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DonationCoder.com Software => Coding Snacks => Post New Requests Here => Topic started by: nudone on February 15, 2008, 05:51 AM
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(i know of a util that is similar to what i'm about to describe but it doesn't have the same features. i can't remember the name of it at the moment.)
the general idea for this util is that it would make your desktop/screen larger than the physical output you see on your monitor.
so, if you have a monitor set to 800 x 600 resolution, the actual screen that the operating system is generating could be 1024 x 768 - you simply only see an 800 x 600 section of the larger output at any one time. as i said, i know there are utils that do this already.
the feature i'm suggesting is that the underlying larger screen would be 'draggable' in a similar way to how graphic editing software works with images that are zoomed in.
typically, graphic editing programs allow you to drag the image around the screen via a convenient key toggle. you simply hold down the 'spacebar' and then move the mouse cursor at the same time - this then moves the image in the same direction as the cursor.
what i'd like to be able to do is have a large working area that extends beyond the boundaries of my monitor. i could then arrange my open programs that i'm working with on this large working area - so that nothing overlaps - and then 'drag' the large area around when i needed to view a specific program.
you may suggest i use virtual desktops instead. i've tried but i never quite seem to get on with them. i think that having a large screen i could quickly drag or nudge back and forth would be more intuitive to use. it would require other features like 'reset to center' and 'jump to top' to make it practical but the 'draggable' idea is the important part - as it would be something instantly accessible.
to avoid conflicting with graphic editing programs that also use draggable operation the new util would have to work with certain conditions, maybe only drag if the cursor is over an empty desktop area.
i suspect that this would not be such a simple util to create because of the need to control the graphics card output.
perhaps there is something already out there that does this - any thoughts?
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This is definitelly a great idea, and i'd love to try it out.
I think it goes a bit against the concept of windows' explorer, probably it'd have to be a whole shell rather than an app to run on explorer.
I know there are quite a few "3d desktops" out there, this'd probably be similar.
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i'm very pleased you are interested in the concept, jgpaiva.
perhaps it is not as advanced as you think. i know i've seen larger desktop area type things built into ati radeon drivers/utils (i think it was them but it was a few years ago when i saw it).
there is also a util that allows you to extend you desktop down below the visible screen area - you then have a scroll bar on the right of the screen to move down the tall screen that is available. (i know it has been mentioned on the forum somewhere.) if i remember correctly i think it does work in a smooth scrolling way as you'd expect - it just doesn't have any of the 'draggable' features i mentioned.
so, what i'm trying to say it that as the util above seems to work without really changing anything like shells then perhaps it is not that complicated to achieve. admittedly it only scrolls up and down and i can't remember if it scrolls the desktop icons, so perhaps it is a bad example.
i will try to find the util i'm talking about.
edit:
the util is called 'WinScroll' mentioned in this thread https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=11798.0
nolonger seems available to download.
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i've found the winscroll util in my collection so i've uploaded it if anyone would like to try.
WinScroll Ver 5.6.9 by Tomoaki Nakashima.
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Ok, just gave it a go, and... I don't quite like it, it isn't really "fuild".
It did give me an idea, though.
I was thinking about moving the whole desktop, but we could only move the windows itself like winscroll does. Thus, it'd make this get in the reach of an ahk script :) I'm sensing it'd be potentially destructible too, though (think loosing windows offscreen).
I'll give it a go, i should have something to play with in a few hours ;)
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sounds great. i look forward to seeing the result.
your solution for just having the windows move around isn't such a bad thing. it might not look as nice as having the whole desktop scroll but there is probably little point in having a real desktop other than it would look nice.
i'm sure you could easily bring lost windows back onto screen with a hotkey or something.
however it works the main feature is the dragging idea - so it's nice to move things about and it feels intuitive to use. anything else would be a bonus.
(i just tried WinScroll also. i can see why i never used it. well, on this occasion it is completely unusable - i know it kind of worked last time i tried it but now the scroll bar is in the wrong place on screen and the other features don't work.)
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Oh man, i think you'll love this one! :)
This is just a mockup, to see if ahk could support it. Apparently, it works pretty well.
Just press F8 and move the mouse. Press F8 again to stop ;)
unless you have gridmove (http://jgpaiva.dcmembers.com/gridmove.html) or something else that allows you to move windows through keyboard installed, i don't recommend you try this software! :)
[edit]
updated: move with ctrl+lbutton. Makes things way cooler :D
updated: added screen contraints: the virtual screen is now 9 times larger than the "real" screen. (think like this: middle one, and 8 around it). Can be customized to something else.
updated: added "keep active window on screen" feature. Works like this: when you alt+tab/select a window that isn't completelly on screen, it moves there. If you have just moved, it waits 5 seconds for you to focus another window and then it'll move the screen back to the focused window (which might be offscreen).
updated: fixed an error in "keep active window on screen"
updated: removed the "anoyingness" of the "keep active(etc)" feature
updated: added "jump one screen" feature
updated: removed "jump one screen" "feature", was driving me nuts. Added "multiplier" feature
updated: it doesn't ignore the taskbar placement anymore
updated: added the "move the screen but keep the window under the mouse in place" feature. just press windows key and drag with the right mouse button. This is a very useful feature for moving windows around.
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excellent. it does just as you'd expect. it updates at a pretty decent rate also.
now i've seen it in action it's not too hard to imagine it working simply in a horizontal drag direction. like turning your head side to side (or eyes moving left and right) if you have a multi monitor setup. it would be nice to have a toggle feature to restrict vertical/horizontal movement. but really, what i'm getting at now is that it could perhaps feel smoother if the directions could be constrained (as a user option). this would also make things line up and look nicer as you move them about.
i noticed that kmplayer didn't move whilst video was playing and when it was paused. i wonder if this is because it uses a skin or if it's using video.
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Ok, i just updated it so that it now uses ctrl+Lbutton drag, it's way more intuitive.
About kmplayer: that program might be in the exceptions (which i imported directly from gridmove ;) ). Could you please tell me what's its window class?
About restricting it to horizontal/vertical movement... I think that makes sense and shouldn't be very hard to do. Could you please just play around a bit more with this version to see what comes to mind?
I'm thinking about a few things: Someone talks to you on MSN and the window is out of the screen. What should happen? I think there are 2 options when you move the focus to that window:
- the window is moved to the screen
- the screen is moved to the window
Which one do you think is better?
I'm also thinking this should have some kind of "snap window" to screen when moving, my windows get all chopped of for a few pixels :)
PS: man.. this is a fun idea! How come is it always you who comes up with the best stuff? :P (i believe it's already the second time i say this ;))
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note: i've posted this before reading your above post.
i know it's early days at the moment but just a note on the hotkey feature. i'm guessing the user will have a choice in selecting which key to use but if that's not possible then it would be good to have something as easy to hit as the spacebar.
as many grahic editing programs use the spacebar already to initiate their drag feature perhaps something equally easy to hit could be used - and something that wouldn't conflict with anything else...
...something like a combination of spacebar + that key in the top left of the keyboard (under the escape key and to the left of '1'). whatever, something that would only work when held down - assuming it is to work like a graphic editor drag function.
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That's true, nudone.. Probaby ctrl+drag isn't a good idea.
Do you know anything that uses win+drag?
I like your idea about using backslash, maybe that's a good solution.
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Now that i'm playing around with this, i think a "move everything but active window" feature is needed. (to organize the windows on screen)
[edit] and a way to limit the screen area, to make it easier to size windows [/edit]
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well, i obviously come up with brilliant ideas because i'm so lazy and hate having to do even slightly bothersome tasks on the pc :D and i clearly love presenting you with a challenge that i know you will feel compelled to master :Thmbsup:
the 'ctrl' key method is far better than the F8 key BUT as it will conflict with graphic editing programs i still suggest some strange key combination like 'spacebar' plus '¬' as these are not going to conflict with any software i know of.
things like messenger i'd not thought about. i'm not sure which i'd prefer to happen with that kind of program. these are my thoughts:
1. the window moves to the screen - sometimes i'd want this to happen. perhaps always, as it would be the quickest method. but what happens after you've finished with messenger - where does it go. perhaps it is just a case of making allowances for this kind of program when you are laying out the window positions on screen - so you'd just have to be ready to drag to the right area.
2. the screen is moved to the window - hmm, i see this could be fast also and it would avoid the problem of the messenger window moving about. but what makes the screen move to the window - is it another hotkey that makes the screen jump to the window that wants your attention. that doesn't sound too bad to me.
3. more hotkey features could perhaps be used to provide 'jump' zones. like jumping to a virtual desktop but you simply move the screen to a zone you've placed messenger in. zones could be 1 to 9 as in a square or 1 to 3 as in a strip.
4. er. are there other methods?
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Now that i'm playing around with this, i think a "move everything but active window" feature is needed. (to organize the windows on screen)
[edit] and a way to limit the screen area, to make it easier to size windows [/edit]
-jgpaiva
they sound like good features. and the snap feature also.
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Like the sound of this tool and I am quite sure I'll use it once it is a bit more polished.
On the "out-of-view" part I think it would be easiest if the screen moved to the window as then it would stay in its place, just where you want it. If it moved into view on the screen you would have to place it back where it was before (unless that can be done automaticly once it looses focus again...then that option seems like the better to me.
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Updated again, check above post for the new version.
Now i'm thinking: I think the best way to avoid the problem of focusing windows off screen is to make the screen move to them. Thus, next thing i'm going to try is something like "keep the focused window on screen". This means: then you focus a window that isn't on screen (may it be by selecting it from the taskbar or with alt+tab), the screen is moved to make that window appear. (might get annoying, i think.. Let's give it a try)
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these are just cosmetic suggestions so if they reduce the smoothness then i wouldn't bother with them - something to perhaps try at the end of everything else anyway...
how about a border being visible so that you know you've reached the end of the container, something just like a 5px thick line or something.
something probably way too advanced: how about a little diagram graphic thingy that indicates where you are within the big grid. i've seen virtual desktop programs use this type of graphic helper widget type thing. it might be nice to have but would it be worth the trouble involved.
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Yes, i've already thought of stuff around those lines. The "placer" might be something quite hard to do, but the border sure is possible, i'll add it later.
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That's true, nudone.. Probaby ctrl+drag isn't a good idea.
Do you know anything that uses win+drag?
I like your idea about using backslash, maybe that's a good solution.
-jgpaiva
didn't see this earlier. i don't know of anything that uses the win key plus mouse dragging.
now, this might just be me but the beauty of using the spacebar is that it sits right under your thumb - this is obviously why they use it with graphics editing programs. it's very quick and easy to hit and use.
the win key is not so easy to hit. perhaps the combination of spacebar plus ¬ (or whatever that key is in the top left on your keyboard) isn't too easy to hit either.
i'm just thinking of keys that are best suited when you have your left hand resting over the keys in a touch-typing position. AND that don't conflict with stuff like photoshop where many key combinations are already in use.
perhaps just the ¬ key on it's own without the spacbar is enough (or whatever the top left key is under the escape key). it's easier than hitting the win key and PROBABLY doesn't conflict with anything else.
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these are the results i have for kmplayers window. i've posted three screengrabs because i noticed the classNN changed depending on where i put the cursor over the window and i didn't know if the result was important.
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I see your idea with spacebar.
The big problem about using spacebar for this, is that then the auto-repeat for spacebar would go away. So, anything that relied on you keeping spacebar pressed (flash games, for example) wouldn't work.
The auto-repeat would go away because the script would not pass the spacebar press to the OS until the spacebar was released, because it'd have to wait for you to press left button (or not).
I'm now thinking win+drag or that key you mentioned might be the best solution. (curiously, the key in my keyboard is backslash, thus the earlier confusion ;) ). Notice that i didn't mean spacebar+\ (or something else), but \+lbutton.
Ok, so i just tried the "keep window on screen" feature and it works terribly bad. It conflicts with the whole idea of the program in a few times.
How about a hotkey to move the screen to the active window? Any suggestions? (maybe win+lclick?).
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Yeah, KMplayer uses winamp's class name. Now that's a new one. I'll remove it from the exclusions ;)
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could the usual 'click on taskbar' or 'alt+tab' be used to make the screen jump to the program. if not then a win + click sounds okay.
one thing that might also be worth considering - and this might be good to have as a user setting - is the ability to 'drag' or 'jump'.
what i mean is, at the moment, things move as you'd expect by dragging objects about. what would probably be more practical is if you still 'dragged' the screen about but it jumped or snapped to the next area.
so, if i began dragging from top to bottom, even though i've only dragged about 50 pixels down, the screen would jump the full length of what is currently viewable and 'snap' to the area that was hidden above out of screen.
this would make the whole process super quick and would mean less messing about positioning the screen after you've dragged it. it would be similar to using virtual desktops but instead of using an 'alt+tab' kind of swap you are using the direction of the 'drag' to indicate which screen area you wan to go to.
it would nice if there were TWO drag methods:
1. very short quick drag means 'jump' a whole viewable screen/zone so the next zone come into view. (perhaps a whole 'zone' jump is too much and just half a zone or a third would be okay - perhaps this would be incorporated anyway when the 'snap' feature is implemented.)
2. long drags (eg. at least twice the length of the short drag setting ) makes the drag movement work as it currently does - with the screen moving along with the mouse cursor.
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Ok..Another update:
updated: added "keep active window on screen" feature. Works like this: when you alt+tab/select a window that isn't completelly on screen, it moves there. If you have just moved, it waits 5 seconds for you to focus another window and then it'll move the screen back to the focused window (which might be offscreen).
Right now, looks like that works fairly well. I'm thinking that the best solution to this problem isn't this one, though.
I'll make so that it'll set the Desktop to the active window after moving (actually i thought of this when i wrote the above phrase, it's the perfect solution :)) which will solve the problem of it going back to the previous place ;).
Your idea about moving by whole screens makes much sense. I'll add something allong those lines.
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Right now, i'm finding another problem: everytime you close the app or restart it, it thinks it's in the middle of the screen (while you may have closed it when it wasn't at that position), and everything gets confused. I won't solve this right away, but it's easy to solve through ini files.
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not sure what's happening but the 'ctrl' + click feature isn't working for me with the latest version. i'm not too sure what's happening with the move focus window too.
sorry. just seen that it's using the win key now and not ctrl.
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I just uploaded another version, with the "keep focused window on screen" thing working... Well, sort of.
I'm finding it to be quite anoying, to say the truth. What do you think? I'm having trouble moving windows around (the damn screen follows the window) and it's constantly moving the screen, becoming more of an anoyance than a feature.
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have you uploaded a screengrab by mistake?
the keep focus window i don't quite understand - or perhaps what is happening on my screen is hard to understand.
it looks to me that it would be best to just keep windows fixed in there place unless the user manually moves them.
at the taskbar will flash to indicate a program window requires attention the user can quickly just use the drag feature to get to the correct area location.
if the 'jump' feature is implemented then i don't think it will be a big deal to do a quick 'short drag jump' action.
hmm. i think i've only just realised something. when you wish to navigate through the extended screen area without using the mouse, i.e. using alt+tab. that's what you were trying to figure out i see. i didn't quite appreciate that but now i do.
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have you uploaded a screengrab by mistake?
-nudone
I did, sorry :)
I just uploaded yet another version, and this time it looks VERY good, probably the best solution found. (still isn't detecting the taskbar and thus it's moving to the wrong place, but it works fairly well).
Now.. on to the "move by a screen" feature.
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i notice that 'alt+tab' and taskbar click sometimes works and sometimes does something unexpected.
other than that, i must say i'm very impressed with how it's behaving.
i can already see when laying out two large windows side by side it is good to navigate between them using dragging instead of alt+tabbing as you would normally. like if you are coding in one window and checking something in the next window. it is pretty much like using dual monitors.
i think this must be because there are a lot more visual references for your eyes to fix onto as you drag the windows about. when you simply alt+tab (or use virtual desktops) you have to readjust your view and quickly figure out where you should be looking within the program window. doing the dragging method is more natural and gives your eyes time to work out where things are within the program window.
in fact, i think it's brilliant. just messing about doing it now dragging left and right between two large windows full of text side by side.
this program will, of course, allow you to have a program window opened up beyond your physical monitor screen, i.e. you could be working/searching within an editor with long lines of code and you could stretch the window out to be double it's normal width and height. then you could quickly drag around within this window seeing how code is arranged without having to collapse the line lengths like you normal have to do.
that is also a potentially fantastic way of working i think.
this util is set to revolutionise computer and human interaction from this moment on :D
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Ok, i just implemented the "jump" feature and i'm not sure about this... It's just counter-intuitive for it to jump like this.
How about if we added a "pan speed" feature? Something that when set to 2, would make the screen move in a rate of 2:1 to the movement of the mouse (currently it's 1:1). This'd make it really fast to pan without making these strange jumps. (possibly i'm not enjoying this feature much because it isn't really that well implemented, though :-[).
See the other post for the new download.
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I just tested this setting the "MaxVerticalScroll" to 0, and i think it's the best way to use it. It implies more dragging, tough, so, i added the 2:1 movement, and things are better now.
(i disabled the "jump" feature, i was finding it WAY too anoying)
Check out the new build!
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And another update... It doesn't ignore the placement of the taskbar anymore! (this is REALLY turning into something very useful ;) )
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Ok, and updated again. Added the "move everything other than the window under the mouse" feature, on win+rbutton drag.
I also changed the window setup to a 2x2 square, looks like the best size.
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i like how the current version is working. the speed of the scrolling, etc.
i have some weird things happening like maxthon vanishing off screen never to be found - so i have to close it from the taskbar. perhaps this sort of thing will suddenly fix itself as you get further on with the code - or maybe it's a conflict on my machine.
the 2x2 screen area feels about right - it would still be nice to have a border to indicate where the edge is.
perhaps it would also be useful to prevent a window from going outside of the boundary so that you know you've reached the edge of the work area.
that .ini file you mentioned would be good too.
edit:
forgot to say that i never got to try the 'jump' version as i was offline whilst you were playing with it.
edit:
i also forgot to say that perhaps it could be an option to just use the mouse buttons to drag rather than use a key press. right button drag on it's own should be okay shouldn't it? and maybe instead of win + click it could be left mouse button + right mouse button click. my reasoning is just to make it as fast to use as possible - just using mouse buttons requires even less effort by the user than having to hit the keyboard.
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About maxtron: yep, that has happened to me, still figuring out what it is.
Edge indication: currently i'm working at the functionality level, i'll add that after ;)
perhaps it would also be useful to prevent a window from going outside of the boundary so that you know you've reached the edge of the work area.
Unfortunately, preventing windows from going outside the boundary isn't something i know how to do at the moment.
forgot to say that i never got to try the 'jump' version as i was offline whilst you were playing with it.
Yes, i noticed. I'll restore it in a future version (with a decent implementation)
Now.. About the hotkey. There are a few problems here. Dragging with rbutton isn't a good option, because there are browsers that use right-mouse dragging for mouse gestures, and lbutton+rbutton can't be used either because it interfeers with normal usage of the mouse.
I could set it to use a combination of the other mouse buttons,but not all mouses have those :(
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ah yes, i use maxthon with mouse gestures ALL the time, so the right button wouldn't be good for me either.
it looks like the win key is all there is. maybe middle mouse button but i think i probably prefer the win key method.
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Started playing around with this and really liking it. Started using a single 22" LCD recently instead of my old 2x 19" CRT's and sometimes missed that extra space you get with dual monitors but this can make up for the lost space in a convenient way.
It feels really quick and responsive with the dragging and alt-tabbing as far as I have experienced but not really stressed tested it with other then some basic explorer windows open along with Opera and Thunderbird.
Maybe could be nice with a hotkey that jumps a certain distance sideways (of your choice, WIN+(directional keys?)) so you can access or simply look at the items out-of-view without using the mouse. For example I used to have all my IM programs on my second monitor so I could see who was online etc at all times without the contact list stealing space from the primary monitor. Will use this in a simular fashion by putting them out-of-view and checking them now and again. Just think it would be convenient to "jump" sideways by hotkey (the needed distance, maybe changeable through the .ini yourself), check what you want and then jump back with the hotkey without ever letting your hands leave the keyboard (dont always have a hand on my mouse).
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i think jumping a whole monitor screen (or whatever) makes sense using something like win key plus arrow keys. or what about win key plus the keys under the right hand in touch typing. so something like 'win + i' goes up, 'win + ,' goes down, 'win + j' goes left and 'win + L' goes right. well, something like that as i see that 'win + L' currently goes to the log on screen.
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Yeah, I like that implementation. Didnt consider the placement of the keys until you mentioned it but it makes perfect sense as your fingers will be placed there automaticly (if you have a correct finger placement when it comes to typing :P).
Was thinking that a modifier key could be used to get around the WIN+L problem (as that hotkey can be useful and wished to be maintained) but that would ruin the simplicity of setting up the keys and learning them. Much more smooth with just WIN as the only modifier throughout the script.
(I am just rambling on random I think but hopefully I make some sense and perhaps adds to the general brainstorming you two have going :P)
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well, win + k doesn't seem to do anything. providing the keys are easy to access AND easy to remember i wouldn't mind what they are over in that area of the keyboard.
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I'll add customizable keyboard shortcuts to jump one screen on the next build. (for me, the best is win+h, win+j, win+k and win+l for left,down,up and right respectively: that's what VIM (http://vim.org) uses and i've configured that in opera like that too ;))
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excellent. looking forward to it.
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Looking forward to it. :)
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just a quick suggestion for when things are finished - does a name with the word 'drag' in it sound more fitting than the word 'scroll'?
maybe 'desktop' might give the wrong impression also - as it is the open windows that move but not the desktop itself.
maybe something like 'dragwindows' or 'screendrag' fits more? any thoughts?
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or dragscreen as opposed to -queen?
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Skrommel already played on the dragqueen name with his "dragking" auto-copy script. Kind of like the idea as it will be easy to remember (above dragscreen that is). WinDrag (or flip the words) is an option as well. Indicates that you drag windows AND use the win key to do so.
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i like the dragqueen/screen joke so i'd pick that at the moment - screen might be a better description of what happens also as it is a 'screen' of windows that you drag - not just a single 'window'.
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Interesting stuff. DragScreen is good.
BTW, I went hunting for a name and came across ScreenScroll (http://www.blahblah.se/software/Downloads.html). Have you tried that one before? This tool is also mentioned on http://www.virtualplastic.net/.
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that screenscroll program appears to be a command line thing - i don't quite understand the point of it.
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Sorry i haven't updated, i haven't been home recently.
The name i chose is just a working name, so that it wouldn't be unnamed. You are free to find something better. Actually, please do ;)
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no rush. just very glad you can work on it whenever you can.
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here's another feature suggestion - maybe a good idea - maybe not.
as the program involves moving your windows around into a satisfactory layout before you start using the 'giant screen', it would be helpful to make moving an individual window quicker/easier to position.
what i mean is that although you can quite easily move a single window in the usual manner by dragging the title bar - it would be easier if you could drag a window by dragging it from anywhere within its own window - NOT just the title bar.
i've seen this done with utils before, i.e. you hold a key down and then just click and drag within the window and then the window moves just like you had dragged it using the title bar.
i think being able to do this would make the positioning of the windows on the 'grid' a lot easier. you could easily adjust the position of windows that were only slightly visible on screen without having to drag everything over to see the window titlebar.
(a key combo like win + alt + mouse click could be used to invoke the function.)
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Is there any way this .ahk can be compiled to an .exe for those of us crazy enough not to have AHK installed?
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I'm sorry for still not having updated this, i hope to do it soon.
Deozaan: the reason why i didn't add a compiled version is because this is highly experimental material :)
I added it now ;)
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Thanks jgpaiva! Well I just tried it out on my dual monitor setup. It really messed things up!
When I first started it up, all my windows moved off my 2nd monitor onto my primary monitor. Then when I would drag a window back onto the second monitor using the standard windows drag method (not DragScreen), it would jump around from where I let go of it.
So then I decided just to try out the DragScreen by holding the Windows key. It worked, but my windows were still in screwy positions from when I first started it. Also, I'm using UltraMon and I have a task bar on my second monitor. The task bar got moved to the primary monitor (upon first starting it up) and it was included in all the windows being dragged around.
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Okay I just played around with it a little more. It seems to move all my windows to the left (I'm guessing) about 768 pixels. My current resolution on both monitors is 1280x1024 and it's not quite a full screen move to the left. So then I tried to drag Firefox back into its correct position on my second monitor and when I let go of the mouse button it jumped a couple hundred pixels to the left of where I dropped it. After that all windows seemed to drag normally. Please note that as of this point in the process I have not tried using DragScreen's features. I've just dragging windows normally, one at a time.
Once I get past that weird part, including the fact that my "taskbar" on my second monitor gets dragged around, and I start dragging everything around the screen and off the screen, this ahk seems to work really well.
I remember in the post you mentioned to nudone how to check for window class to be added/removed from the exceptions. I'll read over that again and report back on the UltraMon taskbar so it can be added to exceptions so it won't move around.
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So, to do the window spy thingy I had to install AHK. So now the compiled version isn't necessary for me. Ha! :D
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LoL Deozaan.. I just tested it. Yeah, there's no support for mutiple screens currently, as you may have noticed. If you keep everything on the main screen, it'll work "as advertised".
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I found a blog post (http://tomuse.com/2008/07/07/360desktop-offers-free-unlimited-desktop-space-eliminates-need-for-huge-monitors/) today that is worth mentioning...about an application called 360desktop (http://www.360desktop.com/).
Have you ever wished you could have a huge monitor but aren’t willing to fork over the cash to get it just yet? Well, 360desktop may have provided the perfect alternative for you. Basically 360desktop gives you almost unlimited desktop space on your computer by extending the size of the desktop itself via a scrolling panoramic view. Thus now you can have an almost unlimited number of multiple windows open and you are no longer simply limited to the size of your monitor to do so.
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interesting.
i've tried 360desktop. uninstalled after about 1 minute. i'm sure it works on the majority of machines but on mine it 'smears' the desktop icons when scrolling the screen. in other words, totally useless.
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I've seen this implemented in something as old as redhat 5 (with some simple windows manager). It seems it's trivial to do in X-windows.
Not that it's very helpful to the discussion :)
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Just tried 360Desktop.
There's an option to keep it from moving your desktop icons off the screen which might solve nudone's problem, but I haven't yet figured out how to disable the stupid panoramic background images that it decides for me to put on my computer.
I also didn't like how it didn't ask me where to install it. I just agreed to the terms and it automatically installed everything by itself, taunting me the whole time by saying "Now installing with the options you selected."
I used it for a couple of minutes but I think it's going to be uninstalled now too.
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I found 360Desktop last night from my Download.com newsletter - downloaded, installed, ran for about 90 seconds, uninstalled.
The term "360" usually refers to [360] degrees - I was looking forward to an actual 3D desktop (inside a globe, if you will), not just a long repeating strip. IMO if you have to go to the top of the monitor, find the tab thing, then drag the slider along till you find your window, it is much less counter productive than 2 virtual desktops (ex Linux) with hotkey activation, or just forking the cash for a monitor/TV. And I second the horrible wallpaper, the lack of "where do you want to install to?", and the use of IE for widgets/other items.
:down: Not for me