Just about everyone has seen or used some cool eyecandy Compiz Fusion plugins, but there are also quite a number of useful non-eyecandy plugins for Compiz Fusion. Today, I will look at four of the most interesting ones that are included in Ubuntu. If you are an Ubuntu user, you will need to install the advanced settings manager for Compiz Fusion.

1. Scale Scale is very similar to a feature of OS X called Expose, which shrinks all your open windows so you can see them all and easily return with one of them in focus. Scale basically does the exact same thing.  Once you start using this plugin, you will quickly start finding yourself constantly using it to change windows.
2. Maximumize Maximumize is a very simple plugin, yet still a good thing to have around if you need it. Maximumize lets you expand any window to fill up available screen space. This will “maximize” the window, without overlapping anything.
3. Shelf Shelf lets you file windows away as little thumbnails on the desktop. With a keyboard shortcut, you can shrink any window. A shrunken window can be dragged around, but not interacted with. This lets you keep an eye on things without using up too much space.
4. Windows Rules The Windows Rules plugin is slightly different from the others. Rather than setting up a keyboard shortcut to do something, you can define rules for various windows. Based on your rules, you can make windows unable to close, unable to move, unable to maximize, always above other applications, and so on. Though it would be nice to see some way of easily turning these rules on or off with a keyboard shortcut, the ability to apply rules to windows could definitely come in handy in the future.

One last note: make sure you set a keyboard shortcut you like, it will make using these tricks much more intuitive.

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