If you’re seeking a more robust and customizable window tiling experience on Ubuntu, your search ends with Tiling Shell, a new GNOME Shell extension that significantly enhances window snapping.
In the previous year, Ubuntu boosted its window tiling capabilities by integrating the ‘Tiling Assistant’ GNOME Shell extension into the default desktop installation. This extension is enabled by default and provides features like quarter tiling, horizontal half-tiling, and a convenient tiling prompt to snap other open applications.
This beneficial addition to the Ubuntu desktop fulfilled a long-awaited request from users and became a daily necessity for me.
Yes, past-tense.
I’ve disabled Ubuntu’s Tiling Assistant and now use Tiling Shell instead.
This nifty bolt-on does everything Ubuntu’s tiling add-on provides, plus a whole lot more.
Tiling Shell brings advanced, configurable tiling capabilities to the GNOME Shell desktop. It supports multiple monitors, custom layouts, a handy snap assist drop zone, and more.
You can see it in action in the following video (I tried to use GIFs but they were too large):
For me, Tiling Shell’s on-screen Snap Assist (only visible when moving a window) is the real lure. I’m able to quickly snap windows using predefined layouts — predefined layouts which are both editable and I add to with my own custom tiling layouts.
This is fantastic if you often use a specific tiling arrangement with a specific set of apps. Rather than position things manually each time, create and save a layout using the on-screen editor. Then, next time you need it, snap away!
I should say that while the on-screen Snap Assist is helpful, it’s not mandatory. You can turn it off entirely or keep it enabled but not use it all the time.
You can also snap windows to a grid by holding the ctrl key when moving a window. This will overlay a full-size, interactive, snapping grid on the screen, which you can drag a window over and release to ‘snap’. This will use the active layout set from the panel indicator.
Tiling Shell features at-a-glance:
- Predefined tiling layouts (editable)
- Create custom layouts using on-screen editor
- On-screen snap assist when moving window
- Option to set inner and outer gaps around windows
- Panel indicator applet (can be disabled)
- Control behavior, e.g., restore windows snap when untiled
With Apple belatedly adding proper window tiling to its own desktop OS with this year’s macOS Sequoia update, those of us on Linux may be feeling smug that we’ve long enjoyed configurable, powerful window snapping features of our own.
Tiling Shell takes things up a gear on Ubuntu.
If you often pine after those advanced keyboard-driven tiling window managers other distros and desktop environments have, but you don’t want to leave GNOME Shell behind, give Tiling Shell a try and see if it offers what you need.
I’m eager to know what you think of this extension, so don’t be afraid to share your thoughts and suggestions on how this could be even better down in the comments!