Arranging windows in Windows using Snap. A couple of tips
It seemed that just a few years ago, when creating Windows 8, Microsoft was close to upending everything we were used to, relying on full-screen applications and a tiled interface. However, years have passed and in Windows 10 the corporation again puts nothing more than windows at the forefront.
Unlike its predecessor, where the window management functionality received virtually no development, Windows 10, as if catching up, is ready to offer a whole arsenal of new functions related to windows in one way or another. Let's take a look at what Microsoft has been working on all this time.
The Snap feature debuted in Windows 7. It allowed a gesture to open windows to fill the entire screen, open them along the vertical axis, and also place them side by side, dividing the screen into two equal parts. The latter, perhaps, turned out to be the most convenient solution, since in two movements it made it possible to quickly create something like a two-panel file manager.
However, time passes, resolutions and display diagonals are growing, and therefore Microsoft is introducing a new feature in Windows 10 called Corner Snap. Thanks to it, you can now position any window exactly on a quarter of the screen. This feature, in turn, allows you to create not only a two-panel manager, but also slightly more specific combinations of windows.
In Windows 7, just “move” the window to the left or right edge and it will open half the screen. However, the option of dividing strictly in half is not always reasonable. In Windows 10, autoscaling supports asymmetrical window layouts. This feature is called Snap Fill. Thanks to it, when scaling one window, the system takes into account the location of another and fills all unoccupied space.
For example, in previous versions of Windows, in the scenario depicted in the screenshot above, the “This PC” window would take up exactly half the screen, leaving part of the desktop visible between itself and the other window.
Windows 8 already did something similar for full-screen applications, but now a similar mechanism is available for desktop mode.
For a long time, the Snap function was only responsible for scaling and snapping windows, but not for arranging them. A new sub-function of the Snap mechanism, called Snap Assist, solves this shortcoming.
Let's say you brought a window to the edge of the screen and thanks to Snap it filled half of it. Now you are looking for another window to do the same thing to. This search typically involves multiple clicks. Thanks to Snap Assist, you can save them: once you snap one window, the others will be automatically arranged on the rest of the screen.
One click on any of the previews and it will immediately take up the free space. The function can also work together with the Corner Snap described above.
This change in Windows 10 can hardly be called an innovation; rather, it is a long-awaited resolution of a controversial issue made in Windows 8. To the “eight”, Microsoft added a whole group of new programs called universal applications, which could only work in full screen mode, by default not even displaying title bar and taskbar.
For owners of tablets with small screens, such programs turned out to be quite convenient, which cannot be said about desktop users. Not all of them liked these “innovations”. In Windows 10 on desktops, all universal applications have learned to work and are launched by default as regular windows.
You can return them to full-screen view by activating tablet mode.
Scrolling inactive windows
In current versions of Windows, the user can only scroll the window that is active. To scroll another window, you must first select it, that is, click on it. In addition to the need to constantly make an extra click, in addition, remember how many times you simply made a mistake when, instead of the window over which the cursor was, when you rotate the mouse wheel, the contents of a completely different window begin to scroll.
In Windows 10, everything became different, as scrolling of inactive windows began to work here. Thanks to it, the window over which the mouse pointer is currently located will scroll.
Updated Alt+Tab interface
The Alt+Tab window switcher is a long-standing Windows feature that Microsoft last paid serious attention to in Windows Vista. Then the Alt+Tab interface received the official name Flip and learned to show visual thumbnails in addition to icons. In Windows 8, this switch looks almost the same as in Vista:
But in Windows 10, the Alt+Tab interface has finally been modernized. First of all, the appearance of the switch has been noticeably redrawn. Instead of tiny thumbnails, which were sometimes difficult to see, large, high-quality previews are now used.
The Alt+Tab interface no longer displays the desktop, so there is a Peek function for this. In addition, close buttons have appeared in the corners of visual previews.
Virtual desktops
After the release of Windows 8, rumors began to spread across the Internet that Microsoft intended to abandon the traditional desktop altogether in the next Windows. In fact, Windows 10 not only retained this basic interface element, but also allowed the user to create virtual desktops.
This function, well known to Linux and OS X users, is designed to group open windows and, accordingly, tasks. Each desktop will contain the same set of icons, but the set of open windows will be different everywhere. For example, you can send everything related to work to one desktop, and entertainment applications to another. Thanks to this innovation, you can organize your work in such a way that unrelated tasks do not form a mess of open windows on your screen.
Task View
Task View is a special interface, closely related to the previous innovation, activated by clicking on the new shortcut of the same name on the taskbar. There are open windows in the upper part, and work tables in the lower part. From this interface you can quickly switch to the desired application or desktop, create desktops and move windows between them.
From a convenience point of view, the new interface is excellent: to see a set of windows on a particular desktop, you just need to hover your mouse over it. In turn, you can move windows from one desktop to another thanks to the Task View mode by simply dragging and dropping.
New life for touchpads
If you have a device or a separate keyboard with a touchpad, then Windows 10 can present another pleasant surprise. Now, like OS X, you can use three- and four-finger touchpad gestures to control windows and virtual desktops.
For example, a three-finger swipe down will minimize all open windows, and a similar swipe up will restore them to their original state. With the help of new multi-finger gestures, you can additionally switch between applications in Alt+Tab mode, call up Task View mode, the Cortana voice assistant and the new notification center.
Multitasking settings
For the first time in Windows OS, a separate section dedicated to managing windows and multitasking appeared in the system settings. True, there are few settings here yet, but for a start this is not bad.
The first setting in the screenshot above will disable all Snap window scaling mechanisms. The second and third separately disable the Snap Fill and Snap Assist functions, respectively. Below are settings that allow you to set the display of windows from inactive desktops on the taskbar and Alt+Tab switch.
Summing up
As you can easily see, there are noticeably more various functions for working with windows in Windows 10 than in its predecessors. Microsoft has finally abandoned the idea of obsessive full-screen on desktops and is again relying on traditional interface elements such as windows and the desktop.
Of course, all of the functionality listed above cannot be called revolutionary. However, these are precisely the small and pleasant little things that will make working on a PC for every user, without exception, a little more convenient.
How often do you use the multitasking menu to close applications you've exited? You may have just done this, or, on the contrary, you are going to do it after reading the material. Many people, on autopilot, quickly swipe across application windows in order to free up treasured megabytes of RAM. But this takes a lot of time. Not even the process itself, but the long loading time of the application when it is launched again. Along with time, some of the convenience of using a smartphone is lost.
What about Android?
By and large, constantly closing applications can harm the performance and lifespan of a smartphone.
Android manages resources quite well (especially in new versions). There is a certain amount of RAM that applications can work with. And applications are not shy about using this. If there is not enough memory for a running program, the OS will close those that have not been used for a long time.
Thus, applications can remain in system memory for several hours, days, or even weeks. And this is good. They don't drain your battery, they don't limit system resources (for the most part). Plus, apps will load much faster when you launch them again, right where you left off. However, this only applies to the usual swipe across applications in the multitasking window.
Many people use Task Killers to increase productivity and lifetime. They do nothing more than unload RAM by closing processes. There are several important points here. Firstly, performance is not affected by this at all, but by the number of processor cycles completed (coupled with the amount of available memory at the time the program is closed). Secondly, “killers” close all applications indiscriminately, using processor resources. Needless to say, this may prevent an alarm or an important reminder from going off. Some applications will open on their own after such an aggressive closing, which, again, “eats” the processor. Of course, after closing all programs, the phone will probably work much better. However, this only happens because out of the whole bunch of applications there were one or more “bad” ones that try to perform some costly maneuvers in the background. In the fight against such programs, Task Killer can come to the rescue, but it is better to remove such pests immediately after detection.
What about iOS?
Since the user on iOS does not have much freedom of action, the only way to close the application (provided there is no Jailbreak) is through the multitasking window. The principle of operation is practically no different from that in Android. There are various applications that can carry out full work in the background, for example a navigator or Skype. In this case, a large colored bar will hang at the top of the screen, reminding you that work is happening in the background.
There are applications that are partially “live”, for example, a music player. However, it works as long as the music is playing. In all other cases, when you press the Home button, the program first “hangs” in the background for some time, after which it simply stops working, but remains in the device’s memory (if you stop listening to music). In the future, the OS itself will decide what to do with it in the event of launching resource-intensive software.
What about Windows Phone? Conclusion
Of course, it’s up to you to decide whether you should get rid of the habit of “closing” or not. This is your device and you are free to do whatever you want with it. And if it seems to you that the phone works better because of all the manipulations done, then so be it.
Clearing buffers and caches in RAM is quite stupid. Imagine a teacher who, instead of writing the entire length of the chalkboard, as soon as he finishes a sentence, immediately erases it and writes AGAIN and AGAIN, starting from the upper left edge of the board. Or imagine: you liked the song. You record it at the beginning of the tape. When you want to record another one, do you write over the first one or after it?
Working with a bunch of apps and files can get quite tedious, but Windows 10 can help you with that. We'll give you 6 multitasking tips that will help you become more productive using Windows 10.
1. Snap
The grab-and-drag gesture is a good way to use your screen more efficiently when you have multiple apps open. To grab a window, simply drag the top of the application window to the side. Snap Assist helps you fit other apps into the empty space on your screen. You can also move applications to any of the four corners by moving the window's title bar to those corners. How to use capture and Snap Assist in Windows 10 is described in the video below.
2.Task View
By sliding the left side of the screen, you can view all open applications and switch between them. This is called Task View mode, and you can enable it in other ways. You can also click the Task View button on the taskbar, or press the Windows+Tab key combination on your keyboard. You can also do this by swiping up on the touchpad with three fingers.
3. Virtual Desktops
If you find Task View useful, you can go even further and use virtual desktops. In Task View mode, you can create a new virtual desktop by clicking the New Desktop button in the lower right corner of the screen. You can also drag and drop applications onto these virtual desktops. This allows you to group applications across multiple desktops. For example, you can put Outlook and Microsoft Edge on Desktop 1, and Netflix and Twitter on Desktop 2. You can see Task View and virtual desktops in action in the video below.
4. Hotkeys
You can see the entire list of required Windows 10 hotkeys, but below are those that relate specifically to multitasking:
Windows+Tab— Open Task View
Alt+Tab- Switching between open applications
Ctrl+Alt+Tab— View open applications
Windows+Arrow— Place the window on the left, right, in the corner, expand, collapse
Windows+Comma— Make it temporarily on top of all windows
Windows+Ctrl+D— Add virtual desktop
Windows+Ctrl+Left or Right Arrow— Switching between virtual desktops
Windows+Home— Minimize all windows except the active one (maximize when clicked again)
Windows+D— Show/hide Desktop
5. Touchpad Gestures
Below are the gestures that specifically relate to multitasking:
1. Go to Task View: Swipe up with three fingers.
2. Show Desktop: Place three fingers on the touchpad and swipe them towards you.
3. Switch between open windows: Place three fingers on the touchpad and swipe left or right.
Watch the instructional video below:
6. Mouse tricks
You can also use the touchpad for this trick, but first go to Settings->Devices->Mouse and touchpad and enable the option “Scroll inactive windows on hover”. This option allows you to scroll other windows on hover, even when they are inactive. For example, this is very useful and convenient when you are typing in Microsoft Word (active window) and at the same time scrolling through a press release in Microsoft Edge (inactive window). The option may already be enabled by default, but it's best to check manually.
We hope these tips help you become more productive on Windows 10. For more tips and tricks posts, visit our.
Developer Eliyah Frederickson has begun open testing of the ReachApp tweak, which implements multi-window multitasking mode on the iPhone. This promising application can be used by all owners of jailbroken devices.
In accordance with the ReachApp concept, smartphones allow you to display two applications on the screen at once. At any time, the user can divide the display into two parts, each of which will contain one task. This could be, for example, an Instagram application and a YouTube client. You can read Twitter and view calendar events at the same time. There are a lot of programs whose users would like to keep several open “windows” in front of their eyes at once in order to perform tasks in parallel.
The sizes of windows can be changed at your discretion - moved up and down or removed from the screen. At the same time, running applications will work, for example, when watching YouTube videos will not stop, you will hear sound and will be able to work while listening to music. It is possible to switch from one window to another at any time and get an instant response.
You can evaluate the concept of multi-window mode for iOS 8 yourself by adding a developer repository to Cydia.
How to set up multi-window multitasking mode on iPhone:
Step 1: Jailbreak your iPhone and iPad using the instructions. Install Cydia by following.
Step 2: Launch Cydia and wait until the repositories are updated.
Step 3: The package is in a separate repository http://elijahandandrew.com/repo/. To add a new source, you need to go to the Sources -> Edit -> Add -> Add section and specify the repository address.
Step 4: Wait for the update and go to the Search tab.
Step 5: Find the ReachApp package and confirm its installation. After respring, you can test multi-window multitasking. If your device does not support Reachability, then you must also install a tweak along with the installation of ReachApp.
Step 6: Set the command to launch Reachability feature using Activator to enable multi-window mode on iOS 8.
Most of you know quite well what multitasking is, but let us remind you that we are talking about the ability to activate a number of tasks in the background, while the user can work with another program or not use the gadget at all. Thanks to this solution, you can quickly switch between applications and receive updated data when returning to programs.
The iPhone 6 developers went further and decided to make multitasking easier for users by offering to activate this function by double-clicking the Home key. As a result, you get the opportunity not only to switch open tabs and applications, but also to make calls and send SMS to the desired numbers. But, unfortunately, not everyone liked this decision, especially those who were used to working in only one program or using the device only as an image means of communication.
Not everyone was able to immediately figure out how to remove the contacts icon from the multitasking window. To do this, go to the “Settings” menu and find the “Mail, addresses, calendars” section. It is there that the “Contacts” item we need and the treasured “Show in Program Switch” switches are located. By pressing a key, you can remove the contacts panel from multitasking mode or, on the contrary, customize it.