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Iḿ not sure if my question explains what I would like to do so please:

I find myself constantly working with two different applications at the same time and if I want to see them both simultaneously, assuming I only have one physical monitor, I have to manually resize and position both applications in order for them them not to cover each other; then I open a third app and a fourth and the mess starts.

I know I can probably use a different desktop for the first two apps I want simultaneously displayed and manually switch desktops but I would better like to be able to configure my screen so that it will allow me to have two "sub-desktops" active at the same time, displaying simultaneously, at the one physical screen. Then I could open one app in one sub-desktop, and the second one in the second sub-desktop and maximizing any app will cover only the section of its predefined sub-desktop...

  • Is it possible to configure this behaiviour in Unity?
  • Can it be done programmatically maybe? If so, can you point me in the right direction?

I think this could be a nice feature to have for many.

I appreciate your attention.

imind
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1 Answers1

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Last time I checked, in Unity you could drag a window by its title to the left/right edge of screen and have it maximized to only 1/2 of the screen. Also, dragging a window to a corner of the screen would maximize it to only 1/4 of the screen.

There are also keyboard shortcuts which allow you to position windows with keyboard:

Window Placement

If you cycle through the same key Unity will cycle through different placement widths, so experiment by hitting the numkey multiple times, for example Ctrl-Alt-numpad 5 5 5:

  • Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 7 - Place window in top left corner of screen.
  • Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 8 - Place window in top half of screen.
  • Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 9 - Place window in top right corner of screen.
  • Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 5 - Center/Maximize the window in the middle of the screen. In 12.04 this toggles between maximize and restore state
  • Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 1 - Place window in the bottom left corner of the screen.
  • Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 2 - Place window in the bottom half of the screen.
  • Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 3 - Place window in the bottom right corner of the screen.
  • Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 0 - Minimize the current window (Ubuntu 12.04.1).

This would allow you to quickly position windows so they don't overlap, which basically achieves the same as your "sub-desktops" idea.

If you want to go further, then Welcome to the Wonderful World of Tiling Window Managers :) Just google for XMonad for a start.

Community
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Sergey
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  • Thanks for the input. I believe this covers much of what I require except for few things like for example going fullscreen mode with an embedded video, which will actually go full screen. I'll check for XMonad and start from there as you suggested. Cheers. – imind Oct 02 '14 at 21:14