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

Hi,

I had the exact same problem today, had been out and gotten my first HDMI cabel and looked forward to see a film and also do some work. I'm using VLC and finally found the solution.

In VLC->Preferences->Video. Uncheck "Black screens in fullscreen mode"

Well, this solved it for VLC, but using Safari in fullscreenmode and still watch the TV is a big nono, this is really bad! Luckily I got win7 with bootcamp so I can do everything that apple can't bother to fix.

Cheers

Howdy,

I just upgraded my Mac Pro 3,1 with Lion (coming from Leopard).

I'm using a Slingbox a lot and freaked out when I dragged the Safari window over to my second screen (which is a 46" flat screen TV) and hit "fullscreen". It moved the fullscreen picture back to the primary display (which is a 23" Cinema Display). I couldn't make it work to play fullscreen on my TV other than making it the primary display (but that also means no realistic work possible on the Cinema Display due to the lack of dock and menu bar) or synchronize displays (which also negates the productivity question).

At least I was able to work Lion around the nonsense with leaving one display useless while watching fullscreen movies on iTunes or Quicktime (X):

I plugged the old HD with Leopard in and just copied Quicktime 7 (7.7 to be specific) from the old application folder into the new one in Lion. Using this setup fullscreen on the TV works just as expected while the primary display can be used to do whatever...

I'm still mad about Safari moving a fullscreen Slingbox picture back to the primary screen. You've gotta been kidding me?!

Cheers,

Ritchey

Running the latest macbook air 11" hooked up to a TV via mini-DVI to HMDI adapter, and have the same problem. I was about to buy the thunderbolt screen but am really glad I tried this first, cause now it seems like it's not as usable as I'd have thought.

now im sure Apple dont fix that Problem ever! Im very sad!

me too. this needs to be fixed

I'm just popping in here to make sure people are also voicing this opinion to apple at: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

thx. just did that! let's hope for 10.7.3

gerbsen,

I think they're going to focus on the major bugs first so don't be discouraged if we don't see any change in the next build. However, get whoever you know to also fill in that form!

If you look in the past posts I made a layout of how I think it should have been since day one.

This feature made for power users (spaces) never played nice with multiple monitors and now they are completely neglected with fullscreen apps.

I basically suggest to separate mission control between each monitor and so someone can virtually run as many fullscreen apps as they have monitors. and swiping between spaces doesn't mean moving all the monitors, just the monitor you're on.

one could code on one screen and check the code on four different fullscreen browsers in the other; swiping through them without disturbing the display with the code editor on it.

Of course make your own statement.

I focused on money (support for more displays has the potential for people to buy a Cinema display or thunderbolt) and I also talked about workflow. Not everyone with three monitors wants all three monitors to change when they change spaces.

I've learned to adjust, one app is ontop of the other an I use app switcher (cmd tab) to navigate through them. It works for me. Fullscreen apps looks useful for very small screen to optimize the most out of it (11" MBA). The root of the problem is how Mission control takes control of ALL the screens at once in my opinion.

This "feature" is embarrassing. Months after installing Lion i still regred it.

Hi all.  Fullscreen in Lion works well for me.  I just set up multiple desktops using the "plus" button in Mission control (top right).  Drag apps onto desktops.  Just use the "+" button to set the size.  Don't use Fullscreen mode. The apps work exactly the same as in Snow Leopard in terms of screen display. Just now there are several nice swipe gestures to change desktops/apps. 

Use fullscreen only on your laptop to take full control of the small screen.  It's also great on my older iMac which has 1 monitor only.

This of course doesn't solve the issue with playing QT video fullscreen, but it's great for woring in XCode, web browsing, iWorking, stuff like that.

I think I am the only person in the world that uses multiple monitors and likes this new feature!  Seems quite well thought through to me, how you can use it both ways.  That's my thoughts anyway - hope it helps someone out there.

"Don't use Fullscreen mode."

Why did they add this feature if we're not supposed to use it?

That's not a good suggestion...sorry.

Plus you say it works well for you but then you say not to use it?

This is laughable...sorry again but it is.

Smoke monster has the right idea -- unlink spaces.

Sorry, you have not understood the post.  You might want to read it more carefully.

Respectfully, when you say "Fullscreen in Lion works well for me" what you describe as working for you is the "green button to maximize the window's size" (nicely described in Mac 101: The FInder).  You are not describing the feature of OS X Lion called "Full-Screen Apps", which is the feature of OS X Lion that many of us who use multiple monitors find comletely unworkable for reasons described clearly and exhaustively above (and elsewhere).

The idea of making an app go full screen using the Full-Screen Apps feature (or fullscreen mode, as opposed to a maximized window size) is indeed neat - it just doesn't work when you have multiple monitors because it renders all but one monitor useless.

I confess to being confused by my initial reading of your post because after you say fullscreen works for you, you then advise readers to use the maximize window button and not to use fullscreen.  However, you do find fullscreen useful when you only have one monitor.

When you say at the end that you use multiple monitors and like the new feature of OS X Lion can you confirm you are talking about using the double arrow in the top-right corner of the app window to go full screen as described in the "Full-Screen Apps" article (images below)?

If you've found a way to use the Full-Screen Apps mode AND have all your monitors working then please post your method.

Thanks for taking the time to write a detailed response, KB.  Yep, I'm talking about both methods - Maximise, and Fullscreen.

I've read posts on this thread saying that people won't upgrade from SL to Lion because of the Fullscreen issue. But this problem can be mostly mitigated by using maximisation and mission control additional desktops. For example, some people I know didn't twig that additional desktops are a replacement for spaces. They didn't even know they existed. Might help a few people to try that one out.  This could be most of the "Workaround" that the thread title calls for.  For a lot of people anyway.

There's definitely a case that multiple fullscreen apps on different monitors could be nice.  It's arguable both ways from a UX perspective.

I guess it's a shame when people diss Lion when it's prefectly good, just becuase the FS thing could have been done differently.  Once file versioning and autosaving saves you a few times, you learn to love Lion.

But this problem can be mostly mitigated by using maximisation and mission control additional desktops. For example, some people I know didn't twig that additional desktops are a replacement for spaces. They didn't even know they existed. Might help a few people to try that one out.  This could be most of the "Workaround" that the thread title calls for.  For a lot of people anyway.

Spaces or multiple desktops have absolutely nothing to do with the problems people are having.  Try watching a video or a DVD full screen on a secondary monitor whilst working on a document on your primary display.   Mission Control or Spaces can't help you to do that. 

Yep, I'm talking about both methods - Maximise, and Fullscreen.

A maximised window is absolutely not the same thing as a full screen display, especially for video applications. If I put a video on the secondary display and that happens to be a 42" television I most certainly don't want a window border and wasted space around my HD movie thanks!

I guess it's a shame when people diss Lion when it's prefectly good, just becuase the FS thing could have been done differently.

It's not just 'done differently' it has fundamentally broken a feature which was very useful to a huge number of people.  The new 'feature' is clearly aimed at laptop users with single displays with no regard whatsoever for anyone with multiple screens.