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

[Todd Zaki Warfel]

On Sep 4, 2007, at 10:51 AM, David Malouf wrote:

> 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.

This is true. I'm a bit of a keyboard monger. So, this is less an  
issue for me, but would be an issue for most Windows users I know who  
migrate. Over the years, I've noticed Windows users tend to be more  
mouse driven, less keyboard shortcut driven. I think there are a  
number of reasons for this. But if you're mouse or menu driven, then  
this is an issue.

> 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.)

Not sure about this one. I think I'd need more context to know what  
you're talking about here.

> 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.

True as well. This is the most annoying thing for me. Doesn't happen  
that often. But the couple of times a year it does happen is  
frustrating enough.

> 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.

Hope this gets better over time as developers start to see the  
increase in dual monitor use.

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

Amen.


Cheers!

Todd Zaki Warfel
President, Design Researcher
Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully.
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