The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5)

I hate Windows!

No, I don't mean the MS operating system in general.
I mean the windows themselves, as a means of displaying content on screen.
Does anybody really enjoy moving around 4 windows until they are finally aligned in the order you want them to?
I have been looking for some time for a program that can create a splitter on the desktop. Each window will then be associated with a splitted part of the screen, and resizing one window will affect all the rest and no windows will get on top of another. A fairly common concept in IDE's like MS's own Visual Studio, but I found nothing like that on the desktop scale.
I was so frustrated that I started writing my own piece of code to accomplish this, but all that fiddling with the hook API's made me dizzy. There's got to be something more productive I can do with my time. Provided somebody has already wasted a few weeks of his/her life on implementing such a thing.
Anybody knows anything like this? Anybody wants anything like this? I might get motivated to finish the damn thing..

Eli Golovinsky
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

I don't know your exact requirements (how you want the windows placed), but try using "Tile windows horizontally" or vertically from the taskbar context menu. If you want the windows to take up the same space on the screen, it works fine.

ICBW
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

That was the way Windows was in the beginning and much simpler it was too.

Simon Lucy
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Also desqview...

Murph
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

You need Perfect Screens or something simular !?
http://www.pitrinec.com/psindex.htm

I have not used it for a long time, since I am now using Linux, but it gave me the virtual desktops that I had been using under SunOS, Solaris for my windows machine.

There are other programs as well, Google is your friend..

Fredrik Svensson
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

In case you are using XP,
Right-Click on the taskbar>Tile Windows Horizontally/ Vertically.

Simple aint it.

KB
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

There is a free virtual desktop program at
http://virt-dimension.sourceforge.net/

I also found that Windows XP Powertools had this functionality.
http://kennethhunt.com/archives/000854.html

So how does this help you ?
You put programs related to eachother on different desktops. I have a surf desk, mail desk, development desk etc.. (Linux, but the concept is the same on Win). This minimized the number of windows per desk and you have no problem finding the right window. You can also tie a program to a desk or have some windows visible in all desks. I have not used Virtual Dimension, but try it out and tell us if it helped you.

I love Virtual Desktops! Try it you will too.. :)

Fredrik Svensson
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Virtual Desktop seems nice enough. I'll give it a try. Thanks for all the answers.

Eli Golovinsky
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

I had the same problem, so I wrote a program to come close to that, if anything more like an IDE than you describe. You can dock windows to the sides of your screen, exactly like an IDE, and also Min-To-Tray, Keep-On-Top. Lock-To-Window is your splitter idea, but I never got round to implementing it, and its only there as a placeholder.

Its available at www.nmitchell.co.uk/goodies.htm as BlueDock. I don't mind sharing the source if anyone wants either, just email me

Neil Mitchell
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Someone tried BlueDock and emailed me, so I think I'd better point out how to use it.

It only works on Windows created after you start the program, I have it set to run on startup so for me its not an issue, although I do have an experimental (read as stable but with lots of MessageBox debug calls everywhere!) version on my computer that goes back and applies the information to existing windows. To use BlueDock, run BlueDock, create the window you want to use it on (i.e. open Word or something), then right click on the Titlebar of that program and you will see 4 extra entries.

Btw. I forgot to mention that BlueDock also has Snap-To-Side, a la Winamp, but for all windows

Neil Mitchell
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

It's so cool!
I thought I was the only one that thought this would be useful.

Thanks.

Eli Golovinsky
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

You need allsnap. Google for it. Sounds similar to Bluedock, which I haven't tried. It makes every window behave like a winamp window.

You can snap to the side of the screen (works on dual monitors), and snap to the edge of other windows. I *love* this program.

Roose
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

I love windows, especially now that Apple has added Expose to OS X. It's the greatest damn thing ever. I just sit here and hit F keys all day, just cause I like to watch how cool it is.

Mark
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

>You put programs related to eachother
>on different desktops. I have a surf
>desk, mail desk, development desk etc.

Which one do you keep your BSOD on?

(Sorry, bad old joke that hardly even applies anymore, but I couldn't resist. And yes, I caught that he actually runs Linux.)

null fame
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

If you have linux you can use the ION window manager and it does just what are you are asking for.

saberworks
Thursday, November 27, 2003