Re: Thoughts on window sizing

[Ross Smith <myxiplx googlemail com>]

And another quick thought on this:

It's potentially going to be annoying if you're trying to resize a
window, but it's snapping to something you don't want.  So using ctrl
as a modifier to let you resize it precisely is probably sensible.

And I'd like to re-visit my tips idea for this too:

If the system detects a user resizing a window, and dragging it back
and forth over a snap point, it should activate a tip using the
standard notification system that says something like "Hold down the
Ctrl key for fine adjustment when sizing a window".

That makes it easy to use, and also easy to discover the advanced
functionality as you need it.



On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 9:37 AM, Ross Smith <myxiplx googlemail com> wrote:
> Hey everyone,
>
> I remember reading some discussion about tiling windows, and how that
> could be done, but I don't remember any real consensus on a good way
> to achieve it.
>
> Might it be possible to make application sizing 'snappy' as a way to
> achieve this?
>
> The idea is to allow users to resize programs as normal, but have the
> window snap to points every 1/4 and 1/3 of the screen width (possibly
> with a graphical overlay appearing as you size the window, showing
> snap points in a nice big font - saying 1/3, 2/3, etc...).
>
> Snappy sizing, snappy positioning, and snapping to other window
> borders would make it really easy to resize any set of windows in a
> way that they tile together.
>
> And if you wanted to make it possible to do this with even less
> movement, you could even implement it as a pull out menu from the
> title bar.  Have an interface something like the way tables are added
> in Word - you just drag out to the size you want.
>
> The idea is that clicking that menu would give you a small
> representation of the screen, with lines at the 1/3 and 1/4 marks,
> both vertically and horizontally.  You could then just drag the mouse
> to the size you want.
>
> To make it visually obvious how the window is split, it might be worth
> using alternating shaded backgrounds for each row and column, so:
> - at the 1/3, 1/3 mark there's an obvious split into a grid of 3x3,
> - at the 1/2, 1/3 mark, you're now selecting the top cell in a 2x3 grid
> - at 2/3, 1/2, you've selected the top two cells in a 3x2 grid
> etc...
>
> I would also like to suggest 'flicking' as a way to move a window to a
> side or corner of the screen.  Instead of having to place the window
> exactly, I want to grab it, and quickly flick it to one side or
> corner, and release the mouse.  The idea is that if the system detects
> that the mouse button is released in motion like this, the system
> animates the window being 'thrown' in that direction, snapping to one
> the side or corner you aimed at.
>
> How does all that sound?  Am I just nuts?  :-D
>
> Ross
>