Minimum window size is far too wide and tall

[Tina Russell]

Binary package hint: packagekit-gnome

The main window cannot be resized below a size of, by my understanding, 1000x500 pixels. I noticed this because I use a tablet computer which, in portrait mode, has a resolution of 768x1280.

When a window flows outside the screen boundary, and cannot be resized to fit, odd things happen when you try to “maximize” the window. In my experience, Metacity will be confused, changing the “maximize” icon and removing the window’s borders without actually maximizing the window. Compiz will clumsily resize the window to fit the screen, with the right edge flowing off into the next workspace, while arbitrarily (and ineffectively) attempting to show you both ends of the window depending on how you hover your mouse. (The right side is still inaccessible to activity, unless you switch to the workspace that it’s overflowing into.)

I really want to encourage the removal of arbitrary limits on window size. It’s important, for instance, that the EeePC 700/701 has a resolution of only 800x480 (a minimum size of 1000x500 misses in both dimensions!). Also, we never know what devices a new program will be used on, so it’s always good to avoid handicaps that aren’t absolutely necessary.

Thanks for your work on this software! I’m trying it out after the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter call for testing.

[Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor)]

There is now support for small screen devices in the user interface. This will be part of the next version in Ubuntu.