Linux Mint’s Cinnamon is a beautiful desktop with all features you need and without the ones you don’t. One good thing is that it relies on dconf for storing settings like the default shortcut for logging out, which happens to be the same as PhpStorm’s shortcut for running the reformatter on code. Or the default mouse modifier for moving windows, which is Alt, which imho should rather do its job in Inkscape (free-hand selection).
You can also add your own shortcuts, if you want to.
Copy and paste this text into your terminal to set it up the way I want it. Or modify it before. Use dconf-editor
(install first if necessary) to find more settings you want to modify.
# Find stuff in dconf-editor
# Change Ctrl+Alt+L to Super+L. Does not interfer with PhpStorms reformatter.
gsettings set org.cinnamon.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys screensaver l
# Disable Alt+F6/F7/F8
gsettings set org.cinnamon.muffin.keybindings cycle-group []
gsettings set org.cinnamon.muffin.keybindings begin-move []
gsettings set org.cinnamon.muffin.keybindings begin-resize []
# Workspaces: Add Super key (PhpStorm uses Control+Alt+Arrows to navigate around in history)
gsettings set org.cinnamon.desktop.wm.preferences num-workspaces 2
gsettings set org.cinnamon.muffin.keybindings switch-to-workspace-left '["Left"]'
gsettings set org.cinnamon.muffin.keybindings switch-to-workspace-right '["Right"]'
gsettings set org.cinnamon.muffin.keybindings switch-to-workspace-up '[]'
gsettings set org.cinnamon.muffin.keybindings switch-to-workspace-down '[]'
gsettings set org.cinnamon.muffin.keybindings move-to-workspace-up '[]'
gsettings set org.cinnamon.muffin.keybindings move-to-workspace-down '[]'
gsettings set org.cinnamon.muffin.keybindings move-to-workspace-left '["Left"]'
gsettings set org.cinnamon.muffin.keybindings move-to-workspace-right '["Right"]'
# Move windows with Super (Inkscape makes extensive use of the Alt modifier, as do other programs)
gsettings set org.cinnamon.desktop.wm.preferences mouse-button-modifier ''
# Set up keyboard shortcuts for Terminal, Nemo, Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.
kbpath='org.cinnamon.keybindings.custom-keybinding:/org/cinnamon/keybindings/custom-keybindings'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/nemo/ binding 'e'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/nemo/ command 'nemo'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/nemo/ name 'Nemo'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/ff/ binding 'w'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/ff/ command 'firefox'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/ff/ name 'Firefox'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/term/ binding 't'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/term/ command 'gnome-terminal --maximize'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/term/ name 'Terminal'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/geany/ binding 'g'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/geany/ command 'geany'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/geany/ name 'Geany'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/thunderbird/ binding 'm'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/thunderbird/ command 'thunderbird'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/thunderbird/ name 'Thunderbird'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/prtscr/ binding 'Print'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/prtscr/ command 'gnome-screenshot -clipboard'
gsettings set ${kbpath}/prtscr/ name 'Prtscr'
gsettings set org.cinnamon.keybindings custom-list '["nemo", "ff", "term", "geany", "thunderbird", "prtscr"]'
# Done.