Hello Xfce family

Frank · 2026-03-14 17:50:34

I'm Frank from Germany. After spending 15 years experimenting with various tiling window managers on Arch, Artix, and Debian, I decided last week to give Xfce a try—and wow, I'm totally blown away.

Now that I’ve customized the keyboard shortcuts to match my muscle memory, I feel right at home.

A big thank you to everyone involved in the Xfce project for this fantastic software 🙏

ToZ · 2026-03-14 18:05:49

Hello and welcome Frank.

kwizzz · 2026-03-14 19:57:43

Servus, Frank. Good to see some fellow Germans and XFCE users :-)

As I also used tiling window managers, I was wondering if you could share your muscle memory keyboard shortcuts.

Frank · 2026-03-15 13:51:55

kwizzz wrote:

Servus, Frank.

Moin kwizzz! Thank you for the welcome, sounds like you're located in the south of Germany.

kwizzz wrote:

As I also used tiling window managers, I was wondering if you could share your muscle memory keyboard

Beside from long-term tiling window manger usage I also use Neovim and so H, J, K and L motion keys and lots of other useful (n)vim command are daily companions. To get some of this functionality into Betterbird I've installed the tbkeys-light extension and in Firefox the vimium extension is a must have . Xfce related keybindings also use some vimlike keybindings. The most used ones are the following:

Super + d: Lauch Application Finder
Super + e: Launch Betterbird
Super + f: Toggle Maximize Window
Super + i: Take screenshot of active window
Super + j: Cycle Windows (forwards)
Super + k: Cycle Windows (backwards)
Super + s: Toggle Sticky
Super + w: Launch Firefox
Super + Enter: Launch Xfce4 Terminal
Super + Shift + Enter: Launch Xfce4 drop-down Terminal
Super + Shift + i: Take screenshot of selected area
Super + Shift + h: Tile active window to the left
Super + Shift + j: Tile active window to the bottom
Super + Shift + k: Tile active window to the top
Super + Shift + l: Tile active window to the right
Super + Backspace: SysAct Menu
Alt + Shift + e: Lauch Libre Office Calc
Alt + Shift + p: Launch KeePassXC
Alt + Shift + r: Lauch Thunar
Alt + Shift + s: Launch Local Send
Alt + Shift + w: Lauch Libre Office Writer
Alt + Shift + x: Launch Dino
Ctrl + Alt + d: Toggle Show Desktop

Added later 01 min 02 s:

ToZ wrote:

Hello and welcome Frank.

Thank you for the welcome, ToZ smile

kwizzz · 2026-03-16 22:11:49

Frank wrote:

Moin kwizzz! Thank you for the welcome, sounds like you're located in the south of Germany.

So true, you northern light ;-)

Frank wrote:

Beside from long-term tiling window manger usage I also use Neovim and so H, J, K and L motion keys and lots of other useful (n)vim command are daily companions. To get some of this functionality into Betterbird I've installed the tbkeys-light extension and in Firefox the vimium extension is a must have . Xfce related keybindings also use some vimlike keybindings. The most used ones are the following:

Wow, I see where you come from (i3, I suppose & beloved vim/neovim). Thank you so much for your inspiration on adapting some shortcuts the most logical and obvious way I never thought of!

Now, if I could only move and resize windows with hjkl keys...

Frank · 2026-03-17 09:45:33

You must have been misled by “Moin" I use that quite often. I live in the Midwest, between “Kölle Alaaf” and “Öcher Printe.”

I’ve never used i3. I started with SpectrWM. A few years later, I switched to DWM for a very long time, and now Xfce is my daily driver.

I don’t place much importance on moving windows within a workspace. Most of my active applications enjoy the luxury of having their own workspace and being displayed maximized.

Terminal windows are often used in pairs and split horizontally or vertically with Super + Shift + h/l or Super + Shift + j/k.

The dropdown terminal (Super + Shift + Enter) often serves as an ad-hoc notebook (neovim) for jotting down spontaneous thoughts. Long-term notes and documentation end up in Joplin.

kwizzz · 2026-03-17 22:51:12

Well, Alaaf, then! Great region, awesome people there, except that you drink beer from too tiny glasses ;-)

Wow, SpectrWM and dwm. Brings back some good memories (dwm was my main driver on OpenBSD).

Regarding XFCE: I figured out that I can remap hjkl to cursor keys in Window Manager > Keyboard, replacing the cursor keys there.

Besides that, I am using a small script, called `sos` ("start or switch to"):
wmctrl -xa $1 || ($1 &)

So, I have firefox mapped to M4-1 with `sos firefox` and xfce terminal to M4-2 (with `sos xfce4-terminal`)

Frank · 2026-03-18 06:09:00

kwizzz wrote:

Now, if I could only move and resize windows with hjkl keys...

What you could do regarding window movement via keyboard is, configure a keybinding for Move Window in the Window Manager settings and use your configured keys to navigate Left, Right, Up and Down. The motion keys can also be configure within the Window Manager settings.

kwizzz · 2026-03-18 20:55:06

Frank wrote:

What you could do regarding window movement via keyboard is, configure a keybinding for Move Window in the Window Manager settings and use your configured keys to navigate Left, Right, Up and Down. The motion keys can also be configure within the Window Manager settings.

YES! Thanks for the hint to simply change the Up/Down/Left/Right keys under Window Manager. Never thought of, or even dared, to change these. Thought this would have global impact (like never being able to use these keys for entering their actual letters)...

Xfce Forum

Sub domains

#1 2026-03-14 17:50:34

Hello Xfce family

#2 2026-03-14 18:05:49

Re: Hello Xfce family

#3 2026-03-14 19:57:43

Re: Hello Xfce family

#4 2026-03-15 13:51:55

Re: Hello Xfce family

#5 2026-03-16 22:11:49

Re: Hello Xfce family

#6 2026-03-17 09:45:33

Re: Hello Xfce family

#7 2026-03-17 22:51:12

Re: Hello Xfce family

#8 2026-03-18 06:09:00

Re: Hello Xfce family

#9 2026-03-18 20:55:06

Re: Hello Xfce family

Board footer