>>7027214Strictly speaking you are correct i3 is not a DE it's a WM.
I do not write about them in those terms; if one is savvy enough, they can replace any component of almost any DE with another. For example I could run an XFCE session, with metacity as my WM, Compton as my compositor, and Nemo to provide my desktop. XFCE is still considered a DE not a WM. So it's easier to speak of anything that provides both the WM and desktop as a DE, in lieu of name the dozen components which comprise a session.
When I speak of box-style I am referring to tiling or stacking window managers without built in compositing, e.g. i3, awesome, or xmonand.
Why wouldn't you? Why would you? If you are looking something that has composting, you can get a DE create a similar work-flow with more bells and whistles.
If you are looking minimalism then adding a compositor is not the way go. You'll likely just introduce unnecessary screen tearing.
