Editing Window manager (section)

=== X window managers ===
{{Main article|X window manager}}

On systems using the [[X window system]], there is a clear distinction between the window manager and the [[windowing system]]. Strictly speaking, an [[X window manager]] does not directly interact with video hardware, mice, or keyboards – that is the responsibility of the [[display server]].

Users of the X Window System have the ability to easily use many different window managers – [[Metacity]], used in [[GNOME#GNOME 2|GNOME 2]], and [[KWin]], used in [[KDE Plasma Workspaces]], and many others. Since many window managers are modular,{{Vague|date=April 2023|reason=What does "modular" mean here?}} people can use others,{{Vague|date=April 2023|reason=Other than what?  The default window manager for the platform?}} such as [[Compiz]] (a 3D [[compositing window manager]]), which replaces the window manager.{{Vague|date=April 2023|reason=What is "the" window manager? If you're using Compiz, isn't *it* "the window manager"?}} [[Sawfish (window manager)|Sawfish]] and [[Awesome (window manager)|awesome]] on the other hand are [[extensible]] window managers offering exacting window control. Components of different window managers can even be mixed and matched; for example, the [[window decoration]]s from [[KWin]] can be used with the [[Desktop metaphor|desktop]] and [[Dock (computing)|dock]] components of GNOME.

X window managers also have the ability to [[re-parenting window manager|re-parent]] applications, meaning that, while initially all applications are adopted by the [[root window]] (essentially the whole screen), an application started within the root window can be adopted by (i.e., put inside of) another window. Window managers under the X window system adopt applications from the root window and re-parent them to apply window decorations (for example, adding a title bar). Re-parenting can also be used to add the contents of one window to another. For example, a [[flash player]] application can be re-parented to a browser window, and can appear to the user as supposedly being part of that program. Re-parenting window managers can therefore arrange one or more programs within the same window, and can easily combine [[tiling window manager|tiling]] and [[stacking window manager|stacking]] in various ways.

{{Further|Re-parenting window manager}}