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

Sorry if this is a repeat but is there a reason nobody from Apple is paying attention to this thread?

simoneisner wrote:

 

Sorry if this is a repeat but is there a reason nobody from Apple is paying attention to this thread?

Because this is an Apple users thread, no-one from Apple is here (officially anyway) if you want to address Apple directly, go here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/mail.html

A number of us have submitted feedback -- they might be listening -- we'll have to wait and see until the GM of Mountain Lion comes out to see if they really are or not.  But in general, Apple does not care what people on these forums think nor do they actively monitor them.  They are basically just for users to help each other; nothing more.

I'm glad to see a 50% fix for Mission Control - Re: Can I get Snow's Spaces back? Among others...

the guy i originally linked to had someone bring your same concern to him, NiqueXyZ.  This is what he found.  Read the corresponding replies to the tweet... https://twitter.com/am4d_/status/212662889159458817

Just what I feared....  Meh.  I've already said MC is a far bigger prob for me than this concern with full screen apps....

I'm still holding out hope Norrin

As it is right now, ML DP4 is *exactly* the same as Lion regarding running apps in full screen mode, mission control, and multi-monitor behavior.

"Go full screen on any monitor" was specifically touted at WWDC in the slideshow as one of the over 200 *new* features in Mountain Lion -- so there has to be _something_ different...otherwise it would not be a "new" feature.

http://52tiger.net/wwdc-2012-keynote-the-summary-slides/

Every other feature listed on that slide is also NOT in Lion -- they're all actual new features, as far as I can tell.

So my official stance at this point is that they're going to put it in the GM.

I could be wrong, but I don't think so

Either way we will find out in a few weeks -- everyone hold a good thought...

EDIT:

Also keep in mind there are other new features that they mentioned would be in ML for sure that have been left out of the DPs thus far...the facebook integration thing is a huge one.  So although Lion's DP4 didn't change much from the GM, I'm thinking ML will and I think that's more evidence leaning towards Apple putting  SmokeMonster's suggestion \ implementation regarding multi display behavior and full screen apps.

I guess the "go full screen on any monitor" all depends on whether they're still stuck on the "our users only use one app at a time" paradigm. If so, the feature likely means that you can choose which monitor the app moves to in full-screen mode (blanking the others). It would be lovely, though, if our hopes come to fruition and you can go full-screen for apps on as many monitors as you have, obviously not blanking other displays in the process.

That'd be a huge win in the end. Alas, it doesn't help my mid-2007 MacBook, which effectively EOLs at Lion. That means I'd better start counting my beans for a new MBPR running ML (assuming the best comes to pass).

Oh, well.

"If so, the feature likely means that you can choose which monitor the app moves to in full-screen mode (blanking the others). "

Lion already does this -- that would not be a new feature.

NiqueXyZ wrote:

 

"If so, the feature likely means that you can choose which monitor the app moves to in full-screen mode (blanking the others). "

 

Lion already does this -- that would not be a new feature.

Actually, Lion (in my experience) always goes full-screen on the primary display. You can drag your menu bar wherever you like, but it's still always full-screen on the primary display. So, I take the sentence you quoted above to mean something else. What I wrote above would mean that you could choose, say, to have Safari go full-screen on your secondary display, but specify that iTunes go full-screen on your primary display, with the blanking behaviour (unfortunately) remaining the same. That, to me, is being able to choose full screen for any monitor.

I don't understand, Trane.

Lets say you have a MB Air, with an external monitor.

So you've got two displays, display 1 (internal laptop display), and display 2.

If I open safari, it opens on display 1 and is windowed, not full screen.

If I drag it to display 2, and I hit the full screen button, it goes full screen on display 2 -- NOT display 1.

Alternatively, if I un-full screen it and drag it to display 1, and then hit the full screen button, it goes full screen on display 1....that to me, means "go full screen on any display"

NiqueXyZ wrote:

 

I don't understand, Trane.

Lets say you have a MB Air, with an external monitor.

So you've got two displays, display 1 (internal laptop display), and display 2.

If I open safari, it opens on display 1 and is windowed, not full screen.

If I drag it to display 2, and I hit the full screen button, it goes full screen on display 2 -- NOT display 1.

Alternatively, if I un-full screen it and drag it to display 1, and then hit the full screen button, it goes full screen on display 1....that to me, means "go full screen on any display"

Just to help me understand...

So when you go "Full Screen" on display #1 then display #2 goes blank?

Similarly, when you go "Full Screen" on display #2 then display #1 goes blank?

Correctamundo.

I suppose going full-screen on the same monitor is close. It still wasn't quite what I meant.

As an example, I have iTunes always running on my primary desktop, which is the LCD on my MacBook. When I watch a movie at home, I like it on my 23" Acer secondary display. iTunes automatically goes full screen with the movie until I window it and then it remembers, "Oh, yeah! He watches on the other display," and it moves over. Then I can full screen it and carry on. So, again, what I meant is configurable settings for which monitor on which to go full screen, irrespective of which monitor it may be running in windowed mode.

If Apple's fix is to go full screen on the monitor on which the app resides, that's okay as long as the 28 pages of whinging worth of linen is dispensed with in the process. The issue of configurability is important, I think, for any apps that are designed to always run in full-screen mode, e.g., Front Row on Snow Leopard. For those, always full screen on the primary display *****. For these, dragging my menu bar to a display that is not in line with my keyboard/mouse is an annoyance, not a feature.

I see what you're saying -- it acts as described by you due to the automatic window organization in the new spaces.

However, you can still manually use mission control and drag the app to another virtual desktop (this is what I do hence I never have seen the behavior you have described before), and then it will always go full screen on that desktop -- so it is actually configurable already, you just have to drag the window over using mission control.

I actually pre-set up my own "spaces" in mission control myself -- I never let the automated stuff do anything, and to be honest I wish there was just an option to turn it off.  I like keeping the windows where I want to keep them basically

I honestly don't see how they could fix that or make it customizable -- they made it "automatic" for a reason; even if it's a pretty stupid reason and fails completely at what it does.

Here's hoping they will implement Smoke Monster's suggestion, as I believe it is the best possible solution to this problem

I know this isn't a complete workaround but I noticed that many of you are wanting to play fullscreen video on your second screen. If you open a video file with VLC and tweak the preferences you can still accomplish this. Simply open the "Video" preferences tab in VLC and uncheck the box next to the option "Black screens in Fullscreen mode." This then gives you the functionality you have been missing. Also, if you want to change which screen the fullscreen video displays on simply click "Video" in the menu bar and hover on "Full Screen Video Device." Changing "Screen 1" or "Screen 2" will pop your fullscreen video to that respective screen. I can't wait until Apple fixes this problem for all applications hopefully in the next release canidate for Mac OS X.

Let Apple know how you feel about it here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html