The coding blog of Alastair Smith, a software developer based in Cambridge, UK. Interested in DevOps, Azure, Kubernetes, .NET Core, and VueJS.
In my recent blog post on the Windows 7 beta, I alluded to the new window management features in Windows 7, called Aero Snap.
That second link gives you most of the low-down on what Aero Snap is and what it does, and even how it was designed if that interests you, but I wanted to call your attention to the two main features of Aero Snap, that I think threaten to make single-monitor working almost as productive as multi-monitor working. I say almost only because multi-monitor set-ups provide vastly more screen area to work with; I’ve got into using Aero Snap at home in my single-monitor 20.1” widescreen set-up, and it works well. On a single 24” or 30” screen, I reckon Aero Snap would work just as well as my two 19” monitors at work. Sadly, perhaps, the economics of providing a single large screen over two smaller screens still don’t add up.
The first feature of Aero Snap that I want to call out is side-by-side windows (watch a short demonstration*). At work, I use my two monitors to view multiple things simultaneously: a bug report and the associated class or method, for example. This makes me more productive because I don’t have to constantly flip between the two windows. Sometimes, I have found myself wanting a third screen. Using Aero Snap’s side-by-side windows, I can display two items simultaneously on a single screen. Simply restore the window so that it is not maximised, and drag it to the left or right edge of the screen. Via Aero Peek, you will get an outline preview of the window’s new size and location, snapped to that edge of the screen. Release the mouse button and the window will adopt its new position and shape.
The second feature is vertically-maximised windows (watch a short demonstration*). With widescreen windows becoming more common, it no longer makes complete sense for a window to always and only maximise in both dimensions. For example, when reading a large document or email, your eyes can struggle to follow a line across the entire width of a widescreen window (I speak from experience; I’ve been using my 20.1” widescreen monitor at 1680x1050 for nearly three years now). This is less of an issue with websites, as the visual design of websites tends to mitigate the issue with fixed-width columns, etc. My own blog, for example, limits the width of the content section to 700 pixels on all devices; on my monitor, I have a large pale grey/blue gutter of 3-400 pixels on either side of the main body of the site.
Vertically-maximised windows allow you to get the full benefit of the vertical resolution of your monitor, whilst only consuming a fraction of the horizontal resolution. This saves you from having to scan very long lines of text. To give you an idea of just how long, my monitor is nearly 45cm wide, over twice the width of two sheets of A4 paper. You can vertically-maximise a window by double-clicking the top edge of the title bar (when the cursor changes to a vertical-resize icon), or by vertically-resizing the window to the edge of the screen in either direction.
Aero Snap makes window management much easier in Window 7, and I think it promises to be a widely-used feature. It’s also one of those features that’s such a good idea, it makes you wonder why it hasn’t been implemented in an earlier version of Windows. I also can’t wait to see the RC of Windows 7 (due soon?) and try out the many improvements over the beta.