.) Or, while holding win, hold, select windows like units in strategic games. At the same time, the behavior of grouped windows (they are highlighted with a color frame) is similar to the same units: Wherever you move one, the others go there.

Allocation :


Bulk Moved , from Expo


Combine tabs for example conveniently browser and email client. In this case, when you hover the cursor over the window title, the tab bar appears.


Negative, though located in the settings manager, on the Accessibility tab, is in my opinion quite useful for the common man. For example, a negative text is easier to read and less harmful to the eyes.


And using the Desktop Zoom or even better Enchanted Desktop Zoom , you can quickly get rid of unnecessary information. The feature is also useful when working with images.


Although the Desktop Cube is a business card Compiz, but it can be disabled. From aesthetic images, or if the video card is difficult to cope with 3d effects (the fact is that in compiz most of the effects are not actually 3d, because they represent 2d deformations on openGL, (i.e., without using three-dimensional models) and they are quickly rendered on old video cards).
In place of it, you can very successfully use the Desktop Wall .
Desktop switching will be visualized not by rotating the cube, but by smoothly moving from one workspace to another.



Of course, this is not the whole list of Compiz Fusion abilities, but only a selection of the most useful ones. The rest can be studied independently. I advise you to experiment with window animations and themes.

PS I apologize for any spelling errors. Russian language has never been native to me, and I studied it only by reading books and habr :)

And for those who do not want to poke around for a long time in the settings: My config It is installed on the Perfences tab in CCSM. But remember, it only sets the settings for animations, effects, hot keys, etc., and does not affect the appearance of the design.