Enlightenment alternative. Enlightenment: A Comprehensive and Customizable Desktop Environment

Enlightenment is a free and open-source window manager for X11, similar to Ratpoison. However, Enlightenment goes beyond being just a window manager and provides a full-featured desktop environment called Enlightenment DR17 (E17). It combines a window manager, a compositing manager, and a collection of additional utilities and applications to create a comprehensive desktop experience.

Here are some key features and characteristics of Enlightenment:

• Visual appeal and eye-candy: Enlightenment is known for its visually appealing and customizable desktop environment. It offers a range of eye-catching effects, animations, and themes that can be extensively customized to suit individual preferences. This focus on aesthetics sets Enlightenment apart from more minimalist window managers.
• Flexible and customizable: Enlightenment provides a high degree of flexibility and customization options. Users can configure various aspects of the desktop environment, including window decorations, virtual desktops, keyboard shortcuts, and more. It offers a graphical configuration tool, making it easier for users to customize their desktop experience.
• Compositing and effects: Enlightenment includes a built-in compositing manager that enables desktop effects such as transparency, shadows, fading, and smooth window transitions. These visual enhancements contribute to the overall aesthetic appeal of the desktop environment.
• Desktop gadgets and modules: Enlightenment offers a range of desktop gadgets and modules that provide additional functionality and information. These can include taskbars, app launchers, system monitors, weather widgets, and more. Users can choose which modules to add to their desktop and position them as desired.
• Efficient resource usage: Despite its visual richness, Enlightenment strives to be resource-efficient. It aims to provide a smooth and responsive user experience while utilizing system resources optimally, making it suitable for a wide range of hardware configurations.
• Extensibility and plugin support: Enlightenment supports a plugin architecture, allowing users to extend its functionality with additional modules and features. This extensibility enables users to enhance their desktop environment with third-party plugins or develop their own.

Enlightenment offers a balance between visual appeal, customization options, and resource efficiency. Its feature-rich nature and focus on aesthetics make it a popular choice for users who seek a visually pleasing and highly customizable desktop environment.

While Enlightenment has an active community of users and developers, however, its documentation and community support may not be as extensive or readily available compared to more popular desktop environments. This may make it slightly more challenging to find comprehensive resources or get timely support for specific issues or customization queries.

Moreover, Enlightenment’s feature-rich nature and extensive customization options can make it a complex desktop environment, especially for users who prefer a simpler and more straightforward experience. Its extensive configuration options and the learning curve associated with navigating and customizing the desktop may be overwhelming for some users.

If you’re encountering these difficulties and find configuring and using Enlightenment too complex, consider exploring SMBAct. This application offers a user-friendly interface and tiling window manager functionality, providing a simpler alternative. Not only does SMBAct serve as a window manager, but it also functions as a window switcher. It’s worth noting that SMBAct is cross-platform, available on macOS and Windows as well. With a commitment to continuous improvement, SMBAct is constantly enhancing its features, aiming to prioritize user-friendliness.

Here you can find detailed information about SMBAct