Do you want to have a simple horizontal tiling in LXDE? Here are the simple keybindings you’ll need to add.

Configuration

The keybindings are configured in ~/.config/openbox/lxde-rc.xml. The file might be actually called just “rc.xml” or some other variant. Open the file with leafpad ~/.config/openbox/lxde-rc.xml and add the following keybindings inside the <keyboard> tag.

<keybind key="W-Up">
  <action name="MaximizeFull"/>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-Down">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-Left">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <width>50%</width>
  </action>
  <action name="MaximizeVert"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <x>0</x>
    <y>0</y>
  </action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-Right">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <width>50%</width>
  </action>
  <action name="MaximizeVert"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <x>-0</x>
    <y>0</y>
  </action>
</keybind>

Shortcuts

Now you have the following shortcuts:

  • Windows/Super-Key + Up-Cursor: Maximizes the current window
  • Windows/Super-Key + Down-Cursor: Undoes the maximize.
  • Windows/Super-Key + Left-Cursor: Moves the current window to the left, allowing to put a different window to the right (horizontal tiling).
  • Windows/Super-Key + Right-Curser: Moves the current window to the right, allowing to put a different window to the left (horizontal tiling).

References:

Update (2015-12-19)

You either need to log off and on again to make the new keybindings effective or you can run openbox-lxde --reconfigure to reload the configuration and use the new keybindings right away.