New monitor, need powertools Thread poster: Samuel Murray
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Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 16:54
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
G'day everyone
For the past two weeks I had been thinking about getting a second monitor, because the monitor on my laptop was getting vertical lines that reduced my useable workspace. I really wanted a square screen, but these days you can't really get a square screen with good resolution, so in the end I had to get a 19" full HD screen. The one I got is the iiyama ProLite B2209HDS, primarily because the screen can be rotated.
So basically my new monitor is twice as ... See more G'day everyone
For the past two weeks I had been thinking about getting a second monitor, because the monitor on my laptop was getting vertical lines that reduced my useable workspace. I really wanted a square screen, but these days you can't really get a square screen with good resolution, so in the end I had to get a 19" full HD screen. The one I got is the iiyama ProLite B2209HDS, primarily because the screen can be rotated.
So basically my new monitor is twice as high as my laptop's screen (and about the same width). It is fantastic for MS Word files.
But... I have some problems that I'm hoping you guys would know tools for to solve.
For one, it would be really cool if I could "maximise" windows in such a way that it doesn't maximise all the way to the top or bottom of the screen. In other words, I wish I could set an invisible upper and lower limit to the maximisation. It is really super to be able to see a whole A4 page in MS Word all at once, with large letters, but it is less cool that my browser and my e-mail program gets that big, and for some programs the distance between the status bar (bottom) and the menu bar (top) is just ridiculously far.
It would also be great if I could have something that would ensure that windows do not move off-screen while I move the window up or down. In other words, if a window fits in the width but is not fully maximised, and I want to move the window downward, I want something that will prevent the edges of that window from moving a bit off-screen.
A floating task bar would also be nice (i.e. one that pops up roughly in the centre of the screen when I call it using a shortcut), or one that slides out from the side of the screen when I move my mouse to the edge of the screen and then click.
So, does anyone have some tools like this that they can recommend?
Thanks
Samuel ▲ Collapse
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Can you tell me the operating system of the laptop.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:54
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
amurati wrote:
Can you tell me the operating system of the laptop.
It's Windows XP Pro SP2. I realise that this kinda limits my possibilities. Oh, and it's 22", not 19".
| | | | Jaroslaw Michalak
Poland
Local time: 16:54
Member (2004)
English to Polish
SITE LOCALIZER
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I don't use Windows XP since more than 3 years because I am also a software developer.
Which version of MS Office do you have?
I haven't tried such monitors so far but in Windows 7 I had to connect my laptop into many desktops of various sizes of monitors.
On software development aspect I am not sure how did the software developers of MS Word have designed the main window of Word. When you develop softwares you can set minimum and maximum size of window. I... See more I don't use Windows XP since more than 3 years because I am also a software developer.
Which version of MS Office do you have?
I haven't tried such monitors so far but in Windows 7 I had to connect my laptop into many desktops of various sizes of monitors.
On software development aspect I am not sure how did the software developers of MS Word have designed the main window of Word. When you develop softwares you can set minimum and maximum size of window. If you have the older version of MS Office try this freeware Word Viewer from Microsoft.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=3657ce88-7cfa-457a-9aec-f4f827f20cac&displaylang=en
Open a word file and place it on that monitor and if this application fills the entire monitor size than the problem is at current version of MS Office you have.
By the way how do you connect the external monitor as extended monitor or to place similar content in both monitors? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:54
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks. Most of them are snap-to tools, which are also useful, but one of them seems to be almost what I'm looking for: MaxTo.
MaxTo lets you define regions on the screen, and then resize your windows to those regions when you click the maximise button. You can also modify your maximisation using modifier keys, and you can drag and snap-to a window to another region. If you have multiple windows "maximised" to a certain region, you can switch between them using a keyboard shortcut (so it's almost like a virtual desktop, but without having a completely separate desktop).
Some of the other tools don't offer maximisation but do offer something very similar by allowing you to set snap-to regions, or by making your resizing more precise using additional shortcuts.
What is your graphics card?
ATI... I'll have a look at its options.
Added:
An annoyance with MaxTo is that it doesn't truly maximise the window -- instead, it hijacks the window and resizes it, so it's not really maximised. This has weird effects if you try to unmaximise and resize a window that was maximised by MaxTo.
[Edited at 2011-05-26 19:32 GMT]
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:54
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
amurati wrote:
I don't use Windows XP since more than 3 years because I am also a software developer.
I use it because it is the most stable system on my particular laptop, and because higher versions of Windows don't support all the CAT tools that I use.
Which version of MS Office do you have?
XP, but I want these features for all programs, not just for Office.
When you develop softwares you can set minimum and maximum size of window.
Thanks... that's another idea, actually -- I can do that in AutoIt. I think I can do smooth dragging (i.e. so that the window you're moving down does not move one pixel to the left or right) also in AutoIt, now that I think about it.
By the way how do you connect the external monitor as extended monitor or to place similar content in both monitors?
Extended, because the two monitors are not the same size. The laptop is 1400x1050, and the extra monitor is 1080x1920.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:54
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Middlesizer script | May 26, 2011 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
Some of the other tools don't offer maximisation but do offer something very similar by allowing you to set snap-to regions, or by making your resizing more precise using additional shortcuts.
I had some extra time on my hands and got playing with AutoIt. Here's "Middlesizer", which resizes and centres the active window when you press WinKey + something.
http://wikisend.com/download/177334/middlesizer.zip
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| Actually I don't need anything in Windows 7 | May 26, 2011 |
So far no problems at all with any monitors.
If in the extended monitor mode the screen shows the desktop image the same image you have in the laptop's screen and it fits in entire screen. Then this is not a issue of operating system or the driver for the video card. This is an issue of the software that you are using.
I am not sure what type of CAT tools that are not supported with other newer softwares?
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:54
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Extended monitor or duplicated monitor | May 27, 2011 |
amurati wrote:
If in the extended monitor mode the screen shows the desktop image the same image you have in the laptop's screen and it fits in entire screen.
It may be a problem with my laptop's display software, since I've always had problems that other people didn't have, when it comes to display issues. For example, I could never be sure of what would happen if I plugged an overhead projector into the laptop -- sometimes it would duplicate the screen, sometimes extend it, and sometimes the laptop screen would be blank and the projector would have my home screen on it. This can be annoying if its your turn at projector duty at church.
Anyway, I'm quite happy with the extended monitor option. I don't see how it would be possible to have the same view on both monitors, if they are different sizes, because the icons that fit on one screen may not fit on the other screen. For example, on my laptop monitor, I can have a maximum of 12 icons in a column on the Desktop, but on my portrait monitor (the external one) I can fit 26 icons in a column.
Screenshot: http://flic.kr/p/9MnSSC
I am not sure what type of CAT tools that are not supported with other newer softwares?
I'm not sure if there are CAT tools designed specifically to make use of multimonitor setups.
[Edited at 2011-05-27 07:18 GMT]
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