2011/11/19 Thorsten Wilms
<t_w_@xxxxxxxxxx>
On 11/18/2011 11:03 AM, Stefanos A. wrote:
To my non-expert mind, not only do the guidelines contradict themselves
(fixed size 675x530 in order to fit on netbooks, but netbooks have only
490px available), but they also add invalid constraints to large
monitors (invalid because a 1920x1080 monitor does not have the same
constraints as a 1024x600 one). Isn't this the very issue that resizable
windows are supposed to solve?
A fixed size window that is smaller than it has to be on the current display, that has more content than fits in and thus requires scrolling, is quite simply idiotic.
Such a too small window, but resizable, not fixed, is better but still inconvenient.
The solution to too small, and smaller than they have to be at that, windows are larger windows, not resizable windows.
An example that literally had me facepalm is the Shortcuts tab in Keyboard Preferences. There's a long list for Navigation that requires scrolling, yet the dialog takes less than halve of the height that it could, on my screen! I don't want to resize such a dialog. I want it to appear with the optimal size based on its content and the current screen size.
If this was a resizable window, you could simply drag it to the right or to the left edge of the screen and it would automatically become optimal. A good window manager will then remember the placement and size of the window, solving the issue without any guesswork.
(Yes, finding the optimal size automatically is guesswork, since different applications have different contents that might be optimal in different layouts.)