unity-design team mailing list archive

[Sander van Noort <sander.van.noort@xxxxxxxxx>]

>    *Some* windows are ok to resize, because for those windows, the
>    probability that people would resize them deliberately
>    multiplied by the benefit from doing so is greater than the
>    probability that people would resize them accidentally
>    multiplied by the pain from doing so. (The same inequality,
>    generalized, should apply to anything which a program allows a
>    user to do.)
>
>    For other kinds of window the inequality tips the other way --
>    usually as a result of resizing being much less useful, and
>    sometimes also as a result of a usability benefit from all
>    windows of the same type always being the same size for instant
>    recognizability (which increases the pain of resizing them by
>    mistake, as they then become less recognizable). Examples of the
>    former include properties windows, preference dialogs, and most
>    individual control panels; examples of the latter include alerts
>    and progress windows.

So some windows are made non-resizable because the pain of
accidentally resizing them is bigger than the benefit of making them
resizable. Maybe compromise: make those windows resizable again, but
mark them such that their size is not remembered by the window
manager. If people accidentally resize them, just closing and opening
the window restores the original and "ideal" size.

Sander