You know, windows management is in the freaking stone ages
-
For example, I want to be able to be able to: bring into the foreground several windows in a "group" when I bring any one window in that group into the foreground. minimize the entire group easily position the windows side-by-side horizontally, but not necessarily maximized vertically, etc. move a group of windows from one monitor to another have other windows slide around so that I can position a window in a different place on my monitor without having to then move other windows that are in the way Until then (and I'm sure I can think of a few more things), this whole business of a "Windows" environment is a crock of shyte, IMO. Don't the people that write this stuff think about how they would like to actually use it in a productive setting? Marc
You can probably find a half dozen different implementations of that sort of Rube-Goldberg in various linux distros. There's no business case for features that will only get used by a tiny minority of the customer base or that would only serve to confuse the average user. I strongly suspect that it would be a minimally used feature or be done in a way that doesn't confuse Joe Luser which is why windows doesn't offer it. If some of the experimental stuff with tab management in current dev builds of Firefox/Opera do work well for and become popular with non-technical users you might see it in a future version of windows. I wouldn't hold my breath on this however.
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
-
For example, I want to be able to be able to: bring into the foreground several windows in a "group" when I bring any one window in that group into the foreground. minimize the entire group easily position the windows side-by-side horizontally, but not necessarily maximized vertically, etc. move a group of windows from one monitor to another have other windows slide around so that I can position a window in a different place on my monitor without having to then move other windows that are in the way Until then (and I'm sure I can think of a few more things), this whole business of a "Windows" environment is a crock of shyte, IMO. Don't the people that write this stuff think about how they would like to actually use it in a productive setting? Marc
-
For example, I want to be able to be able to: bring into the foreground several windows in a "group" when I bring any one window in that group into the foreground. minimize the entire group easily position the windows side-by-side horizontally, but not necessarily maximized vertically, etc. move a group of windows from one monitor to another have other windows slide around so that I can position a window in a different place on my monitor without having to then move other windows that are in the way Until then (and I'm sure I can think of a few more things), this whole business of a "Windows" environment is a crock of shyte, IMO. Don't the people that write this stuff think about how they would like to actually use it in a productive setting? Marc
While Windows' windows management is ... improvable to say the least (although there is no such plan on the horizon), do you know of (at least in .NET) that Form (in WinForm) and Window (in WPF) both have a Owner property, that can make a group of windows behave just like you said!?!? My particular pet hates with window management are: - modal dialog which appear behind other modal dialog while they are the one stealing the focus!!! - windows which change their respective z-orer when another window is closed
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
-
Or you could just man up and use one monitor and make each window full screen and find something worth complaining about. ;)
Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already. - Marcus Aurelius
Two monitors of x by y pixels is a lot cheaper than one monitor of 2x by y pixels, so for a large screen in a cost-effective manner, two screens is the way to go.
-
You can probably find a half dozen different implementations of that sort of Rube-Goldberg in various linux distros. There's no business case for features that will only get used by a tiny minority of the customer base or that would only serve to confuse the average user. I strongly suspect that it would be a minimally used feature or be done in a way that doesn't confuse Joe Luser which is why windows doesn't offer it. If some of the experimental stuff with tab management in current dev builds of Firefox/Opera do work well for and become popular with non-technical users you might see it in a future version of windows. I wouldn't hold my breath on this however.
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
Dan Neely wrote:
I strongly suspect that it would be a minimally used feature or be done in a way that doesn't confuse Joe Luser which is why windows doesn't offer it.
Since when does that stop Microsoft? ;) Marc
-
Or you could just man up and use one monitor and make each window full screen and find something worth complaining about. ;)
Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already. - Marcus Aurelius
John C wrote:
Or you could just man up and use one monitor and make each window full screen and find something worth complaining about.
Been there, done that. :) SOP for when I work on a laptop. ;) Marc
-
GridMove. Great software. Doesn't do the grouping thing, but you can use out-of-the-box or easily mess with the configs to do more regioning of screen space than default.
puromtec1 wrote:
GridMove. Great software.
Cool! Never heard of it. It looks really useful. Thanks!!! Marc
-
John C wrote:
Or you could just man up and use one monitor and make each window full screen and find something worth complaining about.
Been there, done that. :) SOP for when I work on a laptop. ;) Marc
-
While Windows' windows management is ... improvable to say the least (although there is no such plan on the horizon), do you know of (at least in .NET) that Form (in WinForm) and Window (in WPF) both have a Owner property, that can make a group of windows behave just like you said!?!? My particular pet hates with window management are: - modal dialog which appear behind other modal dialog while they are the one stealing the focus!!! - windows which change their respective z-orer when another window is closed
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
-
For example, I want to be able to be able to: bring into the foreground several windows in a "group" when I bring any one window in that group into the foreground. minimize the entire group easily position the windows side-by-side horizontally, but not necessarily maximized vertically, etc. move a group of windows from one monitor to another have other windows slide around so that I can position a window in a different place on my monitor without having to then move other windows that are in the way Until then (and I'm sure I can think of a few more things), this whole business of a "Windows" environment is a crock of shyte, IMO. Don't the people that write this stuff think about how they would like to actually use it in a productive setting? Marc
Trouble is, that's all very well, but seems to raise more problems than it solves: 1) bring into the foreground several windows Only one window can ever be the foreground window, so you want the impossible. 2) easily position the windows side-by-side horizontally Suppose they don't fit on the screen side by side. What then? Any ruleset to cover all situations is going to be complex, and therefore non-obvious to most people. 3) have other windows slide around so that I can position a window in a different place on my monitor without having to then move other windows that are in the way For almost all window layouts and sizes, that would be impossible without either moving windows partially or totally off screen, or resizing windows that the user isn't currently working with, neither of which sounds like good usability to me.
-
While Windows' windows management is ... improvable to say the least (although there is no such plan on the horizon), do you know of (at least in .NET) that Form (in WinForm) and Window (in WPF) both have a Owner property, that can make a group of windows behave just like you said!?!? My particular pet hates with window management are: - modal dialog which appear behind other modal dialog while they are the one stealing the focus!!! - windows which change their respective z-orer when another window is closed
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
Super Lloyd wrote:
modal dialog which appear behind other modal dialog while they are the one stealing the focus!!!
Ohhhhhhh yesssssss! That get's my GOAT. Last night, ran up VS2010 and, while it was loading, was browsing on the other screen. A couple of minutes when by before I checked - VS hasn't loaded, what's going on? Sure enough, a dialog hiding in the background somewhere, no indication anywhere that it was waiting for something. Contrast that to the Mac - where the bloody computer shouts out that a program is waiting for input - never miss an alert again!
___________________________________________ .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
-
For example, I want to be able to be able to: bring into the foreground several windows in a "group" when I bring any one window in that group into the foreground. minimize the entire group easily position the windows side-by-side horizontally, but not necessarily maximized vertically, etc. move a group of windows from one monitor to another have other windows slide around so that I can position a window in a different place on my monitor without having to then move other windows that are in the way Until then (and I'm sure I can think of a few more things), this whole business of a "Windows" environment is a crock of shyte, IMO. Don't the people that write this stuff think about how they would like to actually use it in a productive setting? Marc
-
Trouble is, that's all very well, but seems to raise more problems than it solves: 1) bring into the foreground several windows Only one window can ever be the foreground window, so you want the impossible. 2) easily position the windows side-by-side horizontally Suppose they don't fit on the screen side by side. What then? Any ruleset to cover all situations is going to be complex, and therefore non-obvious to most people. 3) have other windows slide around so that I can position a window in a different place on my monitor without having to then move other windows that are in the way For almost all window layouts and sizes, that would be impossible without either moving windows partially or totally off screen, or resizing windows that the user isn't currently working with, neither of which sounds like good usability to me.
Electron Shepherd wrote:
- bring into the foreground several windows Only one window can ever be the foreground window, so you want the impossible.
What I mean is, I have, say, Notepad, a schema designer, and Visio in windows spread across my monitor, not maximized, but nicely positioned next to each other. I also have Chrome and a couple PDF viewers open, also nicely spaced on my monitor. I want to context switch so that I can show notepad, the schema designer, and Visio, in the foreground, or context switch and show Chrome and the PDF viewers. Does that make sense.
Electron Shepherd wrote:
Suppose they don't fit on the screen side by side. What then? Any ruleset to cover all situations is going to be complex, and therefore non-obvious to most people.
So what? Do we write software for the dumbest user? No, they just don't use those features, or someone figures out how to make them easily usable. Marc
-
Or you could just man up and use one monitor and make each window full screen and find something worth complaining about. ;)
Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already. - Marcus Aurelius
I like to drag each of two windows to their own side of my laptop monitor, to maximise them vertically and give each half screen horizontally, where their adjacency is a plus. Now having two monitors results in some funny squinting when one window ends up at the left half of my left monitor and the other in the right half of my right monitor.
-
While Windows' windows management is ... improvable to say the least (although there is no such plan on the horizon), do you know of (at least in .NET) that Form (in WinForm) and Window (in WPF) both have a Owner property, that can make a group of windows behave just like you said!?!? My particular pet hates with window management are: - modal dialog which appear behind other modal dialog while they are the one stealing the focus!!! - windows which change their respective z-orer when another window is closed
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.
Modal dialogs are my pet hate full stop. Only message boxes should be modal - anything else that is modal and requires input, yet prevents me from sourcing that input from any other window is a crock of shit! :mad:
-
GridMove. Great software. Doesn't do the grouping thing, but you can use out-of-the-box or easily mess with the configs to do more regioning of screen space than default.
puromtec1 wrote:
GridMove
Excellent! A great find, cheers!
Now I know what I'll be doing for most of the day!
-
Electron Shepherd wrote:
- bring into the foreground several windows Only one window can ever be the foreground window, so you want the impossible.
What I mean is, I have, say, Notepad, a schema designer, and Visio in windows spread across my monitor, not maximized, but nicely positioned next to each other. I also have Chrome and a couple PDF viewers open, also nicely spaced on my monitor. I want to context switch so that I can show notepad, the schema designer, and Visio, in the foreground, or context switch and show Chrome and the PDF viewers. Does that make sense.
Electron Shepherd wrote:
Suppose they don't fit on the screen side by side. What then? Any ruleset to cover all situations is going to be complex, and therefore non-obvious to most people.
So what? Do we write software for the dumbest user? No, they just don't use those features, or someone figures out how to make them easily usable. Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
What I mean is, I have, say, Notepad, a schema designer, and Visio in windows spread across my monitor, not maximized, but nicely positioned next to each other. I also have Chrome and a couple PDF viewers open, also nicely spaced on my monitor. I want to context switch so that I can show notepad, the schema designer, and Visio, in the foreground, or context switch and show Chrome and the PDF viewers. Does that make sense.
If that's what you want: linux, visual studio and visio in a VM, and multiple desktops. AFAIK none of the 3rd party multiple desktop apps for windows have ever worked well.
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
-
I like to drag each of two windows to their own side of my laptop monitor, to maximise them vertically and give each half screen horizontally, where their adjacency is a plus. Now having two monitors results in some funny squinting when one window ends up at the left half of my left monitor and the other in the right half of my right monitor.
Brady Kelly wrote:
Now having two monitors results in some funny squinting when one window ends up at the left half of my left monitor and the other in the right half of my right monitor.
Sizer[^] helps with that, if you are on a 32-bit Windows OS - it allows you to set up specific locations and sizes (starting loc, width, and height), then set any window to that preset with a right-click on the title bar. Since each preset is named, you can have prsets like "Left_Half_SingleMonitor" and "Left_Half_DualMonitor". I use it frequently for apps running over an RDP connection or in a VM ... The price is right - it is freeware. It can take a bit of playing with the presets to get just what you want, and the 32-bit limitation bites, but ...
-
Electron Shepherd wrote:
- bring into the foreground several windows Only one window can ever be the foreground window, so you want the impossible.
What I mean is, I have, say, Notepad, a schema designer, and Visio in windows spread across my monitor, not maximized, but nicely positioned next to each other. I also have Chrome and a couple PDF viewers open, also nicely spaced on my monitor. I want to context switch so that I can show notepad, the schema designer, and Visio, in the foreground, or context switch and show Chrome and the PDF viewers. Does that make sense.
Electron Shepherd wrote:
Suppose they don't fit on the screen side by side. What then? Any ruleset to cover all situations is going to be complex, and therefore non-obvious to most people.
So what? Do we write software for the dumbest user? No, they just don't use those features, or someone figures out how to make them easily usable. Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
What I mean is, I have, say, Notepad, a schema designer, and Visio in windows spread across my monitor, not maximized, but nicely positioned next to each other. I also have Chrome and a couple PDF viewers open, also nicely spaced on my monitor. I want to context switch so that I can show notepad, the schema designer, and Visio, in the foreground, or context switch and show Chrome and the PDF viewers. Does that make sense.
This sounds an awful lot like a set of virtual desktops ...[^]
-
I like to drag each of two windows to their own side of my laptop monitor, to maximise them vertically and give each half screen horizontally, where their adjacency is a plus. Now having two monitors results in some funny squinting when one window ends up at the left half of my left monitor and the other in the right half of my right monitor.
Windows 7 has this support built in. Click on a window and then hold the Windows key and press left or right arrow. On multiple monitors it will step across (depending on location and direction), resulting in that layout with just a few keystrokes.
Mike Poz