Multiple monitors: Browser on second screen

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Sordid
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Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:23 pm

Multiple monitors: Browser on second screen

Post by Sordid »

So XnView can display a fullscreen view of an image on one monitor and the browser on the other. That's great! Only it displays the browser on the crisp new primary monitor and the picture on the shitty old secondary. Not so great. Any way to reverse that? (other than setting the old one as my primary, which I'm not going to do)
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xnview
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Re: Multiple monitors

Post by xnview »

Sordid wrote:So XnView can display a fullscreen view of an image on one monitor and the browser on the other. That's great! Only it displays the browser on the crisp new primary monitor and the picture on the shitty old secondary. Not so great. Any way to reverse that? (other than setting the old one as my primary, which I'm not going to do)
If you put browser on the second, the fullscreen will be on the first
Pierre.
Sordid
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Re: Multiple monitors

Post by Sordid »

xnview wrote:If you put browser on the second, the fullscreen will be on the first
Yes, of course I can move them manually. That's another thing I don't want to do. Forgot to mention that, thought it was obvious. Sorry. Thanks for your time, though. I do appreciate your help.
Here's what I want it to do: When I run XnView, I want the browser to come up on the primary monitor. When I switch to fullscreen, I want the picture displayed on the primary and the browser moved to the secondary. When I doubleclick a file in Windows, I want XnView to open it in fullscreen on the primary and display the browser on the secondary. When I switch away from fullscreen, I want the browser to move back to the primary. See what I mean? How can I do that?
pic_viewer
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Re: Multiple monitors

Post by pic_viewer »

Well, seeing the incredible low prices of good quality monitors with really big sizes and resolutions, I would like to state the obvious: If you are into pictures/photos/graphics, buy a new monitor now - problem solved. Or Pierre just waits 6 months...then you will have a new one anyway... ;-)
Sordid
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Re: Multiple monitors

Post by Sordid »

pic_viewer wrote:Well, seeing the incredible low prices of good quality monitors with really big sizes and resolutions, I would like to state the obvious: If you are into pictures/photos/graphics, buy a new monitor now - problem solved. Or Pierre just waits 6 months...then you will have a new one anyway... ;-)
Didn't I say I just did that? See, the computer and its software are my tools. My slaves, even. They exist to serve me, not the other way around. I'm simply not going to blow more money on a monitor I don't need or even really want just to accomodate their quirks.
That's reason enough for me in and of itself, but I would still want XnView to behave as I described even if both my monitors were top notch. Here's how it works now: I open an image in fullscreen. That means I want to look at it. I'm currently looking at my primary monitor. So let's display the fullscreen on the secondary! Yeah, that makes sense...
So now it's my turn to state the obvious: Either the software can do what I want it to do, in which case I'd really appreciate some help setting it up, or I'm getting some other software. It's as simple as that.
Sordid
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Post by Sordid »

I guess I won't be getting any answers here, then? Oh well.
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helmut
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Post by helmut »

Like you, sordid I think that the software should "do the job" whenever possible.

The behaviour you request sounds a bit unusual though:
The browser changes its screen position on opening/closing the fullscreen. This is currently not supported by XnView and would need a special setting.

Woud more users find such a behaviour useful?
Sordid
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Post by Sordid »

See? That's the kind of clear, to-the-point answer I was expecting. "Can't do." Not the answer I wanted to hear, obviously, but at least I know for sure now, so I thank you for it anyway.

Well maybe it is unusual (at least I haven't been able to find any viewer that has such a function), but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be useful. When I open an image in fullscreen, I obviously want to look at it. It makes perfect sense to me to display it on the monitor I'm already looking at. I intuitively expected XnView to behave that way and was completely baffled when it didn't. It's kinda as if, on a single monitor machine, it displayed the fullscreen but kept the browser on top of it, so that you'd have to minimize it to look at the image. It just makes no sense.

If you're interested, I would recommend this episode of Logically Critical: http://www.logicallycritical.net/podcas ... Slaves.mp3 It's basically a rant about the shortcomings of today's computer programs, and I've found it very insifhtful and enlightening in terms of what a program should and shouldn't do. It puts into words what I've long felt but couldn't articulate.
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