Software:KWin

Short description: KDE window manager for the X Window System

KWin

KWin 5.24 with Cover Switch effect.
Developer(s)	KDE (Martin Grässlin, et al.)
Stable release	5.24.3 (8 March 2022 (2022-03-08)) [±]
Written in	C++ (Qt)
Operating system	Linux, BSD, other Unix-like
Type	X window manager Wayland compositor
License	GNU General Public License
Website	https://userbase.kde.org/KWin

KDE mascot Konqi and window manager.

KWin is a window manager for the X Window System and a Wayland compositor. It is released as a part of KDE Plasma 5, for which it is the default window manager. KWin can also be used on its own or with other desktop environments.

KWin can be configured by scripting using QML or QtScript, both of which are based on ECMAScript.

History

Name	Version	Details
KWM	1.0
KWin	2.0	Extended support for themes and window effects.
	3.0	Improved support for the extended ICCCM standards from freedesktop.org.
	4.0	Compositing support and Compiz-like effects.
	4.4 (02/2010)	Maximizing and tiling by snapping to the screen-edges, grouping and tabbing.
	4.5	Tiling. (removed in version 4.10)
	4.9	Incompatible API change.
	4.11	Last release based on KDE Platform 4. Experimental Wayland support.
	5.0	First release based on KDE Frameworks 5 and Qt 5.
	5.12	Released February 2018, KWin/X11 got feature frozen, meaning no new X11 specific features will be added. Martin Flöser stated that new features are easy and straight forward with the Wayland back-end, but require considerably more development to add the same feature to the X11 back-end.

Look and feel

There are many window decorations for KWin, including the current default Breeze (shown below), the previous default Oxygen, Microsoft Windows-like Redmond, and Keramik.

KWin with the Breeze window decoration.

Compositing

Currently available compositing backends include OpenGL 1.2, OpenGL 2.0, OpenGL 3.1 and OpenGL ES 2.0.

Included effects

Screenshot showing the cover switch effect in KWin for KDE 4.1.

As of KDE 4.3 the following effects are built-in:

Accessibility

Name	Description
Invert	Inverts the color of the desktop and windows
Looking glass	A screen magnifier that looks like a fish eye lens
Magnifier	Magnify the section of the screen that is near the mouse cursor
Sharpen	Makes the entire desktop look sharper
Snap Helper	Helps locate the centre of the screen when moving a window
Track mouse	Display a mouse cursor locating effect when activated
Zoom	Magnify the entire desktop

Appearance

Name	Description
Explosion	Make windows explode when they are closed
Fade	Make windows smoothly fade in and out when they are shown or hidden
Fade Desktop	Fade between virtual desktops when switching between them
Fall apart	Close windows fall into pieces
Highlight Windows	Highlight the appropriate window when hovering over taskbar entries
Login	Smoothly fade to the desktop when logging in
Logout	Desaturate the desktop when displaying the logout dialog
Magic Lamp	Simulate a magic lamp when minimizing windows
Minimize animation	Animate the minimizing of windows
Mouse mark	Allows you to draw lines over your desktop
Scale In	Animate the appearance of windows
Sheet	Make modal dialogues smoothly fly in and out when shown or hidden
Slide	Slide windows across the screen when switching virtual desktops
Sliding popups	Sliding animation for Plasma Popups
Taskbar Thumbnails	Display window thumbnails when hovering over taskbar entries
Thumbnail aside	Display window thumbnails on the edge of the screen
Translucency	Make windows translucent under different conditions
Wobbly windows	Deform windows while they are moving

Candy

Name	Description
Snow	Simulate snow falling on the desktop

Focus

Name	Description
Dialog parent	Darkens the parent windows of the currently active dialogue
Dim Inactive	Darken inactive windows
Dim screen for administrator mode	Darkens the entire screen when requesting root privileges
Slide Back	Slide back windows losing focus

Tools

Name	Description
Show FPS	Show kwins performance in the corner of the screen
Show Paint	Highlight areas of the desktop that have been recently updated

Window management

Name	Description
Box switch	Removed in latest versions, no longer available.
Cover switch	Removed in latest versions, no longer available.
Desktop cube	Removed in latest versions, no longer available.
Desktop Cube Animation	Removed in latest versions, no longer available.
Desktop grid	Zoom out so all desktops are displayed side-by-side in a grid
Flip switch	Removed in latest versions, no longer available.
Present windows	Zoom out until open windows can be displayed side by side
Resize Window	Effect to outline geometry while resizing a window

See also

• Comparison of X window managers

External links

• KWin release notes for KDE4.0
• Decorations for KWin 4