MacOS – Lion – override windows resizing restrictions for certain applications

macoswindow-manager

I am a long time user of a windows manager tool in osx (SizeUp) that I love as it allows me to tile several different windows on my laptop screen while having a full editing window open on my secondary screen for coding.

I recently made the move up to OSX Lion and noticed that certain applications now seem to have restrictions on them for how they resize. The applications that I have noticed are, unfortunately, 3 of the apps I normally have open while working:

Skype
iTunes
Outlook

For all of these apps, when I resize them manually or using my windows manager tool, there seems to be a limit beneath which they won't go – i.e. they have limits set on their minimum height/width. This means that I am unable to tile them effectively on my smaller screen.

I am wondering if there is a way of overriding these restrictions so that I am able to tell osx to ignore the settings globally (i.e. for all apps) or can I disable the restrictions on a per app basis? Either solution would help.

Conversely, if there is another windows management tool that is able to universally override these restrictions, that would work as well,

Thanks.

Best Answer

I was hopeful that "moon" with it's custom resize window options would work, but if you set a custom window size lower than whatever iTunes doesn't want to go than, it ignores it and uses the iTunes minimum anyway. It's looking like a "no"

Related Solutions

How to resize all the windows when I switch displays

There are endless ways to do this, so here are a few:

Before you unplug the external monitor open up the Displays Preference Pane in System Preferences and click on the "Gather Windows" button.

[or if you already unplugged]
Hold the Option key down and choose "Arrange in Front" from the Window menu.

[or]
Use the Option key and click the (+) at the top of any Finder window and it will resize them all automatically.

This Applescript script might also work:

tell application "Finder"
-- get desktop dimensions (dw = desktop width; dh = desktop height)
set db to bounds of window of desktop
set {dw, dh} to {item 3 of db, item 4 of db}
end tell

tell application "System Events"
repeat with proc in application processes
tell proc
repeat with win in windows
-- get window dimensions (w = width; h = height)
set {w, h} to size of win

-- get window postion (l = left of window; t = top of window)
set {l, t} to position of win

-- nh = new window height; nw = new window width
set {nh, nw} to {h, w}

-- window width is bigger than desktop size,
-- so set new window width to match the desktop
if (w > dw) then ¬
set nw to dw

-- window height is bigger than the desktop size (minus menu bar),
-- so set new window height to be desktop height - 22 pixels
if (h > dh - 22) then ¬
set nh to dh - 22

-- r = right coordinate of window; b = bottom coordinate of window
set {r, b} to {l + nw, t + nh}

-- nl = new left coordinate; nt = new top coordinate
set {nl, nt} to {l, t}

-- left coordinate is off screen, so set new left coordinate
-- to be 0 (at the left edge of the desktop)
if (l < 0) then ¬
set nl to 0

-- top coordinate is above bottom of menu bar (22 pixels tall),
-- so set new top coordinate to be 22
if (t < 22) then ¬
set nt to 22

-- right coordinate extends beyond desktop width,
-- so set new left coordinate to be desktop width - window width
if (r > dw) then ¬
set nl to dw - nw

-- bottom coordinate extends beyond desktop height,
-- so set new top coordinate to be desktop height - window height
if (b > dh) then ¬
set nt to dh - nh

-- if we have calculated a new top or left coordinate, reposition window
if (l ≠ nl or t ≠ nt) then ¬
set position of win to {nl, nt}

-- if we have calculated a new height or width, resize window
if (h ≠ nh or w ≠ nw) then ¬
set size of win to {nw, nh}
end repeat
end tell
end repeat
end tell

Of course there's also the paid alternative, which might include Stay, Divy, Arrange, etc.

MacOS – Set size of window to exact pixels, and place via x, y coordinates

Yes, this can be done using AppleScript. Read this link to understand the code and then try and implement it yourself for your specific situation.

Here is another link that describes the bounds of a window in detail.

Example:

tell application "Finder" to set the bounds of the front window to {24, 96, 524, 396}

would set the Finder window to be in the top left corner.

Mac App Store- BetterSnapTool:

Note: I would check out BetterSnapTool. It does exactly what you want for $1.99. I use it myself and I find it invaluable, especially at such a low price.