Well I most of the time either split the screen into two halves, which is really nice if one needs to work with more than one application, searching some info on the right, pasting/writing it on the left) or for shells often use tmux and vim split views so that I can look at multiple files/source code lines and still have a ready to use terminal at hand.
For example, I most of the time use the following layout at work:
Workspace #1: Split into two stacked sides:
- on the left there's firefox open (sometimes two windows to
group tabs)
- on the right there's my mailer (thunderbird but I dabbled
with neomutt/notmuch too)
- either side holds an occasional shell for some local or remote
maintenance, quick calculation or doing something else
(note I recently switched workstation and while at it I tried to switch from i3 to sway, so the top bar config is really plain due to me having yet to find some time to port over my old i3bar one to waybar or the like)
Workspace #2: A single big tabbed assembly of terminal windows.
Each connects to a development VM (different projects and or major
releases, using Proxmox VE makes managing those VMs quite easy)
via SSH, in there I'm running tmux with a small screen part for a
shell on the left side and the remaining part for vim with split
panes on the right side
Further workspaces are then for ssh windows for more complex real tests on some servers.
I use a lot of short-lived windows for terminal, browser, pdf-reader, ... and there the tiling window manager really shines, as I can effortless open those in some tens of milliseconds (MOD+Enter for terminals, MOD+D for my general window launcher), check what I need, maybe copy some text to the primary buffer by simply selecting it and then close it again With CTRL+D (EOF) for terminals or MOD+SHIFT+Q for any window.
For example, I most of the time use the following layout at work:
Example screenshot https://tlmp.it/d/scrot/sway-layout-workspace1.png(note I recently switched workstation and while at it I tried to switch from i3 to sway, so the top bar config is really plain due to me having yet to find some time to port over my old i3bar one to waybar or the like)
Example screenshot https://tlmp.it/d/scrot/sway-layout-workspace2.pngFurther workspaces are then for ssh windows for more complex real tests on some servers.
I use a lot of short-lived windows for terminal, browser, pdf-reader, ... and there the tiling window manager really shines, as I can effortless open those in some tens of milliseconds (MOD+Enter for terminals, MOD+D for my general window launcher), check what I need, maybe copy some text to the primary buffer by simply selecting it and then close it again With CTRL+D (EOF) for terminals or MOD+SHIFT+Q for any window.