8 ms·

That one pixel

157 points by talles 12y ago

brownbat 12y ago
Chrome's tabs are full height when Chrome is in full screen, but not when vertically maximized in Windows 7. Anyone who snaps windows to the side of the screen might run into a similar problem, though the visual gap is much more apparent since it's much larger than a pixel, so it's far less confusing. http://min.us/i/2OQX0psw5rP0 http://min.us/i/2OQX0psw5rP0
- nakovet 12y ago
  He mentioned in full screen for sure.
pugz 12y ago
Fitts' law[1] is relevant here; if that pixel was clickable, it would be _considerably_ easier to click on the button. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts's_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts's_law
- woah 12y ago
  Actually, in this case, the target of the top of the screen is actually infinite in one direction. The mouse pointer will stop moving there, and it's as if the tab is infinitely tall.
  - hueving 12y ago
    RTFA. The topmost part ISN'T clickable.
    - sixothree 12y ago
      It's a configuration setting. It's not the end of the world.
baddox 12y ago
That's such an obvious and disastrous user interface bug that I presume it's the result of some specific process rather late in the software build process (perhaps only on some platforms). Otherwise, I can't imagine any of Opera's user interface testers not noticing this.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
raldi 12y ago
Similarly, Windows 95’s Start Menu ripped off the Mac's apple menu, but with a fatal flaw: if you slammed the cursor all the way into the corner, unlike on the Mac, you would be unable to click the button.
Hoffmannnn 12y ago
This is definitely on purpose. The author's use case is, they want to switch tabs, and they want to do so by simply move the mouse to the top of the screen and clicking. MY use case is, I want to quickly move the maximized window around between monitors, or to drag it away from the top, and thus de-maximize it. The way every other application does it, is by leaving a title bar at the top, which you can click and drag. If I instead wanted to switch tabs, I would use the usual shortcuts, ctrl tab and ctrl shift tab. In my mind, this is a better option than breaking the "move window by clicking titlebar" behavior.
- kijin 12y ago
  Why can't we have the best of both worlds? If the user clicks on the topmost pixel and immediately releases the button, they're probably trying to click on a tab. If the user moves the mouse while holding the button, they're probably trying to drag the whole window. jQuery UI allows me to make things both clickable and draggable, and it always understands which of the two actions I'm trying to perform. There's no reason why a native app shouldn't be able to implement a similar feature.
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    > Why can't we have the best of both worlds? Because then the UI will be confusing - the same place and action (clicking in the top) will affect either application or window manager. Also, sometimes you want to drag tabs around to e.g. reorder them or move to a new window.
    - kijin 12y ago
      Clicking != dragging. Same place, different action. Just because dragging starts by clicking doesn't mean that the computer should react in the same way. Double-clicking also starts by clicking, but most computers are perfectly capable of reacting differently to a double-click. Switching to a tab upon clicking the top pixel is also perfectly consistent with what usually happens when you click on the chrome of any window: 1) Clicking on the title bar (top pixel) = Switch to window, and activate the element at pointer location, which in this case is a tab. Try clicking on the "Minimize" button of any background window to see this paradigm in action. The window is brought to the foreground and immediately minimized. 2) Clicking on an actual tab = Switch to tab. 3) Dragging on the title bar (top pixel) = Drag the window. 4) Dragging on an actual tab = Drag the tab.
simulate 12y ago
Joel Spolsky wrote about something similar with Microsoft missing its Start button placement by two pixels: > the Windows 95 team missed the point completely with the Start push button, sitting almost in the bottom left corner of the screen, but not exactly. In fact, it's about 2 pixels away from the bottom and 2 pixels from the left of the screen. So, for the sake of a couple of pixels, Microsoft literally "snatches defeat from the jaws of victory", Tog writes, and makes it that much harder to acquire the start button. http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000063.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000063.... (edited link to point to second article in Spolsky's series)
- randlet 12y ago
  You've got an off by one error in your link! http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000063.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000063....
  - simulate 12y ago
    Thanks! I have edited and corrected the problem.
    - mjs7231 12y ago
      Is it not a bit ironic this happened on a post ranting about the misplacement of buttons by a pixel or 2?
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- zaroth 12y ago
  Was it GOMS back in the early 80s which was the first to teach putting the most important and frequently accessed buttons in the corners so they are easy to click by over-reaching with the mouse?
  - regularfry 12y ago
itsame 12y ago
Is that really a bug as others are saying? I've always thought of it as making the inverse of the Windows 7 drag-to-top-of-screen-to-maximize (restoring the window) easier, and prefer it that way. More generally, it makes it easier to drag the whole window around again after maximization. In some sense, it makes Opera at least somewhat more consistent with other regular Windows applications that don't mess around with the titlebar. I actually find it annoying that there's no quick way to manage the maximized browser windows in Chrome or Firefox other than to click that button in the standard window chrome to restore the window, and then proceed.
- gliptic 12y ago
  Except Win+Up/Win+Left/Win+Right/Win+Down then?
  - itsame 12y ago
    Well... sure, I guess, but although I wasn't direct about it in my above comment, the whole discussion was about mouse control right? If we want to discuss keyboard shortcuts, then Ctrl+Tab/Ctrl+Shift+Tab/Ctrl+W/Ctrl+T are quick tab management shortcuts that bypass mouse control as well, and that one pixel at the top that makes tab switching by mouse annoying for talles would be rather moot.
thunderbong 12y ago
I notice this happens only when the window is maximized, since otherwise you have gap above the tabs. I don't think it's a bug. I think is is done so that you can move the window by dragging that one pixel bar. In both Firefox and Chrome if you want to move the window when you have the window maximized, dragging on the top of the tab detaches the tab from the current window. The only way to move the window is to move the cursor to a space where you don't have a tab or by clicking on the restore button (the middle button on top right). When you have lots of tabs open then there is no blank space on the right of the tabs to hold the window and move it. Usually, I've noticed Opera users to have lots and lots of tabs open, which doesn't leave any blank space on the right of the bar. At that time this one pixel is a life saver to move the window without needing to go all the way to the top right to restore the window.
- leephillips 12y ago
  "The only way to move the window is to move the cursor to a space where you don't have a tab" This may be true in whatever window manager you're using, but it's not true for all of them, including the one I use (dwm). Better window managers let you move and resize windows without having to click on special places that may or may not be provided by the programs that draw the windows.
  - jkrems 12y ago
    The article is talking about Windows 8. I'm pretty sure most people use the default window manager on Windows. :)
    - Too 12y ago
      The one that has the special hotkeys win + up/down/left/right :)
      - lelandbatey 12y ago
        And you can get even finer control with a program like Winsplit Revolution, a personal favorite of mine using 3 monitors.
sigsergv 12y ago
It's a feature and could be tuned via preferences: http://superuser.com/questions/509354/putting-opera-tab-manager-on-the-most-top http://superuser.com/questions/509354/putting-opera-tab-mana...
- zaroth 12y ago
  Never has the difference between "adding a feature" and "adding a setting" been more apparent. :-) http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/M/misfeature.html http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/M/misfeature.html
- Maxious 12y ago
  Ah yes "ChromeIntegrationDragAreaMaximized". Why didn't I think of enabling that by setting it's integer value to 1!
  - sixothree 12y ago
    It is exposed via a simple checkbox in the settings screen. Is that still too difficult to use?
- Seldaek 12y ago
  Also note that it's available through the regular settings UI (opera://settings/) if you enable advanced settings under User Interface you will find "Disable tab bar's top spacing when browser window is maximized".
bicubic 12y ago
That one pixel is how all windows applications should work. I've been an Opera user for a long time and at some point that one pixel was the only thing stopping me from moving to chrome. Here's the deal: when you have multiple monitors, the windows mechanic of click+dragging a full screen application's titlebar is the best way to shift applications from screen to screen. With Opera, I just throw my mouse to the top of the screen and drag. With Firefox and Chrome, I have to search out a tiny 20 pixel wide hitbox between the end of the tabs and the minimize button to start the drag action. Every single windows application I've used respects this mechanic, except for Chrome and Firefox. I actually brought this up with the Firefox UI team on reddit and they agreed that it's broken but evidently decided to keep it because people like OP now expect it. I'm actually looking for a way to enable this on chrome/FF.
- lelandbatey 12y ago
  If you're willing to try something even more odd, I'd recommend a window tiling program like Winsplit Revolution for automatic resizing and positioning of Windows in a much more finely controllable way that is allowed with Windows keyboard shortcuts by default. I use 3 monitors and it helps me get around window management quirks entirely, while also making dealing with Windows much faster.
- onli 12y ago
  You should consider using another Window Manager. With Uniy, you could just drag the (prior) global menu, the panel at the top of the screen, and move the window like that. There are others that would force a normal titlebar there, so you could drag that.
- regularfry 12y ago
  What's the more common action: selecting a tab, or moving a window to a different screen?
  - deathanatos 12y ago
    Why not have a way for the window to convey to the window manager that it (the window) is primarily just a holder of tabs (as most browsers, and increasingly more applications, seem to be), and let the WM decide based on the user's preference what the correct behavior and display is?
aplusplus 12y ago
There is a whole novel written about what one pixel can do and you should read it, Ellen Ullman: The Bug http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/138805.The_Bug http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/138805.The_Bug
oneeyedpigeon 12y ago
OSX is full of this sort of rubbish - I can't count the number of times I've moused over to the right side of the screen to scroll a window, only to start moving the whole goddam thing instead. Also related, OSX menu items have a gap between them; clicking on that gap closes the menu (I think). I cannot think of any good reason for that, only bad ones. It's infuriating when an OS gets so many usability things right, then falls down on the hugely obvious bits.
- DougBTX 12y ago
  > Also related, OSX menu items have a gap between them; clicking on that gap closes the menu (I think). There isn't a gap between every menu item, but clicking on the horizontal dividers or disabled menu items does close the menu without doing anything. The way that Windows does it seems better, there it does nothing at all, not even closing the menu.
  - oneeyedpigeon 12y ago
    Good point - it's only on menu dividers that this occurs. It just so happens that some menus (e.g. the main "Chrome" one) have a divider for every other item, and the dividers are about 10 pixels tall. I much prefer the Windows approach, but I'm not sure even that makes as much sense as just selecting whichever item is closest.
alco 12y ago
That's not one pixel. That's a line one pixel high and the whole tab bar wide.
__m 12y ago
I guess the designers of Opera didn't want to break the law (Fitt's law)
warcode 12y ago
In the Opera Next version I'm using this is enabled/disabled with a checkbox somewhere. Fairly sure it was disabled by default though.
phunehehe0 12y ago
Chrome was the first browser to handle that one pixel specially, and Firefox followed quickly (around version 4 or so). For some reason Opera never copies it. It used to be a big deal when I spend most of my time with a single monitor. With dual monitors, Xmonad keeps a one-pixel border around the active window so "move the mouse all the way up and click" doesn't work anymore. You choose your own poison :) Only when reading this thread that I realized there are people preferring Opera's behavior, which is kinda eye-opening.
ulber 12y ago
If anyone wants this behavior in Firefox then here is an extension for that: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/extra-padding-when-maximize/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/extra-padding...
0x0 12y ago
Counterexample: The new windows 8 hot corners makes it almost impossible to use in a non-fullscreen VM or remote desktop setup. :(
JacobIrwin 12y ago
Try learning the keyboard shortcut for switching between tabs - you get to keep you hand off the mouse this way :-)
- lifeformed 12y ago
  Sometimes I like leaning back in my chair and browsing one handed. Sometimes, it's the mouse hand, other times it's the keyboard handing (using shortcuts). Usually mouse hand though.
sixothree 12y ago
For heaven's sake you can disable this in the configuration settings.
- ColinDabritz 12y ago
  How bizarre that they realized the issue, fixed it, and left it off by default. I can't think of one reason to leave the old behavior in. The problem here is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts's_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts's_law This means that "one little pixel" is essentially infinitely high for purposes of mouse selection, and it makes hitting tabs much easier in this case.
  - chr1 12y ago
    It's not that simple, if i want to move a tab i don't want to move any random tab, so i still have to aim horizontally, and effect of Fitts's Law is much smaller. I for one never tried to drag a tab from top one pixel. On the other hand for dragging a window horizontal precision doesn't matter much, and that one top pixel is really useful.
nogridbag 12y ago
When I first switched from Windows to OS X, I frequently had what I call the "Maximized Window Off by One Pixel" problem. Since there is no "maximize" button on OS X, I would always manually maximize my browser window. But since humans are imperfect, occasionally I would resize the window 1px from the right edge. When I wanted to scroll down (without using the mouse wheel), I would flick the mouse cursor to the right edge of the screen and "click" to start the scrollbar drag, which of course would click a background window and infuriate the heck out of me. I have since adapted to never use the scrollbar.

157 points by talles 12y ago

Chrome's tabs are full height when Chrome is in full screen, but not when vertically maximized in Windows 7. Anyone who snaps windows to the side of the screen might run into a similar problem, though the visual gap is much more apparent since it's much larger than a pixel, so it's far less confusing. http://min.us/i/2OQX0psw5rP0 http://min.us/i/2OQX0psw5rP0

nakovet 12y ago
He mentioned in full screen for sure.

pugz 12y ago

Fitts' law[1] is relevant here; if that pixel was clickable, it would be _considerably_ easier to click on the button. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts's_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts's_law

woah 12y ago
Actually, in this case, the target of the top of the screen is actually infinite in one direction. The mouse pointer will stop moving there, and it's as if the tab is infinitely tall.
- hueving 12y ago
  RTFA. The topmost part ISN'T clickable.
  - sixothree 12y ago
    It's a configuration setting. It's not the end of the world.

baddox 12y ago

That's such an obvious and disastrous user interface bug that I presume it's the result of some specific process rather late in the software build process (perhaps only on some platforms). Otherwise, I can't imagine any of Opera's user interface testers not noticing this.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

raldi 12y ago

Similarly, Windows 95’s Start Menu ripped off the Mac's apple menu, but with a fatal flaw: if you slammed the cursor all the way into the corner, unlike on the Mac, you would be unable to click the button.

Hoffmannnn 12y ago

This is definitely on purpose. The author's use case is, they want to switch tabs, and they want to do so by simply move the mouse to the top of the screen and clicking. MY use case is, I want to quickly move the maximized window around between monitors, or to drag it away from the top, and thus de-maximize it. The way every other application does it, is by leaving a title bar at the top, which you can click and drag. If I instead wanted to switch tabs, I would use the usual shortcuts, ctrl tab and ctrl shift tab. In my mind, this is a better option than breaking the "move window by clicking titlebar" behavior.

kijin 12y ago
Why can't we have the best of both worlds? If the user clicks on the topmost pixel and immediately releases the button, they're probably trying to click on a tab. If the user moves the mouse while holding the button, they're probably trying to drag the whole window. jQuery UI allows me to make things both clickable and draggable, and it always understands which of the two actions I'm trying to perform. There's no reason why a native app shouldn't be able to implement a similar feature.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  > Why can't we have the best of both worlds? Because then the UI will be confusing - the same place and action (clicking in the top) will affect either application or window manager. Also, sometimes you want to drag tabs around to e.g. reorder them or move to a new window.
  - kijin 12y ago
    Clicking != dragging. Same place, different action. Just because dragging starts by clicking doesn't mean that the computer should react in the same way. Double-clicking also starts by clicking, but most computers are perfectly capable of reacting differently to a double-click. Switching to a tab upon clicking the top pixel is also perfectly consistent with what usually happens when you click on the chrome of any window: 1) Clicking on the title bar (top pixel) = Switch to window, and activate the element at pointer location, which in this case is a tab. Try clicking on the "Minimize" button of any background window to see this paradigm in action. The window is brought to the foreground and immediately minimized. 2) Clicking on an actual tab = Switch to tab. 3) Dragging on the title bar (top pixel) = Drag the window. 4) Dragging on an actual tab = Drag the tab.

simulate 12y ago

Joel Spolsky wrote about something similar with Microsoft missing its Start button placement by two pixels: > the Windows 95 team missed the point completely with the Start push button, sitting almost in the bottom left corner of the screen, but not exactly. In fact, it's about 2 pixels away from the bottom and 2 pixels from the left of the screen. So, for the sake of a couple of pixels, Microsoft literally "snatches defeat from the jaws of victory", Tog writes, and makes it that much harder to acquire the start button. http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000063.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000063.... (edited link to point to second article in Spolsky's series)

randlet 12y ago
You've got an off by one error in your link! http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000063.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000063....
- simulate 12y ago
  Thanks! I have edited and corrected the problem.
  - mjs7231 12y ago
    Is it not a bit ironic this happened on a post ranting about the misplacement of buttons by a pixel or 2?
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
zaroth 12y ago
Was it GOMS back in the early 80s which was the first to teach putting the most important and frequently accessed buttons in the corners so they are easy to click by over-reaching with the mouse?
- regularfry 12y ago

itsame 12y ago

Is that really a bug as others are saying? I've always thought of it as making the inverse of the Windows 7 drag-to-top-of-screen-to-maximize (restoring the window) easier, and prefer it that way. More generally, it makes it easier to drag the whole window around again after maximization. In some sense, it makes Opera at least somewhat more consistent with other regular Windows applications that don't mess around with the titlebar. I actually find it annoying that there's no quick way to manage the maximized browser windows in Chrome or Firefox other than to click that button in the standard window chrome to restore the window, and then proceed.

gliptic 12y ago
Except Win+Up/Win+Left/Win+Right/Win+Down then?
- itsame 12y ago
  Well... sure, I guess, but although I wasn't direct about it in my above comment, the whole discussion was about mouse control right? If we want to discuss keyboard shortcuts, then Ctrl+Tab/Ctrl+Shift+Tab/Ctrl+W/Ctrl+T are quick tab management shortcuts that bypass mouse control as well, and that one pixel at the top that makes tab switching by mouse annoying for talles would be rather moot.

thunderbong 12y ago

I notice this happens only when the window is maximized, since otherwise you have gap above the tabs. I don't think it's a bug. I think is is done so that you can move the window by dragging that one pixel bar. In both Firefox and Chrome if you want to move the window when you have the window maximized, dragging on the top of the tab detaches the tab from the current window. The only way to move the window is to move the cursor to a space where you don't have a tab or by clicking on the restore button (the middle button on top right). When you have lots of tabs open then there is no blank space on the right of the tabs to hold the window and move it. Usually, I've noticed Opera users to have lots and lots of tabs open, which doesn't leave any blank space on the right of the bar. At that time this one pixel is a life saver to move the window without needing to go all the way to the top right to restore the window.

leephillips 12y ago
"The only way to move the window is to move the cursor to a space where you don't have a tab" This may be true in whatever window manager you're using, but it's not true for all of them, including the one I use (dwm). Better window managers let you move and resize windows without having to click on special places that may or may not be provided by the programs that draw the windows.
- jkrems 12y ago
  The article is talking about Windows 8. I'm pretty sure most people use the default window manager on Windows. :)
  - Too 12y ago
    The one that has the special hotkeys win + up/down/left/right :)
    - lelandbatey 12y ago
      And you can get even finer control with a program like Winsplit Revolution, a personal favorite of mine using 3 monitors.

sigsergv 12y ago

It's a feature and could be tuned via preferences: http://superuser.com/questions/509354/putting-opera-tab-manager-on-the-most-top http://superuser.com/questions/509354/putting-opera-tab-mana...

zaroth 12y ago
Never has the difference between "adding a feature" and "adding a setting" been more apparent. :-) http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/M/misfeature.html http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/M/misfeature.html
Maxious 12y ago
Ah yes "ChromeIntegrationDragAreaMaximized". Why didn't I think of enabling that by setting it's integer value to 1!
- sixothree 12y ago
  It is exposed via a simple checkbox in the settings screen. Is that still too difficult to use?
Seldaek 12y ago
Also note that it's available through the regular settings UI (opera://settings/) if you enable advanced settings under User Interface you will find "Disable tab bar's top spacing when browser window is maximized".

bicubic 12y ago

That one pixel is how all windows applications should work. I've been an Opera user for a long time and at some point that one pixel was the only thing stopping me from moving to chrome. Here's the deal: when you have multiple monitors, the windows mechanic of click+dragging a full screen application's titlebar is the best way to shift applications from screen to screen. With Opera, I just throw my mouse to the top of the screen and drag. With Firefox and Chrome, I have to search out a tiny 20 pixel wide hitbox between the end of the tabs and the minimize button to start the drag action. Every single windows application I've used respects this mechanic, except for Chrome and Firefox. I actually brought this up with the Firefox UI team on reddit and they agreed that it's broken but evidently decided to keep it because people like OP now expect it. I'm actually looking for a way to enable this on chrome/FF.

lelandbatey 12y ago
If you're willing to try something even more odd, I'd recommend a window tiling program like Winsplit Revolution for automatic resizing and positioning of Windows in a much more finely controllable way that is allowed with Windows keyboard shortcuts by default. I use 3 monitors and it helps me get around window management quirks entirely, while also making dealing with Windows much faster.
onli 12y ago
You should consider using another Window Manager. With Uniy, you could just drag the (prior) global menu, the panel at the top of the screen, and move the window like that. There are others that would force a normal titlebar there, so you could drag that.
regularfry 12y ago
What's the more common action: selecting a tab, or moving a window to a different screen?
- deathanatos 12y ago
  Why not have a way for the window to convey to the window manager that it (the window) is primarily just a holder of tabs (as most browsers, and increasingly more applications, seem to be), and let the WM decide based on the user's preference what the correct behavior and display is?

aplusplus 12y ago

There is a whole novel written about what one pixel can do and you should read it, Ellen Ullman: The Bug http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/138805.The_Bug http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/138805.The_Bug

oneeyedpigeon 12y ago

OSX is full of this sort of rubbish - I can't count the number of times I've moused over to the right side of the screen to scroll a window, only to start moving the whole goddam thing instead. Also related, OSX menu items have a gap between them; clicking on that gap closes the menu (I think). I cannot think of any good reason for that, only bad ones. It's infuriating when an OS gets so many usability things right, then falls down on the hugely obvious bits.

DougBTX 12y ago
> Also related, OSX menu items have a gap between them; clicking on that gap closes the menu (I think). There isn't a gap between every menu item, but clicking on the horizontal dividers or disabled menu items does close the menu without doing anything. The way that Windows does it seems better, there it does nothing at all, not even closing the menu.
- oneeyedpigeon 12y ago
  Good point - it's only on menu dividers that this occurs. It just so happens that some menus (e.g. the main "Chrome" one) have a divider for every other item, and the dividers are about 10 pixels tall. I much prefer the Windows approach, but I'm not sure even that makes as much sense as just selecting whichever item is closest.

alco 12y ago

That's not one pixel. That's a line one pixel high and the whole tab bar wide.

__m 12y ago

I guess the designers of Opera didn't want to break the law (Fitt's law)

warcode 12y ago

In the Opera Next version I'm using this is enabled/disabled with a checkbox somewhere. Fairly sure it was disabled by default though.

phunehehe0 12y ago

Chrome was the first browser to handle that one pixel specially, and Firefox followed quickly (around version 4 or so). For some reason Opera never copies it. It used to be a big deal when I spend most of my time with a single monitor. With dual monitors, Xmonad keeps a one-pixel border around the active window so "move the mouse all the way up and click" doesn't work anymore. You choose your own poison :) Only when reading this thread that I realized there are people preferring Opera's behavior, which is kinda eye-opening.

ulber 12y ago

If anyone wants this behavior in Firefox then here is an extension for that: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/extra-padding-when-maximize/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/extra-padding...

0x0 12y ago

Counterexample: The new windows 8 hot corners makes it almost impossible to use in a non-fullscreen VM or remote desktop setup. :(

JacobIrwin 12y ago

Try learning the keyboard shortcut for switching between tabs - you get to keep you hand off the mouse this way :-)

lifeformed 12y ago
Sometimes I like leaning back in my chair and browsing one handed. Sometimes, it's the mouse hand, other times it's the keyboard handing (using shortcuts). Usually mouse hand though.

sixothree 12y ago

For heaven's sake you can disable this in the configuration settings.

ColinDabritz 12y ago
How bizarre that they realized the issue, fixed it, and left it off by default. I can't think of one reason to leave the old behavior in. The problem here is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts's_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts's_law This means that "one little pixel" is essentially infinitely high for purposes of mouse selection, and it makes hitting tabs much easier in this case.
- chr1 12y ago
  It's not that simple, if i want to move a tab i don't want to move any random tab, so i still have to aim horizontally, and effect of Fitts's Law is much smaller. I for one never tried to drag a tab from top one pixel. On the other hand for dragging a window horizontal precision doesn't matter much, and that one top pixel is really useful.

nogridbag 12y ago

When I first switched from Windows to OS X, I frequently had what I call the "Maximized Window Off by One Pixel" problem. Since there is no "maximize" button on OS X, I would always manually maximize my browser window. But since humans are imperfect, occasionally I would resize the window 1px from the right edge. When I wanted to scroll down (without using the mouse wheel), I would flick the mouse cursor to the right edge of the screen and "click" to start the scrollbar drag, which of course would click a background window and infuriate the heck out of me. I have since adapted to never use the scrollbar.