[IxDA Discuss] What's the best Computer for Designers?

[David Malouf]

Hi Todd,

Unfortunately, its been a long while since I've been on my MacBook,
but I have remember having a lot of expectations about how
dual-monitor should and could work and they didn't happen. I think in
my "Shift" article on Ok-Cancel I outlined some issues.

The ones I'm scraping my cranium to remember include:
1. Menus are always in the main monitor and not associated with the
application canvas I'm actually working in.
2. Often I would have palettes in the 2ndary window, but when values
had to be set their dropdowns (or other reveal widgets) would appear
in the primary window. (This had a positive effect of me relying on
keyboard commands more.)
3. Moving from dual to single monitor mode often left some application
windows stuck out of the monitor view never to be grabable or viewable
again.

In the end though I felt that less Mac applications (so this isn't
about the OS but about the eco-system of the OS) didn't consider
dual-monitor support at all in their design.

I think there was an issue with maximizing of windows in the 2nd
window not working many times.

Now that being said there are a ton of issues (some similar some
different) with dual monitor support in Windows.

That said, PPT and Keynote on the Mac take much better advantage of
dual monitors than any equivalent Windows version of those
applications.

-- dave


On 9/4/07, Todd Zaki Warfel <lists at toddwarfel.com> wrote:
>  Hey Dave, can you give some more detail on this? I've been using dual
> monitors on a Mac for a number of years wi/o too many problems. Admittedly,
> there's that rare occasion where it goes into mirror mode when hooking up to
> a foreign display (typically an old projector that doesn't support 1024 or
> higher). So, I can't say it's flawless, but it works far better for me than
> the Windows users I've seen hook into other monitors and projects as it
> automatically detects the 2nd screen and adjusts accordingly.
>
> Mac OS sees the 2nd monitor as an extension of the desktop. How does this
> differ from your expectation, desire, or need?
>
>
> On Aug 30, 2007, at 8:27 PM, David Malouf wrote:
>
>
> One reason to use Windows is that Windows (believe it or not) is FAR
> superior for multi-monitor support. I LOATHE mac support (or lack there of)
> for multiple monitors. The OS just doesn't really consider the 2nd monitor
> as anything as the video output screen or the tools palette's area.
> Stationary menu at the top is not a model that works in multiple or even
> high resolution monitors ... Just ask Fitz!
>
>
> Cheers!
>
> Todd Zaki Warfel
> President, Design Researcher
> Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully.
> ----------------------------------
> Contact Info
> Voice: (215) 825-7423
> Email: todd at messagefirst.com
> AIM: twarfel at mac.com
> Blog: http://toddwarfel.com
> ----------------------------------
> In theory, theory and practice are the same.
> In practice, they are not.
>
>
>


-- 
David Malouf
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