We already know quite a few details about Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft's upcoming attempt to retain - or grow - its market share in the browser world. Standards and speed are the main focus of IE9, and if a video of the upcoming beta release is anything to go by, they're doing pretty well. Just... Did they just manage to make the interface even less appealing?
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2010-01-21
Matter of taste does also factor into it. I'm very easily distracted, so I use a mix of fullscreening and tiling rather than Exposé-style helter-skelter stacking.
In fact, to ensure I always can, I wrote a simple X11 equivalent to WinSplit Revolution. (Though it's been sitting at "usable but not finished" for months now while I work on other projects)
If I can ever find the time to make them behave more like GTK/Qt than Motif, I plan to switch to a full tiling WM like AwesomeWM or XMonad.
Edited 2010-09-07 19:48 UTC
Member since:2005-06-29
What does the lack of Expose have to do with maximising? People maximise because it's a habit and because many (I actually checked this) find non-maximised windows distracting. It has NOTHING to do with how window manages windows.
If it did, it doesn't explain why people who switch to a Mac STILL maximise their windows - and this time manually, because OS X lacks a maximise button due to thick-headedness.
Member since:2005-11-09
Member since:2010-03-08
There’s just something wrong with seeing a 23" PC screen with IE maximised over the whole thing, the web page sitting in the middle with a vast sea of emptiness either side. I can’t explain exactly how, but Windows just breeds this behaviour where as OS X doesn’t (probably because OS X’s maximise button is completely broken).
I think you just answered your own question, as Thom pointed out too. It's just too much of a hurdle to maximize a window on OSX, so people just get used to life without it.
As to why people like to maximize windows, I bet this has something to do with the need for a deeper web browsing experience (leave the computer and its problems and enter the web) and some concentration issues too. A computer desktop is now much more visually complex than the usual webpage background, since the web moved from the Geocities state to something which is much more usable.
Though you're right, a full-screened web browser on a widescreen monitor is just ridiculous, and can even damage usability when the page is not properly coded.
Edited 2010-09-07 20:19 UTC
Member since:2005-11-09
that is why Windows 7 has edgeification for window sizing now.... Drag to the top, maximize, drag window to the size, half the screen tiled, Grab the bottom edge of the window and drag to the bottom, it maxes height and keeps the width setting.
I hate going to work on XP now.. I keep wanting to drag a window out of the way or maximize it or tile it with a drag.
Member since:2009-03-19
I maximize my browser windows, because there is no reason not to.
When reading an article or a thread in a forum I don't actually need to see anything else on my screen besides the page itself. If I didn't keep my browser maximized, then all the space wasted by whitespace on the page would just be equally wasted by my wallpaper.
Member since:2006-02-15
I maximize my browser windows, because there is no reason not to.
When reading an article or a thread in a forum I don't actually need to see anything else on my screen besides the page itself. If I didn't keep my browser maximized, then all the space wasted by whitespace on the page would just be equally wasted by my wallpaper.
This is mostly the same reason why I maximize them: there is nothing on my desktop that I need to be able to see all the time so I can just as well have the window cover it all and use the space for viewing a webpage instead. There's plenty of pages I view that work fine both on wide browser windows and narrow ones, and I prefer to see it all at once rather than having to scroll up and down.
It's just plain arrogant to claim that only stupid users maximize their windows or that it's because of the window manager's capabilities (or the lack of them.)
Member since:2005-11-15
Member since:2010-03-08
Member since:2007-02-22
Member since:2010-03-08
Actually, believe it or not, this is a good webpage coding practice. Very wide webpages are harder to read for a long time, because you (unconsciously) have to move your eyes more and hence more eyestrain occurs. Therefore, every website with large text content and designed with widescreen in minds should have a reasonable maximum width in milimeters/inches set in its CSSs.
Edited 2010-09-07 20:44 UTC
Member since:2009-08-26
It isn't terrible web page coding, it has more to do with economics.
Ultra wide resolutions are routinely ignored just like IE6 because they are such a small percentage of visitors.
http://gs.statcounter.com/#resolution-na-monthly-200908-201008
Yes I know about relative widths but that won't help fixed content like image files. Even if all images were vector files you would still have all sorts of optimization issues.
Webpages are built around 14-17 inch screens. That's just the reality of the situation and it won't be changing anytime soon. As laptops continue to be favored over desktops the situation will likely get worse. I hate browsing on ultra-wide monitors for this very reason.
I have actually found that I am more productive on a smaller monitor due to less eye strain from the reduced amount of glare. If I work all day on a 23" monitor my eyeballs feel like they sat through a dozen movies.
Edited 2010-09-08 01:28 UTC
"So in summary... Google has pulled the plug on support on a protocol they've helped popularize, after years of promising interoperability, for reasons that are dubious at best, and in a way that leaves people who don't jump to the new Hangouts app unable to talk to their contacts without any feedback that their IMs aren't getting through... And they've done that with no warning to anyone. I imagine there's a bunch of people out there wondering where some of their buddies have gone, or why their messages aren't getting responses, because this isn't documented anywhere." Google really messed this up. Such a dick move.
The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently."In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies."The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Member since:
2005-11-10
Because in Windows, without Exposé, the simplest solution is to just maximise everything and use the taskbar / alt-tab. But in OS X I never maximise anything, my browser stays at 1024x768 and I move it around the screen. I have no need to maximise it.
There’s just something wrong with seeing a 23" PC screen with IE maximised over the whole thing, the web page sitting in the middle with a vast sea of emptiness either side. I can’t explain exactly how, but Windows just breeds this behaviour where as OS X doesn’t (probably because OS X’s maximise button is completely broken).