Are you familiar with dwm's powerful tag feature?
THE TAGGING MODEL
Many desktop environments organize windows using rigid workspaces:
Workspace 1
Workspace 2
Workspace 3
A window belongs to a single workspace.
dwm uses a different model, treating workspaces as bitmask labels (tags).
This allows a single window instance to hold multiple tags simultaneously,
acting as a persistent visual anchor across different contexts:
Firefox -> Tag 1 (Web Browsing)
st (nvi/dev) -> Tag 2 (Code/Scripts)
st (Monitor/Logs) -> Tag 1 + Tag 2 (Persistent)
When you view Tag 1, you see your browser and the log monitor. When you
switch to Tag 2, the browser disappears, but the exact same log window
remains on screen, now sharing space with your text editor.
The application is never duplicated or restarted in memory.
The UI remains minimal while enabling workflows that are difficult to
express using traditional workspace-oriented desktops.
Two decades later, this tagging model remains one of the most
distinctive features of dwm.
#suckless #dwm #unix #linux #sysadmin
r1w1s1
npub1h4…zd0n9
2026-06-17 00:48:53 UTC
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2026-06-17 00:48:53 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Are you familiar with dwm's powerful tag feature?\nTHE TAGGING MODEL\nMany desktop environments organize windows using rigid workspaces:\n Workspace 1\n Workspace 2\n Workspace 3\nA window belongs to a single workspace.\ndwm uses a different model, treating workspaces as bitmask labels (tags).\nThis allows a single window instance to hold multiple tags simultaneously,\nacting as a persistent visual anchor across different contexts:\n Firefox -\u003e Tag 1 (Web Browsing)\n st (nvi/dev) -\u003e Tag 2 (Code/Scripts)\n st (Monitor/Logs) -\u003e Tag 1 + Tag 2 (Persistent)\nWhen you view Tag 1, you see your browser and the log monitor. When you\nswitch to Tag 2, the browser disappears, but the exact same log window\nremains on screen, now sharing space with your text editor.\nThe application is never duplicated or restarted in memory.\nThe UI remains minimal while enabling workflows that are difficult to\nexpress using traditional workspace-oriented desktops.\nTwo decades later, this tagging model remains one of the most\ndistinctive features of dwm.\n\n#suckless #dwm #unix #linux #sysadmin\n",
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