unity-design team mailing list archive

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Stefanos A. wrote on 13/10/11 15:09:
> 
> I just installed 11.10, just to be assaulted by ugly non-resizable 
> windows. Why, oh why?
> 
> Off-hand, I recall the official installer, which cannot be resized 
> when the "show details" area does not fit inside the window. This 
> happens in the "downloading packages" and " installing packages"
> parts of the installation - since you can't resize the window, you
> cannot see what actions are being taken by the installer.


This seems to be <http://launchpad.net/bugs/149911>, which was
reported in 2007, so it's not specific to 11.10.

> The new "System Settings" control panel also fits the bill. This
> is *especially* aggravating, since the window is a tad too big for
> a 1366x768 or 1280x800 screen (that's what most laptops use).
> Today, I had an issue with a misconfigured keyboard shortcut, so I
> opened an internet article that described the fix. In such
> occasions, I arrange the browser window and the configuration
> window side-by-side, so I can refer to the article while fixing the
> issue. Or that's what I used to do, since the new settings window
> *cannot be resized* to fit side-by-side on my monitor. It's always
> there, taking up lots of space, *covering* the article with the
> instructions I need.


Like most dialogs, many of the System Settings panels are designed
with a particular size in mind. For the window to be manually
resizable would be inappropriate.

If the window is too large for an important proportion of screens,
that's a bug that should be fixed, not an excuse for making the window
resizable.

> What is this new fad? Microsoft abandoned modal/non-resizable
> windows after WinXP.


That isn't true.

> Apple just added more resize borders in their latest OS.


That made it easier to resize windows that are already resizable. It
has nothing to do with which windows are resizable in the first place.

- -- 
mpt
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