i3-dotfiles VS i3status-rust

you can try i3wm + polybar I used this guide to get stared. https://github.com/rtisma/i3-dotfiles and this themes for polybar https://github.com/adi1090x/polybar-themes

If you want icons and clickable items on the bar you need to use something like https://github.com/greshake/i3status-rust

https://github.com/greshake/i3status-rust/tree/master/examples is about twice as good. The way i3blocks handles clicks is quite frankly kind of crap.

I assume you have installed latest stable version which is 0.22. The relavant config is https://github.com/greshake/i3status-rust/blob/v0.22.0/examples/config.toml

What's the version of i3-status you are using. As per their README, https://github.com/greshake/i3status-rust , there are two versions 0.22 and 0.3. Make sure you are using compatible versions according to your config.

Yeah, much better than the default i3status, it is well documented, you can check its screenshots and documents for more into. https://github.com/greshake/i3status-rust/blob/master/doc/themes.md

Setup is a Clevo laptop with an eGPU and 3 external monitors, running i3wm with i3status-rust. Keyboard is an Ergodone (chinese knockoff of ZSA's Ergodox EZ) with MX Browns and caps are a white and green set from AliExpress, that was basically the only DSA blank set for this keyboard I could find that would also have homing notches.