“‘So-called ‘modern desktop environments’ are totally unusable,
and present-day mainstream graphical user interfaces in general are
far less usable than they are praised to be.’ So begins the
declaration of intent behind Ion, a tiny window manager with no
icons, backgrounds, or themes. It does have tabs–its author, Tuomo
Valkonen, invented the concept–and once you spend time with it
you’re struck by the efficiency of its design.“The philosophy behind Ion is that window managers aren’t meant
to be seen, but to manage windows; anything more is dross. A few
window managers out there share this aesthetic, such as Ratpoison,
but they’re rare in today’s world of photogenic desktop
environments, which seem to always be looking for an opportunity to
add more decoration and ornament…”