Author Topic: Fullscreen support for multimon  (Read 3512 times)

PouncingPanda

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Fullscreen support for multimon
« on: April 03, 2008, 11:04:18 PM »
Apologies if this has already been discussed, didn't have luck with search.

Fullscreen support doesn't span multiple monitors.  Really unfortunate, the people who buy multiple monitors (like myself) love real-estate and fullscreen is meant to increase that.  Is there any way to specify which monitors fullscreen should span and make it more than one?

jimlangrunner

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Re: Fullscreen support for multimon
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2008, 11:15:52 AM »
Apologies if this has already been discussed, didn't have luck with search.

Fullscreen support doesn't span multiple monitors.  Really unfortunate, the people who buy multiple monitors (like myself) love real-estate and fullscreen is meant to increase that.  Is there any way to specify which monitors fullscreen should span and make it more than one?

I don't know how your system is set up, but it sounds as though you have a pretty "normal" desktop setup, in that each monitor is setup as a separate desktop.  Likely, if you're running Windows, your start menu shows on one monitor only.  Linux would be similar, and OSX would have the menu bar on only one monitor. 

That said, maximizing to one windos is the correct way to maximize.  Note that correct does not imply that every piece of software does it, or that any piece you use behaves that way.  But it is pretty normal.  Personally, I'd hate to have anything span monitors, but I can see how folks might like that to happen. 

So, you might check out your video card driver and see if it offers the option to set up your multiple monitors as one desktop.  My home PC does this, though I don't use that feature.  I tried it and didn't like it, but the option is there if I ever do need it.  (Two wide screens, stitched together, is just too wide).

If that doesn't work, there are some utilities that will help to manage this.  Winsplit revolution (I tried it, didn't like it - http://reptils.free.fr/) does a nice job of helping to manage windows on large monitors, and may help.  Gridmove (http://www.donationcoders.com/jgpaiva/gridmove.html) is supposed to be a little better at handling multiple monitors. 

Finally, Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001076.html) does a great job of talking about multiple & large monitors and the issues we face using them.

Hope that helps in some way.
Jim

Disclaimer - Multiple monitors - yes (at work & at home). No affiliation with any of these products or sites except that I use Slick every day.

PouncingPanda

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Re: Fullscreen support for multimon
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2008, 08:01:31 PM »
Thanks Jimlangrunner.  I think by 'maximize' you are referring to the view->fullscreen display.  Having the option to have it span multiple monitors would be excellent I think if it were an option, having a single desktop span multiple monitors is something I once tried but didn't like either - isn't even an option with my current setup.  Thanks for the tip on the tools, I'll check them out.