Dual monitors and fullscreen fiasco, is there a work around?

Ok, I did some research, and you are correct assuming using modern os and modern graphics cards with loads of memory and opengl optimizations have been setup to mitigate the concerns I had.

I never had such hardware and stopped using Windows after XP.

I think this article explains the concerns also

http://hacksoflife.blogspot.com/2009/12/full-screen-or-windowed-mode.html

It discusses the game x-plane and why they don't use fullscreen mode, but rather full-window mode.

It does say fullscreen is faster though (obvious really as it's doing less) , although not as dramatic as I was thinking.

I have no idea whether fullscreen on a Mac is using the window manager or not. I was guessing as it seems a waste of time to use the window manager when there is only ever 1 window, and it does seem faster to me

Thank you for attempting to totally change the subject about Lions dual monitor fiasco. The fact that you cannot use both screens with two different applications is crazy Greencard please dismiss yourself. This thread is going to talk about one thing and one thing only FIX THE DUAL SCREEN ISSUE.

Chill out man -- I found the information quite interesting.

It's relevant.

NiqueXyZ wrote:

That's an awesome solution...I don't think they'll do it but it's still awesome and honestly how I expected Lion to act to begin with.

Why don't you think they would do it? I too thought they would do it like this, almost seems like a no brainer, right?

and about the other thing I think the main complaint is he's spitting off windows stuff and falsities , like "macs should be more like windows" stuff to us like we're on an open forum. this is an apple forum with mac users. Chances are most mac users were once PC users, hence the bitter distrust and hate. No biggy. 😎

I don't think they'll do it because the way it is now was a deliberate design decision -- mission control IS aware of multiple monitors (you can see it when you activate it), it's just that one virtual space spans across multiple monitors -- for whatever reason, they thought this would be the "right" way to do things, even though that in the REAL PHYSICAL world, those are TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SPACES -- and when you try to tell apple that they're wrong, they will either ignore you, or if enough people complain, they will hold a stupid "event" and give away free stuff (antennagate ;p) -- I know I'm being calous and sarcastic..sorry, long day.

Maybe they'll change it -- the diagram is a nice touch -- maybe someone from apple will actually look at your suggestion and read this and other threads talking about the problem. But on the other hand..

Then there's other opinions out there that differ and say that the way full screen apps work now is better than how it was before:

http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/11/multiple-displays-full-screen-apps-mac-os-x-lion/

They claim that the fact you can drag an app's widgets \ panels onto the blacked out monitors areas as being the way that this is "supposed" to work -- but what widgets and panels does quick time have? The stupid play \ pause \ timeline bar? I think this only applies to programs that actually have components like that -- and anyways, I'd much rather drag them onto another monitor with other stuff on it so I can multitask, not drag it on to a black space ^_^

This is how I've worked using photoshop for years -- I drag the history window on to a second monitor and all the other little tool windows too...and then maybe I'll also keep a browser on that display as well as an IM client.

I think the whole full screen app mode is just a bad idea in general -- the stupid transition effect takes a few extra seconds to put the app into full screen "mode" and plus some times you will see the top menu bar flicker when using mission control...but -- I can see how it would be useful for some apps...That's why I think your idea is probably the best -- keep it how it is by default but add the option for others who don't want it that way to unlink multiple displays in mission control.

I have solved this issue, which I mentioned on page 4 of this thread.

Here's a video...

http://www.mikemargolis.com/2mon.mov

it's only 2.5mb, I made it low resolution but you'll get the picture.

MikeMargolis YOU ARE NOT EVEN IN FULL SCREEN MODE?!?!?

You are not even remotely close to what we are talking about

if you dont see this on your second screen you need to stop posting

your issue is that your screens are not orianted correctly thats very clear...

GO here

Well thank you for the very warm welcome, Dear Mr. UnixToy.

I don't know what full screen mode is, all I know is that I could not get Mail on one screen and Excel on the other. Called Support and they were lost. I was told it was not possible in Lion. Really. I figured it out and thought I'd share my answer.

If my answer is not to your problem, why don't you be quiet and move on to the next post? Hopefully I'll help somebody out there.

And actually, my screens are oriented correctly (not "orianted") so you can see my mouse go where it is supposed to from screen to screen.

Have a lovely day.

I can't think of anything that I haven't raised a stink about that apple eventually hasn't put into their os or resolved, current issue excluded of course.

In general, apple is pretty good with answering a demand for something useful and where they fall short usually third part applications usually pick up the slack. And with how many people seem to be on the exact same page as me (and you!) we could figure that at least 100 more people feel that way each (maybe more but I don't want to sound astronomical).

Apple didn't get where it is today by ignoring their users. Just saying, I know this will sound fanboy esque but on the contrary, you have to fight and scape for something to happen, but something happens!

I have the same problem,

you just can't use fullscreen with dual monitor...

thats really annoying!!

Adding another voice here that 'full screen' means 'full screen' and not "I only want to view one of my monitors right now'

At least make seperate API calls available in the implementation so the application can determine whether to make it more like a 'presentation' (blank the other screens with the texture) or whether the application just goes full screen and still allows the use of alternative displays.

Aside from 'save a version'... 'full screen' is the second worst Lion feature (excluding lion server)

I too am one for the "Unlink spaces when using multiple displays" option. its the way spaces should have allways worked. I like to use my main monitor with one space only, but would love to have several spaces on my secondary display, I was expecting to see it in Snow Leopard, and now Lion seems a step back. Im glad to see someone has brought it up while we were on the subject of multiple displays. It is quite obvious that Lion was designed with notebooks in mind.

As for the original discussion, there should be a seperate option that would not blank-out, or put a pattern on any other displays when running apps in full-screen mode, something like a "Full-screen per display" option.

Be sure to send feedback to apple so they know how you think they can improve their OS http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

I did. Thank you for your posts, TheSmokeMonster, let's all keep banging on Apple's door about the lack of a properly working full screen functionality.

Well done, your diagram and your explanation. Sounds very logical to me to first hover with the pointer over the screen that you want to be affected and then choose a Space.

This would definitely work for me. I have 3 preset buttons on my keyboard to switch between 3 different Spaces that I use. It would even work out well with the swipe gesture on a pad.

The best solution I have found is to make the external display's background solid black by going to system preferences>desktop&screensaver choosing Solid Colors then Custom Color and dragging the white to black selector on the right side of the colors pane (which will show up on the primary display) all the way down to solid black.

Then with a solid black background, size your quicktime video to the edges, but don't fullscreen. With the latest quicktime there is no border and will look essentially like fullscreen video, then you can still use the primary display for whatever else you'd like.

Apple should just fix the problem, but in the meantime this works pretty well.