smart_borders for awesomewm

Features:

• Full titlebar functionality without sacrificing space
• Hot corners
• Improved mouse controls
• Custom client menu
• Anti-aliased rounded corners
• Various configuration options
• Easy installation

How does it work:

smart_borders are essentially 4 individual titlebars that offer full titlebar functionality and controls while being minimalistic and aesthetically pleasing like borders. The regular X11 borders are additionally available and can be used to achieve a double-border-look (like 2bwm).

Installation:

Clone the repo and import the module:

1. git clone https://github.com/intrntbrn/smart_borders ~/.config/awesome/smart_borders
2. echo "require('smart_borders'){ show_button_tooltips = true }" >> ~/.config/awesome/rc.lua

To disable the regular X11 borders, set theme.border_width = 0 in theme.lua.

If you end up using this module, consider removing default titlebar initialization code (e.g. request::titlebars signal handlers) from rc.lua to improve startup times and performance.

Controls:

button	default action	handler	signal
left click	move client	button_left_click	smart_borders::left_click
right click	open client menu	button_right_click	smart_borders::right_click
double left click	toggle maximize	button_double_click	smart_borders::left_click
middle click	resize client	button_middle_click	smart_borders::middle_click
mousewheel up	increase client height	button_wheel_up	smart_borders::wheel_up
mousewheel down	decrease client height	button_wheel_down	smart_borders::wheel_down
mouse forward	swap client with next client by index	button_forward	smart_borders::forward_click
mouse back	swap client with previous client by index	button_back	smart_borders::back_click

Customization:

name	default	description
positions	{ "left", "right", "top", "bottom" }	border positions
button_positions	{ "top" }	button positions
buttons	{ "floating", "minimize", "maximize", "close" }	possible values: { "floating", "minimize", "maximize", "close", "sticky", "top" }
border_width	dpi(6)	width of border
rounded_corner	dpi(0)	border radius of rounded corners
show_button_tooltips	false	show a tooltip on button mouse over
show_title_tooltips	false	show a tooltip of client title on border mouse over (might cause issues when sloppy focus mode (focus follows mouse) is enabled)
align_horizontal	"right"	alignment of buttons on top and bottom positions. possible values: { "left", "center", "right" }
align_vertical	"center"	alignment of buttons on left and right positions. possible values: { "bottom", "center", "top" }
layout	"fixed"	possible values: { "fixed", "ratio" }. "fixed": every button size can be configured individually (see buttion_size). "ratio": each button is assigned a ratio (percentage) equally of the total space (see button_ratio).
button_size	dpi(40)	default button size when layout is set to "fixed". each button size can be configured individually.
button_ratio	0.2	relative size of buttons in percent when layout is set to "ratio"
spacing_widget	nil	spacing widget (between buttons)
button_maximize_size	button_size	size of maximize button
button_minimize_size	button_size	size of minimize button
button_floating_size	button_size	size of floating button
button_sticky_size	button_size	size of sticky button
button_close_size	button_size	size of close button
button_top_size	button_size	size of top button
color_normal	"#56666f"	border color
color_focus	"#a1bfcf"	border color when client is focused
color_hover	nil	border color on border hover
color_maximized	nil	border color when client is maximized
color_floating	nil	border color when client is floating
color_maximize_normal	"#a9dd9d"	color of maximize button
color_maximize_focus	"#a9dd9d"	color of maximize button when client is focused
color_maximize_hover	"#c3f7b7"	color of maximize button on mouse hover
color_minimize_normal	"#f0eaaa"	color of minimize button
color_minimize_focus	"#f0eaaa"	color of minimize button when client is focused
color_minimize_hover	"#f6ffea"	color of minimize button on mouse hover
color_floating_normal	"#ddace7"	color of floating button
color_floating_focus	"#ddace7"	color of floating button when client is focused
color_floating_hover	"#f7c6ff"	color of floating button on mouse hover
color_sticky_normal	"#fb8965"	color of sticky button
color_sticky_focus	"#fb8965"	color of sticky button when client is focused
color_sticky_hover	"#ffa37f"	color of sticky button on mouse hover
color_close_normal	"#fd8489"	color of close button
color_close_focus	"#fd8489"	color of close button when client is focused
color_close_hover	"#ff9ea3"	color of close button on mouse hover
color_top_normal	"#7fc1ca"	color of top button
color_top_focus	"#7fc1ca"	color of top button when client is focused
color_top_hover	"#99dbe4"	color of top button on mouse hover
menu_selection_symbol	"✔"	default menu selection indicator
resize_factor	0.01	default client resize factor
stealth	false	show only button colors on hover (set button colors to border colors)
snapping	false	enable snapping mode (see snapping section)
snapping_max_distance	nil	maximum snapping distance (mouse to client border)
snapping_center_mouse	false	center mouse on client when snapping
custom_menu_entries	{}	list of custom menu entries (see custom menues section)
hot_corners	{}	hot_corners definitions (see hot corners section)
hot_corners_color	"#00000000"	color of hot_corners
hot_corners_width	dpi(1)	width of hot_corners
hot_corners_height	dpi(1)	height of hot_corners

Snapping:

When useless_gaps are disabled it is very easy and fast to control clients by using the mouse since you only have to move your mouse to the edge of the screen to hit the client border. However, when useless_gaps are enabled it can be frustrating to hit the border. Therefore snapping will snap to the closest client if you click on the desktop/wallpaper.

Please note that snapping currently requires awesomewm git version.

Unfortunately it is not possible to remove default mouse bindings, therefore you have to remove these on your own.

Remove the following from rc.lua:

-- {{{ Mouse bindings
-- @DOC_ROOT_BUTTONS@
awful.mouse.append_global_mousebindings({
    awful.button({ }, 3, function () mymainmenu:toggle() end),
    awful.button({ }, 4, awful.tag.viewprev),
    awful.button({ }, 5, awful.tag.viewnext),
})
-- }}}

Hot Corners:

Execute custom functions at the corners of your screen (e.g. appmenu, volume control, etc.).

hot_corners = {
    ["top_right"] = {
        left_click = function()
            require("naughty").notify({text = "left_click"})
        end,
        right_click = function()
            require("naughty").notify({text = "right_click"})
        end,
        middle_click = function()
            require("naughty").notify({text = "middle_click"})
        end,
        forward_click = function()
            require("naughty").notify({text = "forward_click"})
        end,
        back_click = function()
            require("naughty").notify({text = "back_click"})
        end,
        wheel_up = function()
            require("naughty").notify({text = "wheel_up"})
        end,
        wheel_down = function()
            require("naughty").notify({text = "wheel_down"})
        end,
        enter = function()
            require("naughty").notify({text = "enter"})
        end,
        leave = function()
            require("naughty").notify({text = "leave"})
        end
    }
}

Possible positions are "top_left", "top_right", "bottom_left", "bottom_right" or any awful.placement defintion (e.g. "centered").

Execution can also be scriped:

echo "awesome.emit_signal('hot_corners::top_right::left_click')" | awesome-client

Custom Menues:

It is possible to add your own menu entries. Entries can be added globally or only for certain classes based on regex matching.

custom_menu_entries = {
    ["Chromium"] = {
        {
            text = "toggle tabbar",
            func = function(c)
                keygrabber.stop()
                root.fake_input("key_press", "F11")
                awful.spawn.easy_async_with_shell("sleep 0.15", function()
                    c.fullscreen = false
                end)
                root.fake_input("key_release", "F11")
            end
        }
    },
    -- for every client:
    [".*"] = {
        {
            text = "toggle top overlay",
            func = function(c)
                if c.floating and c.ontop and c.sticky then
                    c.floating = false
                    c.ontop = false
                    c.sticky = false
                else
                    c.floating = true
                    c.width = 640
                    c.height = 360
                    c.ontop = true
                    c.sticky = true
                    awful.placement.top_right(c)
                end
            end
        }
    }
}

Custom Buttons:

Add a custom button to buttons (marked in this example):

buttons = { "minimize", "maximize", "close", "marked" }

Define the button:

button_marked_name = "my fancy custom button",
button_marked_size = "25",
button_marked_function = function(c) c.marked = not c.marked end,
color_marked_focus = "#ff00ff",
color_marked_normal = "#ffff00",
color_marked_hover = "#ff0000",

Disable:

To disable smart_borders for certain clients you can set the disable_smart_borders property:

ruled.client.append_rule({
    id = "dont_show_smart_borders",
    rule = { class = "myclass" },
    properties = {
        disable_smart_borders = true,
    },
})

Integration / Signals:

It is possible to use smart_borders features in other modules by emitting signals.

E.g. you might want add the rightclick menu to your tasklist:

-- @TASKLIST_BUTTON@
-- Create a tasklist widget
s.mytasklist = awful.widget.tasklist {
    screen = s,
    filter = awful.widget.tasklist.filter.currenttags,
    buttons = {
        awful.button({}, 1, function(c)
            c:activate{context = "tasklist", action = "toggle_minimization"}
        end), awful.button({}, 3, function(c)
            c:emit_signal("smart_borders::right_click")
        end)
    }
}

Example Configuration (as shown on top gif):

require("smart_borders") {
    show_button_tooltips = true,

    button_positions = {"top"},
    buttons = {"floating", "minimize", "maximize", "close"},

    layout = "fixed",
    align_horizontal = "center",
    button_size = 40,
    button_floating_size = 60,
    button_close_size = 60,
    border_width = 6,

    color_close_normal = {
        type = "linear",
        from = {0, 0},
        to = {60, 0},
        stops = {{0, "#fd8489"}, {1, "#56666f"}}
    },
    color_close_focus = {
        type = "linear",
        from = {0, 0},
        to = {60, 0},
        stops = {{0, "#fd8489"}, {1, "#a1bfcf"}}
    },
    color_close_hover = {
        type = "linear",
        from = {0, 0},
        to = {60, 0},
        stops = {{0, "#FF9EA3"}, {1, "#a1bfcf"}}
    },
    color_floating_normal = {
        type = "linear",
        from = {0, 0},
        to = {40, 0},
        stops = {{0, "#56666f"}, {1, "#ddace7"}}
    },
    color_floating_focus = {
        type = "linear",
        from = {0, 0},
        to = {40, 0},
        stops = {{0, "#a1bfcf"}, {1, "#ddace7"}}
    },
    color_floating_hover = {
        type = "linear",
        from = {0, 0},
        to = {40, 0},
        stops = {{0, "#a1bfcf"}, {1, "#F7C6FF"}}
    },

    snapping = true,
    snapping_center_mouse = true,

    -- custom control example:
    button_back = function(c)
        -- set client as master
        c:swap(awful.client.getmaster())
    end,

    -- hot_corners
    hot_corners_color = "#FD8489",
    hot_corners_width = 10,
    hot_corners_height = 10,
    hot_corners = {
        ["top_right"] = {
            left_click = function()
                -- unfullscreen the focused client with left click
                local c = client.focus
                if c and c.fullscreen then
                    c.fullscreen = false
                end
            end,
            middle_click = function()
                awesome.restart()
            end,
        }
    },
}