Windows 7 - Multi-Monitor Management, even harder... | The Coffeehouse

ManipUni
Proving QQ for 5 years!

In Vista multi-monitor management was horrible. You had to right click->move then use the arrow keys to get it started. You also had to fiddle around making sure the window was in the right state to be moved (i.e. "normal," not maximized nor minimized). Not to mention bad programs like Skype and iTunes that just don't like to be moved.

Windows 7 has actually made it worse. Now if you have more than one window open you have to click up into the subgroup and then right click on the window (and if you "miss" it will close). If you only have one window open then you have to use the secret shirt+right click (which a lot of people won't know exists).

So here are my questions:

- Why does subgroup->Right Click on a window and right click have inconsistent behaviour?

- When will we get a button to bring a window front and centre?

- When will you "fix" the move button so you don't have to use the arrow keys?

- When will you "fix" the move button so you can drag a maximized window from one monitor to another?

- I know Microsoft gives most of its staff multiple monitors... Has nobody at the company ever switched one off or unplugged one?

Sven Groot
My name has 9 letters. Coincidence? I think not...

I have never used the right-click, move option so I can't really speak for that, but...

You can drag a maximized window from monitor to monitor using the mouse because of the new behaviours in Win7 when you drag against the top edge of the window.
You can move any window (maximized or not) to another monitor by using winkey-shift-left/right.
When I unplug a monitor, all the windows move to the remaining monitor automatically. I've never had to move Windows from a missing monitor. If Windows doesn't pick up on the disconnected monitor for some reason, use winkey-P to switch to single monitor mode and all your windows will move.

ManipUni
Proving QQ for 5 years!

In reply to Sven Groot

#Oct 24th @ 1:38 AM

You cannot drag a maximized window from one monitor to another that you cannot see. The move button is literally disabled when a window is in the maximized state.

I'll grant you the Win+Shift+Left/Right thing. I didn't know that existed.

Windows doesn't detect the disconnection of the monitor and switching to a single monitor mode causes icons to shift and other sporadic behaviours since 50% of your screen realestate is removed until you reconnect the monitor.

Sven Groot
My name has 9 letters. Coincidence? I think not...

In reply to ManipUni

#Oct 24th @ 2:20 AM

In that case I suggest you move your windows before disconnecting the monitor. Tongue Out

In any case, Winkey-Shift-Left/Right should help you out in most cases (there's a bunch more Winkey-Arrow combinations that allow you to maximize, restore, minimize, vertically maximize and maximize on the left/right side of the screen). Also, regarding inconsistent right click behaviour, if you right click on a thumbnail it'll always show the menu with close, regardless of how many windows are in that group.

My most common monitor disconnection scenario is at university with my laptop. That monitor is connected via HDMI so Windows always detects it when I unplug it, so I haven't run into this problem myself. At home I never switch the second monitor off, don't see the point really.

ManipUni
Proving QQ for 5 years!

In reply to Sven Groot

#Oct 24th @ 2:37 AM

Applications restart onto the disconnected monitor.

Sven Groot
My name has 9 letters. Coincidence? I think not...

In reply to ManipUni

#Oct 24th @ 2:42 AM

Ah, I see. I honestly think running in a multi-monitor configuration with one of the monitors turned off is not very common. This is the first I've heard of anyone doing it, anyway.

LeoDavidson

In reply to ManipUni

#Oct 24th @ 2:42 AM

That's the applications' fault for not checking that their saved window coordinates are valid. They'd probably run into the same problem if you went from a really high-res screen to a low-res one.

It's a very easy thing to forget to do. Maybe the OS or UI frameworks could make it harder to forget by requiring an explicit flag that says "yes, I really want to open a window off-screen." (Or, since we don't want to break existing code, a flag saying "please move my window if these coordinates are off-screen" that people would at least be reminded of when looking through the available window flags.)

The Win-Left/Right keys are fantastic for solving this, once you know they are there.

figuerres
???

In reply to LeoDavidson

#Oct 24th @ 3:14 AM

yeah the opening position problem is that the app saves a location and re-starts using that location.

i have at times has to edit an app's config / ini file to move it back to a valid x,y location.

I am fairly sure an app can test to see if the location is "visible" and adjust if they will add a bit of code to manage that.

windows has always allowed an app to use a non-visible location, i think it started as a way to make a window appear faster back when opening and drawing a new window was sometimes slow and costly. and then no one ever tried to change that behavior...

LeoDavidson

In reply to figuerres

#Oct 24th @ 3:36 AM

I am fairly sure an app can test to see if the location is "visible" and adjust if they will add a bit of code to manage that.

Yep, they can. Windows 2000 added a bunch of APIs for enumerating monitor areas and testing which monitors points/rects/windows are on, nearest to, or "most on" (when they cross multiple screens).

windows has always allowed an app to use a non-visible location, i think it started as a way to make a window appear faster back when opening and drawing a new window was sometimes slow and costly. and then no one ever tried to change that behavior...

Yeah, removing that ability now would probably cause problems. I bet there are also interesting things you could do with an offscreen window being rendered into a DWM thumbnail in Vista and above. Smiley

Sven Groot
My name has 9 letters. Coincidence? I think not...

In reply to LeoDavidson

#Oct 24th @ 3:14 AM

Manip is dealing with a situation where the monitor is connected but turned off, or disconnected but Windows doesn't know it. So from the apps point of view, the coordinates are valid. There is no way they could know.

figuerres
???

In reply to LeoDavidson

#Oct 24th @ 5:17 AM

"Yeah, removing that ability now would probably cause problems. I bet there are also interesting things you could do with an offscreen window being rendered into a DWM thumbnail in Vista and above. Smiley "