Following is very subjective and probably varies from distro to distro, de to de, app to app, user to user.
For the longest time, I believed Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab was the only way of navigation through apps and windows. Many years ago, some editor introduced me to the behavior that Ctrl+Tab switches to the last used tab. I hated that behavior. I didn't understand it and it was annoying. Luckily you could switch to the old way (in my experience) which I did.
How do you guys cycle through windows?
What is the best way for switching? Is there a standard or at least an attempt for a standard? Or at least a name for different styles?
App / Window switching
I switch and highlight apps by pressing Meta+Tab, or Meta+Shift+Tab. This works very good. I use PaperWM, a window tiling feature in GNOME such that I have no overlapping windows and don't need to care about the position of the windows anymore for the most part. When I press Ctrl+i, the window to the right of the highlighted window moves below the current window and both adjust in size to half the screen.
![](https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/7d47c9ee-6ebb-4642-987a-7cc8f9a3975a.jpeg)
Cycle right isn't the proper way of going forward doesn't apply here anymore unless I define it as a zig zag movement.
![](https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/414b7b53-2625-4566-b259-cc905d13c2d1.webp)
Luckily, we have arrow keys. With, Meta+[Up,Down,Left,Right] I can move to any window. The shortcoming is that I need two hands because Meta is on the left and the arrow are on the right side of the keyboard. Having to use two hands is a big no-go for a fundamental command in my opinion. What's the solution to this? Ctrl+[W,S,A,D]? Does it clash with other main fundamental keybindings?
Kate uses Alt+Arrow to cycle through tabs. It uses Ctrl+Tab to cycle through time.
If you use Ctrl+Arrow to cycle through the windows, you can use Ctrl+(Shift+)Tab for cycling through time, i.e. last used tab/window.
In the browser, I navigate via Ctrl+Tab. There are no tabs below the current tab. btw, why not, mozilla? Kate and Pulsar (Atom successor) have Ctrl+N as the default for a new document (and hence tab).
For consistency, I want to use either Ctrl+T or Ctrl+N for a new document/window. Which standard do you guys use and prefer? Other apps with other keybindings?
Ctrl+Tab is good for a linear movement but Ctrl+Arrow is more logical.
I used to use Alt+F4 to quit apps. Recently, I discovered that you can use Ctrl+w to quit a tab and Ctrl+q to close a window. Wouldn't it be better to use Ctrl+q to close a tab and Meta+q to close the window?
Currently, I default to
- Ctrl+Arrow is for tab bidimensional motion.
- Meta+Arrow is for window bidimensional motion.
- Ctrl+Tab is for tab time-dimensional motion.
- Meta+Tab is for window time-dimensional motion.
- Which is better Ctrl+T or Ctrl+N for a new tab/document? Is it good that there is a distinction?
- Shift always reverses the action
I can't find a way to customize the keybindings in firefox, does that mean that I have to default to [Ctrl,Meta]+Tab to cycle through tabs/windows?
I use xmonad. In that you can cycle through windows with ctrl-j or ctrl-k. I can switch monitors with ctrl-w and ctrl-e for left and right. Ctrl-1 2 3 etc for workspaces. ctrl-space to flip through 3 different tiling schemes: focus window fullscreen, focus window left, focus window top.