Openbox changes aren't taking effect at all on Ubuntu 16.04

Question

Im running Ubuntu MATE 16.04 and I click the gear icon on login to use openbox. And no matter what changes I make to the rc.xml file and no matter if I restart it or reconfigure nothing happens at all. I've been trying to implement this

<!-- Window Tiling: Emulates Windows 7 Snap feature -->
<keybind key="W-Left">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MaximizeVert"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <width>50%</width>
  </action>
  <action name="MoveToEdgeWest"/>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-Right">
  <action name="UnmaximizeFull"/>
  <action name="MaximizeVert"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <width>50%</width>
  </action>
  <action name="MoveToEdgeEast"/>
</keybind>

to make windows like key bindings.

Answer 1

Your rc.xml file should be in ~/.config/openbox. Back it up first and then please try:

<keybind key="W-Left">        # HalfLeftScreen
  <action name="Unmaximize"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo"><x>0</x><y>0</y><height>100%</height><width>50%</width></action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-Right">        # HalfRightScreen
  <action name="Unmaximize"/>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo"><x>-0</x><y>0</y><height>100%</height><width>50%</width></action>
</keybind>

Note: make sure that you are working in the <keyboard> section and not anywhere else!

After you've edited and saved the modified rc.xml, open a terminal and run openbox --reconfigure. (You shouldn't get a pop-up informing you of parsing errors. If you do, you'll probably need to fix those.) Only then will the changes take effect. There's no need to restart anything.

Addendum:

The following keybinds can be used to minimize (aka Iconify) and maximize the active (in focus) window:

<keybind key="C-W-Up">        # Minimize
  <action name="Iconify"/>
</keybind>

<keybind key="C-W-Down">        # Maximize
  <action name="Maximize"/>
</keybind>

(I already use W-Up and W-Down for snapping to the top half and bottom half. You need to ensure that you don't use the same key combos twice! So do run through rc.xml before making your shortcut choices.)