Tian Bai

Here, I’m talking about managing windows, not Windows.  Managing windows under Windows XP.

 

I still remember the time when I coded day and night.  If I didn’t use an IDE, under X Window, I need one console for the editor, one console to compile and debug, one console to edit the config file, one console to generate the test data, one console to run smoke test and check the log……  Luckily, the desktop under X Window seems always big enough, since there are Virtual Desktop Managers available.  I can launch/drag different windows onto different virtual desktops and switch among them quickly using hotkeys.

 

The good news is that there are also similar solutions under Windows XP, while the bad news is that they are not as good.  The Virtual Desktop Manager in PowerToys suite, which should be half-official, sucks in usability.  As always said, if you don’t satisfy the customers, someone else will.  "Deskwin" is the one satisfying me.  It basically has all the features I expected except being able to configure the number of desktops.

 

In windows, generally speaking, the window obtaining the focus (active) must be the one on top, while this is not necessarily true in X Window.  So when working under Windows XP, I often run into the boring situdation that I have to resize the windows and drag them around to avoid overlap, so that I can work on one window yet read information on another.

 

Today, I just discovered a considerate feature of Windows XP to help me out.  Try this:

The windows I want to see are neatly placed by a few clicks.  This feature is important to me, yet I feel sorry that it takes me so long to discover it.  Maybe I’m stupid, but being stupid should not pevent me from discovering a well designed feature, if it’s really well designed.  "No stupid customers, but stupid design".