The Enlightenment window manager is a robust, flexible, highly configurable, graphically rich yet unobtrusive desktop environment for the X11 windowing system. It is fully themable and easily configured. There are a wide range of configuration options to suite any taste.
Enlightenment focuses on pushing the limits of existing technologies while remaining lightweight, flexible, and beautiful.
One of the aims of the window manager is to be as configurable as possible. It includes customization dialogs for focus settings, window movement, resizing, grouping and placement settings, audio, multiple desktop, desktop background, pager, tooltip and autoraise settings. It also includes a special effects dialog, including a desktop ‘ripple’ effect.
Enlightenment is sometimes used as a substitute for a full desktop environment.
Enlightenment can automatically run user scripts or applications during startup, restart, and shutdown. This facilitates the loading of system tray applets, rss readers, screensavers, and other daemons.
Enlightenment manages windows and files. It’s a compositor and is also capable of launching applications, handling the user interface and even system settings.
Key Features
- KDE and GNOME integration.
- Built-in file manager.
- Built-in composite manager.
- Multi-program sound support.
- Iconification.
- Sliding Desktops.
- Docking.
- Epplets.
- Xinerama support.
- Snapshoting pager.
- Fully themable.
- Multiple Desktops.
- Virtual Desktops.
- Window grouping.
- Sound effects for window operations.
- Special effects for window, desktop, and menu animation.
- Ability to change window borders (or remove borders and title bars completely).
- EESH – the Enlightenment Shell allows complete remote control of the window manager and scripting.
- Session Scripts.
- Keyboard shortcuts for nearly 80 actions, such as window handling, desktop navigation, or cursor movement.
- eDox help system.
- Modular design – can dynamically load external modules. Modules include:
- Pager – Switching between different virtual desktops.
- Bar – Launching applications.
- iBox – Holding minimized applications.
- iTask NG – A dock similar to the Mac OS X dock.
- Dropshadow – Provides a drop-shadow for every window.
- Clock – Analog clock.
- Battery – Monitoring a laptop battery.
- CPUFreq – Monitoring a laptop CPU.
- Temperature – Monitoring laptop temperature.
Website: www.enlightenment.org
Support: Documentation
Developer: Carsten Haitzler and contributors
License: BSD
Enlightenment is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Stacking Window Managers | |
|---|---|
| Openbox | Standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager |
| KWin | Window manager for the KDE Plasma Desktop |
| Mutter | Wayland display server and X11 window manager and compositor library |
| FVWM | Powerful ICCCM-compliant multiple virtual desktop window manager |
| berry | Healthy, bite-sized window manager |
| xfwm | Part of the Xfce desktop environment |
| Window Maker | NeXTSTEP-like window manager |
| JWM | Joe’s Window Manager |
| Gala | Designed by elementary for use with Pantheon |
| Fluxbox | Highly configurable and low resource |
| evilwm | Maximises screen real estate and provides good keyboard control |
| Worm | Tiny, dynamic, tag-based window manager |
| Blackbox | Similar to the NeXT interface and Window Maker |
| Enlightenment | Focuses on pushing the limits of existing technologies |
| PekWM | Originally based on the aewm++ window manager |
| Marco | MATE default window manager |
| 2bwm | Offers 2 borders, and written over the XCB library |
| cwm | OpenBSD fork of calmwn, a clean and lightweight window manager |
| IceWM | Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager |
| Sawfish | Extensible window manager using an Emacs Lisp-like scripting language |
| Moksha | Modern iteration of the Enlightenment window manager |
| Magpie | X11 window manager and compositor library |
| sowm | Itsy bitsy floating window manager |
| Compiz | OpenGL window and compositing manager |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Compositing Window Managers | |
|---|---|
| sway | i3-compatible tiling Wayland compositor and a replacement for i3 |
| KWin | Window manager for the KDE Plasma Desktop |
| Mutter | Wayland display server and X11 window manager and compositor library |
| Moksha | Modern iteration of the Enlightenment window manager |
| xfwm | Part of the Xfce desktop environment |
| Compiz | OpenGL window and compositing manager |
| Gala | Designed by elementary for use with Pantheon |
| Enlightenment | Focuses on pushing the limits of existing technologies |
| Magpie | X11 window manager and compositor library |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Stacking Wayland Compositors | |
|---|---|
| KWin | Window manager for the KDE Plasma Desktop |
| Wayfire | 3D Wayland compositor, inspired by Compiz |
| labwc | Lab Wayland Compositor |
| Waybox | Minimalist Wayland compositor |
| Enlightenment | Window manager and desktop environment |
| wlmaker | Wayland compositor inspired by Window Maker |
| Weston | Lightweight and functional Wayland compositor |
| Miriway | Mir based Wayland compositor |
| Woodland | wlroots-based window-stacking compositor for Wayland |
| hikari | Actively developed on FreeBSD but also supports Linux |
| croissant | Written in C |
| Otto | Visually focused desktop system and Wayland compositor |
| Hopalong | Simple Wayland compositor with a feature set that’s comparable to XFWM |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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