Maximize and multiple monitors

Question

I write software for users with multiple monitors and I make design desicions based on the assumption that typically users will maximize windows to each monitor instead of "hand sizing" them.

Recently I have noticed though that there seems to be two "schools" in terms of using multiple monitors. There is the "maximize" school and then there is the "size by hand" school which pretty much never maximizes.

Just curious, out of the multi-monitor users reading this, how many people maximize versus manually sizing? I would be curious to know what platform you are on (Mac vs Windows vs *nix).

Edit: I think this is a legitimate poll from a design perspective.

Answer 1

I maximize. But it depends on the drivers how the system reacts.

I once had a setup that maximized to both monitors, that was a bit too much. But I tackled that one.

Answer 2

Maximize (Windows)

I see people all the time, resizing manually, grabbing one side, then another, then ... I honestly don't understand why people do this.

Answer 3

I almost always maximize on monitors that are 19" or less. Greater than that, I usually size by hand.

When it comes to multi-monitor maximization, I use ultramon. Fantastic little app, even provides a extra taskbars for the extra monitors.

Answer 4

I split the difference. Some monitors will contain maximized items such as editor windows, others contain a potpourri of manually sized items.

Answer 5

I stretch my IDE across two monitors, filling them as best as I can. Then, I split the window into two panes so I have my Test Fixture on one side, and the class I'm testing on the other. A lot less clicking/keyboarding/remembering than when I had to view one class or the other.

It would be easier to maximize one IDE window to each monitor, but my IDE doesn't roll like that, so I have to sort of imitate it - so maybe put me down for half of one, and half of the other..

Answer 6

Maximizing is the quickest way. I have noticed that having many resized windows doesnt work if you are doing many tasks at once and you have to open and close windows often. It just becomes a mess and maximizing makes it clearer.

Answer 7

I maximize on my windows and linux machines and size by hand on my mac.

Answer 8

It depends on the app. My 2 monitors are my laptop LCD and a 20 inch wide screen, so they don't align exactly and wouldn't be conducive to maximizing across both screens. If I'm programming I have my IDE on the wide screen and maximized there to get the most coding real estate. But since I favor the wide screen I'm often dragging apps to and from the LCD and that's easier if they're not maximized. (My platform is Windows)

Answer 9

I size by hand in Windows so I can see more windows.

Answer 10

I basically maximize everything, and really have since I started using Windows in the 3.11 days. In fact, it wasnt untill about a year ago when I upgraded to dual 1600x1200 LCDs that I finally felt I didn't have to maximize every window, and would have more than 1 window up at a time. Typically I have my programming IDE maximized on one display, and a web browser or some sort of document or documentation maximized on the other.

I actually have "maximize" and "minimize" bound to extra buttons on my mouse, just fore and aft of the scroll wheel, and "ctrl-tab" and "alt-tab" bound to buttons by my thumb. They are a surprising productivity boost.

Answer 11

I use two monitors on linux, with multiple desktops on each and I maximize everything. I also use a tiling window manager, but more so that it really maximizes everything - the tiling doesn't work the way I want it to so I largely ignore that.

Answer 12

I never maximize my windows, with the exception of video games. I may maximize IDE's on a single screen on a temporary basis.

Answer 13

Maximize IDEs, Photoshop, Illustrator and Outlook, rest is pretty much windowed.

Running Windows Vista on a single 24"-monitor (1920x1200).

On smaller screens i maximize almost everything.

Answer 14

As a web dev, when I'm lucky enough to have two monitors, I'll always be acting with two maxed apps in typical pairs (IDE/Browser, IDE/Profiler, IDE/SQL, Browser/Photoshop, etc, etc) - always maxed in pairs anyway.

Answer 15

I have a dual monitor setup (@1680x1050) and on my 'programming' monitor, which houses my terminal, editor, and docs, I always maximise everything.

On my other monitor, which includes my browser, IM client, and music player, I hand size everything so I can have all of those applications on the screen at the same time.

Answer 16

I do neither. Instead, I use a window manager that actually manages windows for me, taking the pain out of window positioning and location. This doesn't really apply to multiple monitors, but it could do with being said.

wmii is my preferred WM, but there are a handful of really good tiling and tag/view based ones, like stumpwm and xmonad. All have multi-monitor support.

The standard Windows-like (OS X, Gnome, KDE etc) set of window management metaphors really break down when you have more than one window you want to see at the same time. And for anything interesting being done with a computer that isn't a game, that's pretty much all the time.

Even if the user's WM works like that, I wouldn't assume they're going to maximise your app to the screen at all.

Answer 17

I rarely maximize windows -- in fact I hate maximized windows and I hate it even more if applications require me to maximize them. In quite some cases it doesn't make sense to maximize the window to me: who needs text in a browser wider than the typical 1024 pixels? And usually web sites are designed for a maximum of that width, so why waste the space on the screen where I could show something else? Even if it's the terminal window with the IRC client running and overlapped by the foreground window gives additional information. There are only a handful of cases where it does make sense always maximizing the application window.

Also, switching between editor and terminal is simply nicer if I can see the terminal window all the time. Maximizing everything feels simply unnatural to me -- you also don't maximize your paperwork on the desk (well, you physically can't either, but ...)

This does apply to single and multi monitor setups for me.

Answer 18

• Windows: maximize
• Linux without Xmonad: by hand
• Linux with XMonad: by xmonad

Answer 19

I rarely maximize, I want windows to reposition and resize to where there were in the last editing session. This should be recorded on a per file basis (not a single record of the last editing session of the application).

In my apps I create settings file where I record window position, size and (depending on the app), the position in the file, or the last input field/control, or other information to restore the editing context.

This, should be recorded separately for each user (the position should not be recorded in the file because if the file is shared with a different user or edited in a different context, the other user may move the window to an undesirable position), so for Windows I put this in the users's local settings folder (DO NOT put it in the registry), for UNIX I put this in a ~home/.app directory. I usually have one file for each application program (so the app can easily find it's position settings) with one record entry for each file (or editing session). I defininately would not use XML for this (I'll use a simple formated text or binary file).

The user should be able to easily clear/reset all and/or the least recently access saved window positions (I.e. in the apps' tools/options/settings menu). Also make sure to handle the case where a window gets positioned off screen (I.e. desktop is resized or was on a disconnected multiple monitor), you may need to shift the window back onto the desktop.

Answer 20

I use Linux.

I maximize, but more often use the 'muximize' plugin which detects edges of other windows on the same desktop and resizes to fit the open desktop space.

For example, if you have a small IM window in the top right corner and muximize a window that is on the bottom half of the screen, it will extend horizontally for the full width of the screen and then vertically up to the bottom edge of the IM window.