8 ms·

Siracusa strikes me as a power user type so I'm extremely surprised that he neglected to mention how patently awful and useless Mission Control is on multiple m

Siracusa strikes me as a power user type so I'm extremely surprised that he neglected to mention how patently awful and useless Mission Control is on multiple monitors. Whereas in the Spaces view in Snow Leopard I could move a window to a different space AND a different monitor with a quick drag, Mission Control doesn't allow this - I have to first move the window to the correct "Desktop", then exit MC and drag it to the correct monitor. Full Screen Apps are similarly useless on multiple monitors - regardless of which monitor the window originates on, clicking the full screen button returns it to whatever display is designated "primary". Even worse, while you're in full screen on one display, the others become useless as it blocks them out with Apple's new favorite canvas texture. Why? At first I thought all this was intentional and that Apple was leaving multi-monitor users in the dust to focus on Macs that are very close to iOS devices (11" Macbook Air comes to mind), but today they also announced a new Cinema Display that lets you daisy chain two monitors off a single Thunderbolt port. Clearly it's still a mode of operation they intend to support for some time - so why have they crippled it so horribly in this release?

cubicle67 15y ago
wasn't ready in time and will be fixed for 10.7.1?
- bengl3rt 15y ago
  I really hope so...
- tolmasky 15y ago
  Don't know why you're getting down voted, seems to me this is the obvious reason (if not 10.7.1 then 10.7.x). These are clearly bugs, and I agree, they make these features kind of useless for me on my main setup. Prior to Lion I already used a "poor man's fullscreen" by manually making the windows these sizes on each screen. Was hoping this would make things better but instead made it infinitely worse.
pkamb 15y ago
Windows is just as bad. Windows 7 doesn't ship with multiple taskbars for your secondary monitors. Seriously? What's worse is that the developers actually making these features are probably using more than one monitor. And hitting those productivity gaps every day.
- jbellis 15y ago
  When I used Windows on a multi-monitor setup I never found myself wishing, "if only I had a taskbar on each monitor." (Similarly, I've never wished for multiple docks on OSX.) So YMMV.
  - pkamb 15y ago
    The dock is an application organizer, the taskbar is a window organizer. Big difference. The windows on each monitor should be represented in a taskbar on that same monitor. Easier to comprehend, faster to mouse to. The app Ultramon does this very well, it's essential for any multi-monitor Windows install.
    - Wilduck 15y ago
      Except I use one monitor almost exclusively for reference. I want as much screen real estate there as possible. Since my mouse is already on the editing monitor, it would take _more_ effort to move it over there to switch windows.
    - drivebyacct2 15y ago
      With the default Windows 7 group and icon behavior, they're virtually identical in behavior...
      - pkamb 15y ago
        Power users go with the "Combine when taskbar is full" option. Reduces clicks and hover times tenfold.
        15y ago
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
ethank 15y ago
Actually interestingly enough full screen apps that have palettes are really nice on multiple monitors. Omnigraffle, etc. The palettes can live on top of the linen on your secondary display. it makes using Keynote, omnigraffle and similar apps such a joy.
- ethank 15y ago
  Example: http://f.cl.ly/items/0x3q260l0a390E1u1N1P/Screen%20Shot%202011-07-20%20at%202.36.44%20PM.png http://f.cl.ly/items/0x3q260l0a390E1u1N1P/Screen%20Shot%2020...
- roadnottaken 15y ago
  That's great, but the whole reason I like multiple monitors (instead of one big one) is to segregate tasks. For example having full-screen terminal on one monitor and a browser on the other.
axxl 15y ago
Regarding Mission Control and multiple monitors, what it will let you do is if it's on your second monitor in your current space, you can drag it to the second monitor of another space. It is odd that it doesn't let you do it directly (it even highlights if you drag it over, but just doesn't drop). So I guess you have to move it to the second, then go to mission control, then change what space it's in. Although this is just a different workflow it does make a bit more sense. Hopefully a change will come for this however.
jsz0 15y ago
I think the assumption here is that if you have multiple displays you would rarely need full screen apps in the first place. It's definitely a feature that works best on a laptop display. The best alternative I can think of is to full-screen all the windows on each display. So for example if you had 3 monitors with 3 Safari windows, one on each display, they would go full-screen on their respective display. (downside is it would be awkward to leave full screen since the controls for it reside on the menubar)

cubicle67 15y ago

wasn't ready in time and will be fixed for 10.7.1?

bengl3rt 15y ago
I really hope so...
tolmasky 15y ago
Don't know why you're getting down voted, seems to me this is the obvious reason (if not 10.7.1 then 10.7.x). These are clearly bugs, and I agree, they make these features kind of useless for me on my main setup. Prior to Lion I already used a "poor man's fullscreen" by manually making the windows these sizes on each screen. Was hoping this would make things better but instead made it infinitely worse.

pkamb 15y ago

Windows is just as bad. Windows 7 doesn't ship with multiple taskbars for your secondary monitors. Seriously? What's worse is that the developers actually making these features are probably using more than one monitor. And hitting those productivity gaps every day.

jbellis 15y ago
When I used Windows on a multi-monitor setup I never found myself wishing, "if only I had a taskbar on each monitor." (Similarly, I've never wished for multiple docks on OSX.) So YMMV.
- pkamb 15y ago
  The dock is an application organizer, the taskbar is a window organizer. Big difference. The windows on each monitor should be represented in a taskbar on that same monitor. Easier to comprehend, faster to mouse to. The app Ultramon does this very well, it's essential for any multi-monitor Windows install.
  - Wilduck 15y ago
    Except I use one monitor almost exclusively for reference. I want as much screen real estate there as possible. Since my mouse is already on the editing monitor, it would take _more_ effort to move it over there to switch windows.
  - drivebyacct2 15y ago
    With the default Windows 7 group and icon behavior, they're virtually identical in behavior...
    - pkamb 15y ago
      Power users go with the "Combine when taskbar is full" option. Reduces clicks and hover times tenfold.
      - 15y ago

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

ethank 15y ago

Actually interestingly enough full screen apps that have palettes are really nice on multiple monitors. Omnigraffle, etc. The palettes can live on top of the linen on your secondary display. it makes using Keynote, omnigraffle and similar apps such a joy.

ethank 15y ago
Example: http://f.cl.ly/items/0x3q260l0a390E1u1N1P/Screen%20Shot%202011-07-20%20at%202.36.44%20PM.png http://f.cl.ly/items/0x3q260l0a390E1u1N1P/Screen%20Shot%2020...
roadnottaken 15y ago
That's great, but the whole reason I like multiple monitors (instead of one big one) is to segregate tasks. For example having full-screen terminal on one monitor and a browser on the other.

axxl 15y ago

Regarding Mission Control and multiple monitors, what it will let you do is if it's on your second monitor in your current space, you can drag it to the second monitor of another space. It is odd that it doesn't let you do it directly (it even highlights if you drag it over, but just doesn't drop). So I guess you have to move it to the second, then go to mission control, then change what space it's in. Although this is just a different workflow it does make a bit more sense. Hopefully a change will come for this however.

jsz0 15y ago

I think the assumption here is that if you have multiple displays you would rarely need full screen apps in the first place. It's definitely a feature that works best on a laptop display. The best alternative I can think of is to full-screen all the windows on each display. So for example if you had 3 monitors with 3 Safari windows, one on each display, they would go full-screen on their respective display. (downside is it would be awkward to leave full screen since the controls for it reside on the menubar)