Desktop divider questions - Forum «Beta Testing»

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Topic: «Desktop divider questions , Using AWM 7.0 beta 1 » on forum: Beta Testing

Alex Fadeyev
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Moderator

Total messages: 1053
Registration date: 30.09.2005

Created: 24.01.2012 10:48:39

5. Configuration UI bugs/overlooks.

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Bertram: If you have not selected a layout and click the "Activate the layout"-Button you get an error message.

Confirmed.

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Bertram: In "Window Settings" -> "Window Menu" the entry "Put into..." has no text.

Confirmed.

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Alex Fadeyev
Administrator

Moderator

Total messages: 1053
Registration date: 30.09.2005

Created: 24.01.2012 10:53:22

6. Desktop Divider and Classic Snapping.

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Bertram: Snapping to the borders of the Desktop Divider tiles does NOT work, if the option "While pressed" is activated. It does work for the "Always" and "While NOT pressed" options.

It's very probably because the same modifiers (the single Ctrl key) are set by default BOTH for deactivating the Classic Snapping AND activating the Desktop Divider. smile:)

Just another design overlook... smile:oops:

(they may say it's because we have too many options already smile:D

)

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Alex Fadeyev
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Total messages: 1053
Registration date: 30.09.2005

Created: 24.01.2012 10:58:53

7. Tile layouts and taskbar.

Quote
Bertram: The taskbar-area is not excluded in all tile layouts.

I think we need some additional information on this report. How did you check this? Is there any exact sequence of actions to reproduce this issue? I have checked the mentioned configurations myself and they worked as expected.

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Alex Fadeyev
Administrator

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Total messages: 1053
Registration date: 30.09.2005

Created: 24.01.2012 11:08:54

8. Commands in Desktop's context menu.

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Gerard: If I right click on the desktop on any monitor I bring up the context menu and select Desktop Divider, NONE of the listed command have any effect.

Confirmed. It was a common bug: none of our commands in Desktop's menu work in this beta, sorry. smile:(

The fix will be available in the next update.

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Alex Fadeyev
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Total messages: 1053
Registration date: 30.09.2005

Created: 24.01.2012 11:18:46

9. Tile layout configuration.

Quote
Bertram: It is almost impossible to get a clear 3x3-Grid (so 9 tiles of equal size).

I've succeeded to create such grid in about 30 seconds. smile;)

Here are some tips:

tiles in the editor have hierarchy
you can split each tile only in two sub-tiles
when you resize the super-tile, it resizes its sub-tiles proportionally
tile displays its current size relative to its host monitor

Hope this sheds some light on configuring the layouts. If you still need a vivid example, please let me know.

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Alex Fadeyev
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Total messages: 1053
Registration date: 30.09.2005

Created: 24.01.2012 11:22:41

10. Stretching a window over several adjacent tiles.

Quote
Bertram: In the "Put into..."-Window i can select exactly one Tile to put (move and maximize) a window in. So you could add the following: If i press a certain modifier key (for example ctrl), i have to select the upper-left tile, and the bottom-right tile of the area the window should be maximized to.

The idea sounds promising, we'll discuss it certainly.

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Alex Fadeyev
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Total messages: 1053
Registration date: 30.09.2005

Created: 24.01.2012 11:25:12

I believe it's enough for today. smile:)

If I missed something, I will return tomorrow.

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Bertram Vogel
Advanced user

Total messages: 64
Registration date: 14.01.2012

Created: 25.01.2012 10:35:55

Quote
6. Desktop Divider and Classic Snapping. It's very probably because the same modifiers (the single Ctrl key) are set by default BOTH for deactivating the Classic Snapping AND activating the Desktop Divider. smile:) Just another design overlook... smile:oops: (they may say it's because we have too many options already smile:D)

Yes you are right, this was the problem. I changed the classic snapping "suspend on"-modifier key from "CTRL" to "ALT" and now showing the desktop divider also works when the option "While pressed" (with "CTRL" as modifier key) is activated. So actually your program was just doing everything right smile;)

Quote
7. Tile layouts and taskbar. I think we need some additional information on this report. How did you check this? Is there any exact sequence of actions to reproduce this issue? I have checked the mentioned configurations myself and they worked as expected.

Puhhh, this was a tricky one, because as i looked at it again it seemed totally random wether the taskbar area was excluded or not...

But here is a way to reproduce it. It also shows another problem:
1. Make sure you have no open notepad window (notepad.exe)
2. Open the "Desktop Divider Pane" in the AWM-Configuration
3. Set DD to be active "Always"
4. Delete all layouts you have
5. SAVE the configuration
6. Open a new notepad-window (i will call it window A in the following)
7. Add a new layout
8. Activate this layout
9. Open a second notepad-window (window B)
10. Move window A --> Desktop Divider is active (you can see this by the red area at the top of the monitor), but the taskbar area IS included!
11. Move window B --> Desktop Divider is NOT working
12. SAVE the configuration
13. Desktop Divider is working with BOTH window A and window B, and the taskbar area is not included!
14. Add another layout and activate it
15. Desktop Divider is working with BOTH windows, but again the taskbar area is included.

Hope this helps.

Bertram Vogel
Advanced user

Total messages: 64
Registration date: 14.01.2012

Created: 25.01.2012 10:39:27

Quote
9. Tile layout configuration. It is almost impossible to get a clear 3x3-Grid (so 9 tiles of equal size).

Ok, "almost impossible" is a bit exaggerated. But i don't think it is very easy. And i also think the automatic resizing of sub-tiles should be optional because for me it is more annoying than helpful. But maybe I am not using the tool as it is supposed.

Here is how i create a clear 3x3-grid:
1. At first I create a new horizontal line
2. I now add another horizontal line to the upper tile. This gives me 3 tiles, that use 24.9% (tile 1), 25.1% (tile 2) and 50% (tile 3) of the vertical space.
3. I now adjust the upper border, so that tile 1 uses 33,3% if the vertical space.
4. I now move the lower border, so that tile 3 also uses 33,3% of the vertical space. But ooops, since tile 1 and tile 2 are actually sub-tiles, the upper border automatically also moved, so i have to adjust it again.

I do now that i could have avoided this behavior by moving the lower border first, but as i READ from left to right and from top to bottom I also USE a program from left to right and from top to bottom smile;)

Also note that there is no visual clue about the hirarchy of the tiles once created, so you can't determine which tiles are "sibling"-tiles!

5. Ok now i have 3 tiles using 33,3% of the vertical space each.
6. I now add two horizontal lines to each of this tiles.
7. I now adjust this horizontal lines (starting from the RIGHT to avoid the resizing-behaviour described above) in the upper row and repeat it for the middle and lower row. It would be helpful if the vertical lines from one row would snap to vertical lines from the other rows.
8. After some fiddling I now have a clear 3x3 grid.

I now have to repeat this on my second monitor...

So I think this would make the handling easier:

In the edit tiles dialog:
1. different colors for the borders so you can see the hirarchy of the tiles
2. snapping of lines in different columns/rows
3. Double Clicking on a line distributes all lines in the same column/row equally.
4. Copy a layout from one monitor to another(!)

In the configuration pane:
5. Copy a whole layout(!)

But once again this is just my opinion and you are right it is possible to create clear layouts at the moment.
But at least points 4 and 5 seem very important to me.

Best regards smile:)

Pim Joosten
Advanced user

Total messages: 388
Registration date: 11.11.2010

Created: 26.01.2012 13:01:09

Hello Alex,

Thank you for providing such an extensive reply in this thread. One of my reasons for being involved on this forum and in testing the betas is that there always is good communication with you and Vasiliy and you really follow up on suggestions, bug reports etc. I was a little afraid that you were about to issue the regular release soon, without having discussed the issues brought up in this thread, because I suddenly saw the desktop divider article in the news section. I am glad that the lines are still open and suggestions are still welcome!

BTW: Alex, looking at the times you usually respond and knowing you are 6 hours ahead of CET, you must either be a Night Owl or work very long days smile;)

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Now, we can leave the Maximize button as it is and make the new button responsible for tile operations.

You saved my day smile:)

This was really the biggest issue I had, even more when I noticed it messed up some of my specific window settings. I can see where you came from, having looked at the specs of MaxTo and some of the feature requests. However, MaxTo does not include specific window settings like AWM, that are compromised when the way maximization occurs is changed. So, again, I am pleased with making the change of the maximization function optional. However, for users' and Actual Tools' sake it may be best to keep the regular maximize function as default, otherwise you may get a lot of confused users and support questions. These may have to do with the strange behavior I observed with windows getting very small (which I have not yet completely figured out how that happened), but also the Put into button not working. I had just switched on Desktop dividers and then wanted to use the Put into button on a maximized window and it did not work. However, directly after I clicked the restore button, did the window move to the tile I had selected after clicking Put into. I am now starting to get why that happens, because apparently the "maximized to tile" state is a different state that is kind of in between restored and maximized. BTW: I could even argue, and maybe you are considering this reading your posts, that there even should not be an option to change the function of the maximize button, because of the strange behavior reasons I mentioned earlier.

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I believe it's enough for today. smile:) If I missed something, I will return tomorrow.

There are three requests/questions you have overlooked Alex:
1.

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I suggest to also be able to use snapping onto the vertical borders of a tile. It would make moving windows around faster and more efficient. This could be optional, so that one could also choose that snapping only works for the horizontal borders.

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It does raise another question: normally in the configuration module after enabling desktop divider, I also have to save the configuration in order for it to have effect. How would that be if the right click on the desktop does work and I sel ect Enable desktop divider?

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Another thing: AWM allows snapping windows to the desktop/monitor borders and to other windows also when RESIZING the window. So (optional) the desktop divider tile borders should also be shown when resizing a window (and not only when moving).

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After reading this feedback, the buttons have been changed in the following way (hope it's acceptable smile:) ):

It's more than acceptable Alex, it is good because it is clear, and it follows the KISS rule: Keep It Stupidly Simple smile:D

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Tile numbers must begin fr om 1 on each monitor.

I already suspected that. I have not seen the carry over again. If I do, I will let you know, because I now know that might be a bug.

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Their current purpose is to define the order for moving a window from one tile to another via left click on the Put into Divider Tile title button.

Right now, the tiles are always numbered from 1 at the top left to the highest number at the bottom right, wh ere the numbering goes from left to right, row by row. When I add or delete a tile the numbering is changed according to this general rule. You are writing about defining the order for moving a window from tile to tile, but the way I see it now, I can only define the number of tiles I have and the size of each. There is no way to influence the behavior of the left click on the Put into title button. This could be done however, if one is able to change the numbers of the tiles. This could be done by manually assigning numbers, but also (simpler but also more laborious when setting it up) by the order in which I create the tiles. An example for this last method: if I first split the monitor vertically, then the upper half is number one and the lower half is number 2. If, after that, I then split the upper tile horizontally into 2 tiles, the the newly added tile at the top right would get number 3.
I do not know whether this would be useful. It is my thought after reading your words that the current purpose is to define the order for moving a window from one tile to another via left click on the Put into Divider Tile title button.

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(they may say it's because we have too many options already smile:D)

And that is why I love your software! (and also why I am so amazed at why people only purchase AMM, while for a little extra you get so much more in AWM smile:o

Quote

So I think this would make the handling easier:

In the edit tiles dialog:
1. different colors for the borders so you can see the hierarchy of the tiles
2. snapping of lines in different columns/rows
3. Double Clicking on a line distributes all lines in the same column/row equally.
4. Copy a layout fr om one monitor to another(!)

In the configuration pane:
5. Copy a whole layout(!)

But once again this is just my opinion and you are right it is possible to create clear layouts at the moment.

If AWM had this, it would impress everybody smile;)

It is clear that I fully support these ideas.

Best regards.

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