I’m currently writing this on the MATE desktop. I started with linux on the gnome 2 desktop, so it only makes sense. A long time ago I used Xmonad (a tiling window manager) but tiling has less appeal for me now. If I need/want a lightweight solution, I use CWM (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cwm_(window_manager), which was originally developed on OpenBSD, but is usually available across different Linux distros and BSD’s.
I’ve tried pretty much every DE/WM under the sun at this point, and would be interested to know what you use and why
Yeah I’ve been using linux since about 2007(?) and what I noticed in all the online discussions about gnome v kde or whatever, is that everything comes down to personal preference.
FWIW, with CWM there are default key bindings that maximize horizontally and vertically, which can create a tiling effect. You can resize/move programs just with keys. It also has the concept of groups (instead of virtual desktops). So you enter a key combination, and whatever you added to that group is minimized/raised.