Tiling Window Manager for Your Grandpa

TL;DR: Tiling window managers, which allow launching programs and actions via keyboard shortcuts, are often easier for older people who are used to non-intuitive systems.

My grandfather(70+) always struggled with modern graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Icons would "disappear," something would "break," or things wouldn't work as he wanted. Despite using computers for over a decade, he never got accustomed to modern interfaces. It baffled me how a former railroader, an engineer, and a handyman capable of fixing anything from a mixer to a car continually faced the same issues that even small children manage to overcome.

I finally realized that the problem was intuitiveness. Older individuals are used to mechanical and electronic items that are single-task and non-intuitive. Take car pedals, for example: the brake and gas pedals are not intuitive; they are always located in the same place and do not change positions when turning. If you accidentally press the brake twice, its function does not change. Mastering their operation simply requires memorizing their positions and relying on muscle memory.

With this in mind, I installed Arch Linux and the i3 window manager on my grandfather's computer. Tiling window managers like i3 organize windows in a non-overlapping, grid-like fashion, which can be more predictable and stable compared to floating windows in traditional GUIs.

I assigned the applications he uses to infrequently used keys: PrintScreen, ScrollLock, and PauseBreak. Pressing these keys not only launches the desired program but also checks and closes its current instances and other programs (to minimize multitasking). The script to launch the browser looks like this:

#!/bin/bash
if pgrep -x "brave" > /dev/null
then
  pkill -x brave
fi
if pgrep -x "kpat" > /dev/null
then
pkill -x kpat
fi
brave-browser

The only program my grandfather likes to keep running in the background is mpv with his playlist of TV channels. In the i3 config, I specified it to launch as a small window in the bottom right corner:

for_window [class="mpv"] floating enable, move position 1400 770, resize set 460 460

What's great about i3 is that using and clicking the browser does not cover the mpv window.

I set F12 as the system shutdown key.

My grandfather likes to stay updated with the weather and the calendars of his favorite sports as well as his wife’s schedule. Therefore, upon system startup, the wallpaper is generated(1) in the following way:

Current weather forecast from wttr.in on the left side
On the right, a calendar for speedway, handball, and his wife’s Google calendar

The calendar data is also displayed in i3blocks.

At first, it was hard for my grandfather to get used to it, but after a week, he had no more problems. Nothing disappears, nothing breaks, and everything works as it should.

1) script that generates wallpaper

Tiling Window Manager for Your Grandpa

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