What is i3Void?

i3Void is a blank window that can be used to unobtrusively pad a tiled i3 screen. i3 is a fantastic window manager, but tiling a bunch of windows can be distracting. We are evolutionarily predisposed to notice shiny, colorful, novel things. In scientific terms, a Princeton study found that:

Multiple stimuli present in the visual field at the same time compete for neural representation by mutually suppressing their evoked activity throughout visual cortex, providing a neural correlate for the limited processing capacity of the visual system.

Why not just use a terminal for padding?

My terminal prompt is distracting. It is colorful and full of weird symbols. My prompt tells me all sorts of useful things when I am using the cli, otherwise it is just a colorful mess that clutters my peripheral vision. I relegate my Konsole terminals to one i3 screen with two or three Konsole windows open. I don't need a console on every screen.

Technical Details

i3Void was written using Python and the PyQt4 library. As such, it could easily be used in other tiling window managers.

Licence

i3Void is open source under the MIT license. Feel free to fork and play with it on GitHub.