After an evaluation, GNOME has moved from Bugzilla to GitLab. Learn more about GitLab.
No new issues can be reported in GNOME Bugzilla anymore.
To report an issue in a GNOME project, go to GNOME GitLab.
Do not go to GNOME Gitlab for: Bluefish, Doxygen, GnuCash, GStreamer, java-gnome, LDTP, NetworkManager, Tomboy.
Bug 106645 - Feature Request - Display window size and position
Feature Request - Display window size and position
Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 85213
Product: metacity
Classification: Other
Component: general
2.4.x
Other Linux
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: Metacity maintainers list
Metacity maintainers list
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2003-02-20 22:15 UTC by Jason A. Pfeil
Modified: 2004-12-22 21:47 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: 2.1/2.2



Description Jason A. Pfeil 2003-02-20 22:15:12 UTC
One window manager feature that I have enjoyed for a very long time and
sorely miss with Metacity is a very helpful one when I need to make sure
that a window is the correct size.

I would like to see Metacity display the position of a window when it is
clicked on, and have it updated as it is moved.  I would also appreciate
(more important than the last request) having the window's dimensions
displayed as the window is resized.

Thanks for a great product!

--Jason
Comment 1 Havoc Pennington 2003-02-20 22:33:33 UTC
note that it does do this for windows with a size grid (like 
gnome-terminal)

There's a closed bug with discussion of doing it in other cases.
Comment 2 Alex Duggan 2003-02-21 00:26:48 UTC
See discussion in bug 85213.
Comment 3 Jason A. Pfeil 2003-02-21 18:14:41 UTC
Thanks for the information.  I would like to see the previous bug
reopened or have this bug be the used for this discussion.  It is
quite helpful to see where a window is positioned and what its
dimensions are for when you do custom layouts of windows, not just for
web development.

In answer to the "geekiness" of that request, then protect it with a
gconf key and turn it off by default.  If we want the GNOME desktop to
be used by power-users and others who would appreciate the additional
possible "geeky" functionality, I don't see any reason not to include
it.  Otherwise, we would lose that potentially large userbase (of
which I and many others I know are members of).

I certainly can't see that it would be *that* difficult to implement
as it has been around for a *long* time in window managers.

Thanks!
Comment 4 Havoc Pennington 2003-02-21 20:14:53 UTC
I need a concrete use-case that isn't totally obscure; I'm not 
sure what "custom layout of windows" is. Can you explain in 
more detail when you are wanting to know the exact position/size 
in pixels?
Comment 5 Jason A. Pfeil 2003-02-21 20:41:09 UTC
By custom layout of windows, I mean that sometimes I like to position
windows on my desktop at certain locations when I log in.  Knowing
where the windows are located and what their dimensions are is
immensely helpful when providing arguments to the -geometry option in
gnome-terminal.

There are many times when I want to know the exact size in pixels of
my web browser window.  When a website indicates that it is best
viewed with certain dimensions, it would be very helpful to be able to
resize a browser to the proper dimensions.

Additionally, whenever I am doing web development myself, I like to be
able to resize my web browser to what I expect my target audience to
use.  Since I use a 1600x1200 desktop and most people have either an
800x600 or 1024x768 desktop, I like to resize my web browser to make
sure that my audience will see things as they should.

I admit that the first case is fairly obscure, as it only relates to
power-users.  Since most people (at least for the forseeable) who use
*nix and GNOME are more than likely power users, I see a benefit to
giving this option to them.  Additionally, it could be touted as a
"cool" feature that can be enabled for people who may not be
power-users but who would like to discover something new that Windows
doesn't offer them.

If you don't want to do it, would there be a problem with someone
coding the change and getting it committed into the metacity tree?

Thanks!
Comment 6 Havoc Pennington 2003-02-21 20:55:10 UTC
I think there are better ways to handle the --geometry case, for
example by just remembering terminal positions (patch on another bug
that works toward this). But saving terminal positions on login should 
already be available via "save current setup" on logout.

For web development I think the comments in the other bug pretty much
cover it.

The issue here isn't writing code (I would expect the patch to be 
trivial and take about 15 minutes), just a matter of whether the WM
has a philosophy of allowing UI micromanagement, and metacity doesn't.
That's why there's a specification for window managers, so you 
can choose one you like. ;-)

I'll add micromanagement when all the other bugs are closed, perhaps. ;-)


*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 85213 ***
Comment 7 Tomas Mraz 2003-05-07 20:44:46 UTC
This is really useful feature for web development. The bookmarklets
don't work well on my mozilla browser. You can even disable the window
size changing to prevent it from malicious or badly designed webpages.