"Window Nudge" Utility?

I have applications where it helps a lot to have several windows aligned
and sized "Just So"....

That operation is quite tedious using the mouse.

A utility could make a big diff:

- Fire up the utility

- Utility automagically senses which window is selected

- Arrow keys move the window 1 pixel

- Arrow/Shift keys size the window 1 pixel.


Or, better yet, have the utility run as an auto-started service which
allows the user to assign whatever key combinations they want to
nudge/size windows.... so it's always available.

It's too obvious.... either there is some system limitation that makes
it impossible or there are a half-dozen of such utilities out there
already....

Which is it?
--
Pete Cresswell

On 9/30/2015 8:37 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
I have applications where it helps a lot to have several windows aligned
and sized "Just So"....

That operation is quite tedious using the mouse.

A utility could make a big diff:

- Fire up the utility

- Utility automagically senses which window is selected

- Arrow keys move the window 1 pixel

- Arrow/Shift keys size the window 1 pixel.


Or, better yet, have the utility run as an auto-started service which
allows the user to assign whatever key combinations they want to
nudge/size windows.... so it's always available.

It's too obvious.... either there is some system limitation that makes
it impossible or there are a half-dozen of such utilities out there
already....

Which is it?


Select the window you want to move. Make sure it isn't maximized. Press
Alt-Spacebar and select Move. Now you can position the window with the
arrow keys. It moves the window in increments greater than one pixel but
you can get finer movement increments by holding down the Ctrl key while
using the arrow keys. Just don't bump the mouse while doing this because
in this 'move' mode, any movement of the mouse moves the window too.
When the window is where you want it, press Enter.

Per Tim Rude:
Select the window you want to move. Make sure it isn't maximized. Press
Alt-Spacebar and select Move. Now you can position the window with the
arrow keys. It moves the window in increments greater than one pixel but
you can get finer movement increments by holding down the Ctrl key while
using the arrow keys. Just don't bump the mouse while doing this because
in this 'move' mode, any movement of the mouse moves the window too.
When the window is where you want it, press Enter.

Works, but it's a lot of keystrokes when hopping back and forth between
sizing and positioning.

Found this: https://sites.google.com/site/zestant2/resizer

Once it's loaded:

Win+Ctl+Shift+Arrow = ReSize by the pixel

Win+Shift+Arrow = Move by the pixel

Without Shift, increments are greater

Seems tb the optimal solution.
--
Pete Cresswell

Tim Rude wrote:
On 9/30/2015 8:37 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
I have applications where it helps a lot to have several windows
aligned and sized "Just So"....

That operation is quite tedious using the mouse.

A utility could make a big diff:

- Fire up the utility

- Utility automagically senses which window is selected

- Arrow keys move the window 1 pixel

- Arrow/Shift keys size the window 1 pixel.


Or, better yet, have the utility run as an auto-started service which
allows the user to assign whatever key combinations they want to
nudge/size windows.... so it's always available.

It's too obvious.... either there is some system limitation that
makes it impossible or there are a half-dozen of such utilities out
there already....

Which is it?


Select the window you want to move. Make sure it isn't maximized.
Press Alt-Spacebar and select Move. Now you can position the window
with the arrow keys. It moves the window in increments greater than
one pixel but you can get finer movement increments by holding down
the Ctrl key while using the arrow keys. Just don't bump the mouse
while doing this because in this 'move' mode, any movement of the
mouse moves the window too. When the window is where you want it,
press Enter.

Hey, that's handy!! Thanks.

PeteCresswell wrote:

I have applications where it helps a lot to have several windows aligned
and sized "Just So"....

That operation is quite tedious using the mouse.

A utility could make a big diff:

- Fire up the utility

- Utility automagically senses which window is selected

- Arrow keys move the window 1 pixel

- Arrow/Shift keys size the window 1 pixel.

Or, better yet, have the utility run as an auto-started service which
allows the user to assign whatever key combinations they want to
nudge/size windows.... so it's always available.

It's too obvious.... either there is some system limitation that makes
it impossible or there are a half-dozen of such utilities out there
already....

Which is it?

Why bother moving around the window just to make sure it has focus? Why
not use the X-mouse feature available in Windows where hovering the
mouse over a window brings it to the top and gives it focus?

Control Panel
\_ Ease of Access
\_ Ease of Access Center
\_ Make the mouse easier to use
"Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse": Enable

As for moving the window around using the keyboard, that has existed
since back in Windows 95. For the window that has focus, bring up its
control menu (Ctrl+Spacebar), select Move (M), and use the arrow keys to
move the window up, down, left, or right.

PeteCresswell wrote:

Per Tim Rude:

Select the window you want to move. Make sure it isn't maximized.
Press Alt-Spacebar and select Move. Now you can position the window
with the arrow keys. It moves the window in increments greater than
one pixel but you can get finer movement increments by holding down
the Ctrl key while using the arrow keys. Just don't bump the mouse
while doing this because in this 'move' mode, any movement of the
mouse moves the window too. When the window is where you want it,
press Enter.

Works, but it's a lot of keystrokes when hopping back and forth
between sizing and positioning.
Found this: https://sites.google.com/site/zestant2/resizer
Once it's loaded:

Win+Ctl+Shift+Arrow = ReSize by the pixel
\___________/
\__ Alt+Spacebar, S

Just 1 added keystroke in the Windows-provided size control. The next
arrow key selects which edge of the window you move to resize the
window. The 3rd party software would have to do the same; else, how
would you select which side of the window to move?


Win+Shift+Arrow = Move by the pixel
\_______/
\__ Alt+Spacebar, M

Just 1 added keystroke in the Windows-provided move control. You still
have to use the arrow keys for both so no keytsroke savings there.

Without Shift, increments are greater

Windows works the opposite and assumes larger size/move increments by
default but, as Tim pointed out, you can use Ctrl+arrowkey to change to
much smaller increments. There is not "a lot of keystrokes" to use the
Windows inbuilt size/move controls. Windows includes the controls you
want with 1 additional key but only when initially triggering the
size/move action.

Why throw more software when there is an existing solution in Windows?
The resizer program was last updated in Nov 2006. That's pretty old.
Windows 7 wasn't released until 2 years later.

If you are constantly resizing and repositioning windows when opening
them, doesn't sound like a sizing/moving control is what you need.
Looks like you need a window management utility that will control where
and how big are windows when you open them. Sorry, haven't looked into
those.

In message , Stormin' Norman
writes:
On Wed, 30 Sep 2015 08:59:12 -0500, Tim Rude
wrote:
[]
Select the window you want to move. Make sure it isn't maximized. Press
Alt-Spacebar and select Move. Now you can position the window with the
arrow keys. It moves the window in increments greater than one pixel but
you can get finer movement increments by holding down the Ctrl key while
using the arrow keys. Just don't bump the mouse while doing this because
in this 'move' mode, any movement of the mouse moves the window too.
When the window is where you want it, press Enter.

Son-of-a-gun, never knew that, great tip! Thanks!

It's one of those things that's left over since Windows 3.1 (or possibly
earlier) that isn't known about by many! (I didn't know - or had
forgotten - about Ctrl giving finer control. I think that _is_ one
pixel.) Since you're going to be using the keyboard anyway, you can of
course select Move or Size with the M or S key, rather than the mouse.

Clicking the top LEFT of a window (where there's usually an icon) will
also bring it up, though I too tend to use alt-space rather than the
mouse, but then I'm a keyboard junkie. I also find alt-space C easier -
even though it is two actions and three keys rather than one action and
two keys - than Alt-F4 (or mousing) to close, and Alt-space X, N, or
Enter easier than mousing to maximise, minimise, or restore.

Oh, if you're using the Size part: after selecting Size, the first press
of an arrow key determines which edge you're moving.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

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thinking of ways to harm out country and our people. And neither do we. - George
W Bush, quoted by Rory Bremner in Radio Times, 10-16 January 2009