[dvdkon]

I find it much worse that so many sites nowadays expect users to have their browsers maximised. Noticed how most books aren't wider than an A5, and how any publications wider than this use relatively narrow columns? Because reasonably narrow text is easier to read.

[Wowfunhappy]

My question is why so many users keep their browsers maximized! I bought a wider monitor so I could comfortably have multiple windows open at once.

And by "wider" I mean from 1024x768 to 1080p, and by "bought" I mean "bought a decade ago".

[dvdkon]

Because once one site starts needing X px, most users will just keep their browser at least X px wide. At some point X became so close to the monitor's resolution that not maximising the window is just extra work. I'm not happy about having to maximise my browser, but I would be less happy about having to scroll horizontally.

There are definitely some people who just maximise everything out of habit, but I don't think there are enough to have created this trend of ultra-wide webpages.

Thankfully modern webpages being responsive at least somewhat fixes this issue, even if many sites still manage to screw this up.

[Wowfunhappy]

No, I actually don't think websites have much of a problem with this. I generally keep my browser around 1,000 pixels wide (more or less depending on what I"m doing), and websites generally work fine. Responsive design helps a lot, as you say.

What surprises me is how many users seem to keep their browsers maximized at all times, particularly on desktop-sized displays! I'm pretty sure I see people doing it more on Windows than on Mac for some reason, which makes me wonder if it's a UI design problem (of the OS, not websites).

[dvdkon]

Interesting. A number of websites don't display correctly for me if I use just half of my 1920 horizontal pixels. Keep in mind that many users still use 1366x768 or similar screens.

As for maximising, Mac OS X never had a conventional one-click maximise button, the green button originally did something like resize the window to an optimal size (IIRC), and now it makes the app fullscreen on a separate "virtual desktop" of sorts. It might well be a habit from the times Windows didn't have Aero Snap.

[mtrower]

> the green button originally did something like resize the window to an optimal size (IIRC)

Indeed, it's called "zoom". Fabulous when it works correctly, and one of my favorite features. You can still get at it with Option-Click (on the green), when the application supports it (not all do). Double-click on titlebar might also work, but I can't really check atm.

[GoblinSlayer]

I do it only for pdf, because pdf is written in small text and the only way to fix it is to zoom the entire thing, but it can't reflow text and zooms like a picture, but browser just reflows text according to its size.

[tpxl]

Because window managers. Windows 7 and before definitely didn't make it obvious how to make a window half a screen, Windows 10 makes it a bit more obvious I think, but you're still limited to 2 windows side by side. Ubuntu's default window manager has the same behaviour as W7 and Lubuntu's doesn't have keybindings for this by default at all.

You can of course resize windows manually but it's tedious compared to a 2 button shortcut, especially having to hunt the 3 pixel wide resize button with wrist issues.