Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Waragainstsleep · Jun 1, 2012, 08:12 AM

Is there a way to stop a second display from changing space when you change space on the primary? I like to put a video player on the secondary display but then I swipe across to my full screen email and the secondary goes blank. Stupid.

Lion still handles multiple displays really badly.

abbaZaba · Jun 1, 2012, 11:12 AM

nope. I am assuming by blank you mean the grey brushed overlay Lion puts on the secondary monitor. there is nothing I have found that "fixes" this. extremely irritating.

Spheric Harlot · Jun 1, 2012, 11:18 AM

I don't know if it was careless phrasing, but Lion's full-screen mode is not intended for use with multiple monitors.

pasquale · Jun 1, 2012, 12:22 PM

Right-click (or control-click...or click and hold) on the video app's dock icon and choose "Options" -> "All Desktops". Also, don't use full screen mode, as it basically renders all your other monitors useless when using that app. Just manually resize the window to fill your second monitor. Spaces and Mission Control work fine for me otherwise.

abbaZaba · Jun 1, 2012, 01:27 PM

get a window resizer like Divvy or Moom. I've been much happier resizing after I got Moom

Waragainstsleep · Jun 1, 2012, 06:22 PM

I wasn't using full screen mode (though it should really be possible), the all desktops option is probably going to cover it, thanks.

driven · Jun 2, 2012, 08:32 AM

Learn something new every day. Good tip here.

abbaZaba · Jun 2, 2012, 10:20 AM

sorry when you mentioned switching spaces, I assumed you were using OS X's fullscreen mode which assigns the fullscreen app a separate space.

if you're using VLC:

VLC doesn't seem to use OS X's built in way of doing fullscreen. the version I have let's you pick which monitor the video goes when you use VLC's fullscreen. it's in the video section of the Advanced preferences. I was tearing my hair out until I found that option.

Waragainstsleep · Jun 2, 2012, 11:46 AM

I was just just using iTunes but it was annoying as hell having it vanish when I wanted to check an email. Defeated the object somewhat.

cgc · Jun 3, 2012, 04:24 AM

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot

I don't know if it was careless phrasing, but Lion's full-screen mode is not intended for use with multiple monitors.

Nobody would ever need more than 640KB or one screen?

Spheric Harlot · Jun 3, 2012, 08:32 AM

Read what i wrote.

Nobody would ever need to use full-screen mode with two monitors. Because, you know, like, which screen?

I don't see anybody complaining that you can't use sleep mode while you're using your computer, or that you can't type a Word document while in Mission Control.

Use stuff what it's intended for.

Waragainstsleep · Jun 3, 2012, 08:46 AM

Why wouldn't I want an app to run full screen on one monitor while I'm doing one or several other things on another? I can think of plenty of reasons to go full screen on one display while still using the other.

driven · Jun 3, 2012, 09:10 AM

This may be why Microsoft never implemented the multi-desktop support. Because no matter how you implement it, someone will always not be happy. So, they left it to the third parties to deal with.

Spheric Harlot · Jun 3, 2012, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep

Why wouldn't I want an app to run full screen on one monitor while I'm doing one or several other things on another? I can think of plenty of reasons to go full screen on one display while still using the other.

No: there's plenty of good reasons to resize an application window to fully use one screen.

That's not what full-screen mode does, though. Full-screen mode also hides the Dock and the menu bar. Not immediately knowing which monitor is the primary one is a Bad Idea.

What you're looking to do has been possible since 1987, and is still possible in exactly the same way. Keep doing it that way, and stop bitching about Full-Screen mode not doing something it's not intended to.

P · Jun 3, 2012, 09:37 AM

It's quite convenient to always have your email or calendar (say) one swipe to the right, even if it doesn't have to use the entire display. That doing so blacks out the second display is not exactly the best use of resources. Fullscreen mode is a useful addition, but it's hardly ready. Personally I just want OS X to stop hiding the menubar in full screen mode - I'd use it a lot more if they stopped doing that.

It occurs to me that the display interface metaphor might have to change in ML, depending on how Airplay is implemented. I think any major change would have leaked by now, but they might have refined something.

driven · Jun 3, 2012, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by P

It's quite convenient to always have your email or calendar (say) one swipe to the right, even if it doesn't have to use the entire display. That doing so blacks out the second display is not exactly the best use of resources. Fullscreen mode is a useful addition, but it's hardly ready. Personally I just want OS X to stop hiding the menubar in full screen mode - I'd use it a lot more if they stopped doing that.

It occurs to me that the display interface metaphor might have to change in ML, depending on how Airplay is implemented. I think any major change would have leaked by now, but they might have refined something.

I wouldn't say it's "hardly ready". It works wonderfully with single monitors.

basememara · Sep 5, 2012, 11:40 AM

This is not a spam

but here is an incredible list of multi-monitor apps for Mac:
http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/utilities-roundups/30-apps-for-your-multiple-monitor-setup/

driven · Sep 5, 2012, 11:55 AM

This is a great list.