pawm
Copy /etc/pawm.conf to $HOME/.pawm for your own local changes. If you want icons on your desktop, add a file to your $HOME/.pawm directory that starts with "app" and append an alphanumerical phrase of your choice to it. Then, write the file structure as follows:
<icon name> <x position> <y position> <name to display> <command>
Example:
firefox.xpm 40 40 firefox firefox
Other things to remember, you can only use xpm files for this method, and it takes the files from /usr/share/pixmaps. If I knew how to change this path to a directory the user has, I would.