Bug 495017 - Resizing a tiled window should not affect layout
Summary: Resizing a tiled window should not affect layout
Status: REPORTED
Alias: None
Product: kwin
Classification: Plasma
Component: Custom Tiling (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: unspecified
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: KWin default assignee
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2024-10-19 00:48 UTC by Andrew Udvare
Modified: 2025-10-23 18:55 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

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Description Andrew Udvare 2024-10-19 00:48:58 UTC
SUMMARY

It is very easy to resize a tiled window and not realise that you are actually changing the tile layout. I honestly did not suspect that resizing a window in a tile would change the layout. I thought it would move the window out of the tile.

An option like 'Lock tile layout' would be best if people like the current behaviour. I for sure like to have my settings set and not changed in a surprising way.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Enable tiling (is this an option anymore? It is no longer in Desktop Effects)
2. Set up a layout
3. Place a window in layout
4. Resize window

OBSERVED RESULT
Tile layout changes with window resize.

EXPECTED RESULT
Window should be resized but the tile layout should stay the same. Other tiled windows should stay in place.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Gentoo Linux 1
KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.1
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.7.0
Qt Version: 6.7.3
Kernel Version: 6.11.3-gentoo-limelight (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 16 × 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-11900K @ 3.50GHz
Memory: 62.7 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti/PCIe/SSE2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Comment 1 rafalb85 2024-10-19 10:07:56 UTC
Yes this 100%. +1 from me. The layout should stay as it was set-up with the tile editor and should not change when you resize a window. Or there  should be at least an option to lock it.
Comment 2 Nate Graham 2024-12-12 20:17:06 UTC
If resizing a tiled window didn't change the layout, it would have to logically un-tile the window. So I see three options here:
1. Allow tiled windows to change the layout (status quo)
2. Don't allow tiled windows to be resized at all
3. When resizing a tiled window, un-tile it
Comment 3 Andrew Udvare 2024-12-13 08:21:28 UTC
I like the idea of an option for #2, and keeping the status quo otherwise. When option #2 is on, holding shift should be required to remove the window from the tile.

Additionally, maybe an alternative is to require holding shift to resize the window and the tile at once.
Comment 4 lzz 2025-07-26 07:41:02 UTC
I'd like to ask for this same feature.

I've been using KDE tiling system since it got introduced. I use a 4K 48" TV as a monitor (effectively works as four 1080p monitors, since the dpi is close enough), but I really need window tiling for this.

One of the things that bugs me the most is resizing a tiled window by accident. Every time it happens I need to manually edit `~/.config/kwinrc` `[Tiling]` section in order to recover my previous setting, and then logout and login again.

I like option #3 the most (un-tile the window) but option #2 is also good.
Comment 5 i 2025-08-01 09:12:24 UTC
Removing the window from being tiled makes more sense to me - or revert the size of the tile back to what it was when the windows is un-tiled, rather than making any window resizing be a permanent change to the tile sizes.
Comment 6 samuro.ua 2025-08-03 19:36:42 UTC
Yes, option #3 please. Un-tile the window from layout on resize, but let it be at the same place and size, except that side that being resized
Comment 7 grog 2025-10-23 17:48:50 UTC
To clarify, this applies when only one window is open, right? It wouldn't make sense to change this behaviour when working with multiple tiled windows. The last paragraph is the comment I wrote out before realizing this might be the case. Leaving it there just in case it actually is relevant.

If we're talking about having a single window open, my suggestion would be to temporarily adjust the tile layout until the tiled window is closed or moved. This way you could always add another window to the current layout without having to re-tile the first one (at which point the layout should be saved and continue to work as usual), but if the lone window gets untiled by moving or closing it, the layout will remain unchanged.

If this is about multiple tiled windows:
> If I'm understanding correctly, this would break my workflow and be counterintuitive to any newcomers. 
> Currently if I have 3 windows tiled and I resize window 1, it will also resize window 2 to make room for it.
> This is the behaviour most people would expect given that it is the way it works in Windows, MacOS, as well as every other WM I can think of including tiling WMs.
> What is being suggested here would mean having to open the tile layout for every adjustment.
Comment 8 lzz 2025-10-23 18:40:09 UTC
(In reply to grog from comment #7)
> To clarify, this applies when only one window is open, right? It wouldn't
> make sense to change this behaviour when working with multiple tiled
> windows. The last paragraph is the comment I wrote out before realizing this
> might be the case. Leaving it there just in case it actually is relevant.
> 
> If we're talking about having a single window open, my suggestion would be
> to temporarily adjust the tile layout until the tiled window is closed or
> moved. This way you could always add another window to the current layout
> without having to re-tile the first one (at which point the layout should be
> saved and continue to work as usual), but if the lone window gets untiled by
> moving or closing it, the layout will remain unchanged.
> 
> If this is about multiple tiled windows:
> > If I'm understanding correctly, this would break my workflow and be counterintuitive to any newcomers. 
> > Currently if I have 3 windows tiled and I resize window 1, it will also resize window 2 to make room for it.
> > This is the behaviour most people would expect given that it is the way it works in Windows, MacOS, as well as every other WM I can think of including tiling WMs.
> > What is being suggested here would mean having to open the tile layout for every adjustment.

I do not mean when only one window is open, no. I mean when I have multiple windows open.
I expect my window grid to be fixed, and then I pick in what position I want to put each window. If I resize one of the windows in the grid, I want to make that window a floating one instead of messing with my grid and having to edit to kwinrc file to get it back to how it was.
Here is a (censored) screenshot of how I use my screen: https://yakumo.lzzbr.com/fh/zones.webp

I never used tiled window managers like i3, so I don't know how they work, but I understand they try to always fill your screen, and this is not good for my setup (4k 48" display). What I liked when I used Windows was a small program called gridmove. I also never got to try FancyZones because I stopped using Windows before it was released, but FancyZones seems to be exactly what I'd like to have in KDE. I don't think I am alone in this. At very least my brother, another everyday Plasma user, also completely agrees with me.
Comment 9 grog 2025-10-23 18:55:11 UTC
(In reply to lzz from comment #8)

Although I disagree with this being the default behaviour, perhaps it would work as an option when Tiles Editor gets its own section in System Settings. https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=509225 

In the meantime, there are some Kwin scripts that might work how you want. I tried this one a long time ago but iirc I think it matches your description: https://store.kde.org/p/1958305