Hacker News Reader

Comment by lkdjjdjjjdskjd | Hacker News Reader

I rarely ever see my desktop, because apps are usually maximized. Doesn't everybody do that? What kind of apps did people use back in the day when desktops weren't hidden all the time?

Maybe the idea was to occasionally quit apps and open other ones, not to keep them all open at the same time?

View on HN

Not sure about back in the day, but what I use is one or more terminal windows at 80 chars width, so that's rarely more than 50% of the screen. I regularly use only one large app, the browser, but I don't keep it maximized if I don't need it, because then it's just visual noise.

Sometimes I'll find myself feeling cluttered and confused while working, and I'll minimize or close everything, and reopen only the stuff I need at that time, and a feeling of ease will wash over, a bit like exhaling after holding your breath.

I'm coming off peculiarly sensitive to distraction, because it's true. I wouldn't say I'm ADD, but I'd definitely say that as far as I can tell the casual stimuli bombardmant affects me more than most people I encounter. At the same time, I think that these days everyone is susceptible to sensory overexcitation.

Zoomed, not maximized. Windows are sized only as large as they need to be. You can drag and drop between windows/apps, for example dragging to the trash can on the desktop. I think full screen is excellent for a few consumer apps like presentation/slide show, watching shows/movies and playing games. It's definitely a preference as I don't like tabs/MDI, snapping windows, and windows that consume screen space.

> What kind of apps did people use back in the day when desktops weren't hidden all the time?

Emacs to the left and one xterm window in the bottom right corner.

... with xclock top center.

Well with your live stats and feed plugin running transparently over the desktop and Winamp taking up non-rectangular space, it was critical to consider a desktop peeking through.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com