4 ms·

> If you can see your desktop, you are wasting space and your window manager is broken. I disagree. I think the sign of a broken windowing environment is when

by city41 17y ago

> If you can see your desktop, you are wasting space and your window manager is broken. I disagree. I think the sign of a broken windowing environment is when people find they need to maximize everything (like most Windows users do), which really goes against the point of windowed apps in the first place. Having negative space is important psychologically, lets you "breath" a bit, and not to mention, lets you more effectively use your apps together. There's a good reason MacOS has never had a true maximize button on their windows.

crux_ 17y ago
I'm guessing jrockaway was trying to refer to tiling window managers (e.g. xmonad) , only without being too obvious about it. ;)
- prewett 17y ago
  He did specifically mention Windows, though. Actually, I've also noticed that Windows users maximize everything (maybe from the Win 3.1 days?). Having the dullness of empty app-space makes me feel that same way that living in a sea of concrete buildings does. Having my (dark) desktop image visible is a bit like Central Park for NYC.
- jrockway 17y ago
  You guessed correctly :)
nradov 17y ago
It's got nothing to do with the windowing environment. I maximize a separate window on each monitor so I can see as much of each file as I can. Until I get a monitor as big as a wall, I want everything maximized.
- yason 17y ago
  Well, I think the windowing system is to blame. It is vertical space that is precious but your eyes can't find too much use for horizontal space. Think pages of a newspaper that is divided into nice columns and compartments for a good reason. So, there's extra horizontal space on your wall-sized monitor and a good windowing system supports the user in maximizing its usage and not necessarily in maximizing each window. However, systems like Windows make it near impossible to make your windows behave. A typical scenario is having a couple of browser windows open for reading (like having some reference documentation at hand) and simultaneously typing into an active Emacs window partially/mostly underneath them both. If the windowing system insists on popping the active window to the top any of this becomes impossible, and you pretty much have no choice but to fall back to merely flipping between windows, and at this point it begins to feel stupid not to maximize all of them anyway. But the downside is there, too. Going back to books and newspapers for a reference, in opposition web pages can be just horrible to read when the browser window is maximized. You don't read a book in a widescreen aspect ratio either. Your eyes beg for a limited visual region to operate in. As for myself, I've found that I get a nice reading width by stretching the width of the browser window to 2/3 or 3/5 of the width of the screen. If ads are cluttering the sides or the layout flows outside then Readability takes care of it. As for design advice, "p { width: 66em !important }" would be good.
  - jodrellblank 17y ago
    For habitual windows users, the utility KatMouse gives you the ability to use the mousewheel over inactive windows and scroll them without bringing them to the foreground. I recommend it. Also, it can add middle click to push a window down.
  - nradov 17y ago
    The applications I use most heavily, in my maximized windows, make good use of the horizontal space. I do most of my editing in applications built on top of the Eclipse RCP, which allows a lot of flexibility in arranging multiple window panes.

by city41 17y ago

crux_ 17y ago

I'm guessing jrockaway was trying to refer to tiling window managers (e.g. xmonad) , only without being too obvious about it. ;)

prewett 17y ago
He did specifically mention Windows, though. Actually, I've also noticed that Windows users maximize everything (maybe from the Win 3.1 days?). Having the dullness of empty app-space makes me feel that same way that living in a sea of concrete buildings does. Having my (dark) desktop image visible is a bit like Central Park for NYC.
jrockway 17y ago
You guessed correctly :)

nradov 17y ago

It's got nothing to do with the windowing environment. I maximize a separate window on each monitor so I can see as much of each file as I can. Until I get a monitor as big as a wall, I want everything maximized.

yason 17y ago
Well, I think the windowing system is to blame. It is vertical space that is precious but your eyes can't find too much use for horizontal space. Think pages of a newspaper that is divided into nice columns and compartments for a good reason. So, there's extra horizontal space on your wall-sized monitor and a good windowing system supports the user in maximizing its usage and not necessarily in maximizing each window. However, systems like Windows make it near impossible to make your windows behave. A typical scenario is having a couple of browser windows open for reading (like having some reference documentation at hand) and simultaneously typing into an active Emacs window partially/mostly underneath them both. If the windowing system insists on popping the active window to the top any of this becomes impossible, and you pretty much have no choice but to fall back to merely flipping between windows, and at this point it begins to feel stupid not to maximize all of them anyway. But the downside is there, too. Going back to books and newspapers for a reference, in opposition web pages can be just horrible to read when the browser window is maximized. You don't read a book in a widescreen aspect ratio either. Your eyes beg for a limited visual region to operate in. As for myself, I've found that I get a nice reading width by stretching the width of the browser window to 2/3 or 3/5 of the width of the screen. If ads are cluttering the sides or the layout flows outside then Readability takes care of it. As for design advice, "p { width: 66em !important }" would be good.
- jodrellblank 17y ago
  For habitual windows users, the utility KatMouse gives you the ability to use the mousewheel over inactive windows and scroll them without bringing them to the foreground. I recommend it. Also, it can add middle click to push a window down.
- nradov 17y ago
  The applications I use most heavily, in my maximized windows, make good use of the horizontal space. I do most of my editing in applications built on top of the Eclipse RCP, which allows a lot of flexibility in arranging multiple window panes.