split-windows-redesign

Registered by Maliktunga

This blueprint has been superseded. See the newer blueprint "Tiled Window Management" for updated plans.

I've got this simple idea for windows resizing while working on a Google Docs document and wanting to visit Wikipedia at the same time in a small pane.

The current issue is that when we drag a window to the right or left edge (Windows+Ctrl+Left or Right arrow), it becomes half-sized at that side, but we can't resize that window thereafter (edge dragging doesn't work at this moment). It neither works when two half-sized windows are at either sides of the display.

Here's my solution for two use cases.

1. When one window is half-sized, make horizontal dragging possible toward the opposite side the windows is placed.

2. When two half-sized windows are placed side by side, neither of them should shadow the other, since in fact when it's placed like that, it's because we want to use both at the same time. The adjacent edges in the center would be magnetic, meaning that they would drag at the same time. By example, the two windows could be dragged so one window would take up take up ¼ of the width and the other one would take up ¾ of the width.

Basically, case 2 would work just like Windows 8's "Snap" feature, but with total freedom on the proportions. It's then based more on Chrome OS, even though I never really tried the feature myself.

Let me show you a usage example. Let's pretend that I'm working on a Google Docs essay about elementary and in the meantime, I need to get information from the OS' Wikipedia page. I then put two windows side-by-side so I can read the page and write my essay without interrupting my workflow (by switching tabs). Although, since I have a relatively low resolution of 1280 x 800, The half-sized Google Docs window doesn't show the whole page width, and having to scroll horizontally is a burden. So, I drag the window edges that are on the center of the screen so the Google Docs takes a comfy ¾ of the display's width and the Wikipedia automatically takes the remaining ¼. Since it's now the Wikipedia window that's not wide enough, I simply use the Mobile Web version of the website. Voilà! Now I can comfortably continue my essay while reading the Wikipedia Mobile page.

[Wikipedia isn't really an accepted source, but that's another subject]

Thanks for your attention!

Blueprint information

Status:
Complete
Approver:
None
Priority:
Undefined
Drafter:
None
Direction:
Needs approval
Assignee:
None
Definition:
Superseded
Series goal:
None
Implementation:
Unknown
Milestone target:
None
Completed by
Fabian Thoma

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The idea you are describing explains exactly what we want to achieve by tiled window management. So I'm marking this superseded by that. ~fabianthoma

(?)

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