LinuxWorld: Xfce, Icewm & Enlightenment Compared

“In case you haven’t been following along, the aforementioned
article described X11 window managers and how they compare to the
more feature-rich but bloated desktop environments GNOME and KDE.
In general, window managers provide a way to launch applications,
move windows, resize windows, minimize them, and switch between
virtual desktops. Some window managers approach window handling in
unique ways, such as the window managers I mentioned before, like
pwm and fluxbox. These window managers let you group open
applications into a single window and switch between them by
clicking on the application’s tab. Some window managers let you
launch applications via menu, a launch bar, or even pre-defined
keystrokes. What most of these window managers lack are desktop
icons (My Computer, My Documents, etc.) and file browsers. You can
add your own, however, which is a topic I’ll address in part 7.

“Even after this article I will by no means have exhausted all
the window managers available for X11. There’s FVWM, FVWM95, MWM,
AfterStep, WindowMaker, and a host of others. I won’t cover them
all, even if you continue to bombard me with requests, since
there’s only so much window managing I can do before I need a
break. But if you’re interested in the alternatives, check out the
Window Managers for X site for links and brief descriptions…”

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