> maximizing to fill the whole screen makes less and less sense
I guess that was the point of having "windows" in the first place. Per TFA:
> Websites and documents usually end up with a lot of whitespace and padding around them
This only happens if you needlessly maximise; windows are supposed to fit their content, not their container†. (Yes I realise that the article is in jest, yet I see so many people complaining about "poor app/web design" when all you need to do is not maximise on a wide enough screen. I smell Horror Vacui[0])
> When I ran multiple monitors I often designated one
In my case this ends up with me having a single screen for work and the other(s) mostly unused††; the ROI of the extra screen(s) thus drops extremely quickly. With a typical two-screen symmetric setup this also means my head/eyes have a constant bias in one direction, which means RSI quite quickly. Plus having things ever so slightly move in my peripheral vision triggers my reptilian emergency reflexes which goes contra to the goal of focusing.
I've noticed that "maximisers" are typically using two or more screens as they would use windows. To be fair I'm not bashing on "maximisers" at all, I just view the thing as with coffee: there are the dippers and the non-dippers, and to each his own, but when I see people arguing/complaining I'd rather point out that they should use a setup matching their preference and not try to force others into some "enlightenment".
I do blame (in jest) the "maximiser" mindset for the flurry of apps with huge "content" that basically forces you to maximise yet end up reinventing ad-hoc window management inside the app, only poorly and inconsistently.
† Which is the default behaviour of the "maximise" (a.k.a "zoom" in Apple HIG parlance) green plus traffic light on macOS, that you now have to reach to with Option.
†† The only use case I found possibly interesting is looking at documentation over there, which in practice I found equally efficient to have on either a separate virtual desktop, or on an iPad.
I guess that was the point of having "windows" in the first place. Per TFA:
> Websites and documents usually end up with a lot of whitespace and padding around them
This only happens if you needlessly maximise; windows are supposed to fit their content, not their container†. (Yes I realise that the article is in jest, yet I see so many people complaining about "poor app/web design" when all you need to do is not maximise on a wide enough screen. I smell Horror Vacui[0])
> When I ran multiple monitors I often designated one
In my case this ends up with me having a single screen for work and the other(s) mostly unused††; the ROI of the extra screen(s) thus drops extremely quickly. With a typical two-screen symmetric setup this also means my head/eyes have a constant bias in one direction, which means RSI quite quickly. Plus having things ever so slightly move in my peripheral vision triggers my reptilian emergency reflexes which goes contra to the goal of focusing.
I've noticed that "maximisers" are typically using two or more screens as they would use windows. To be fair I'm not bashing on "maximisers" at all, I just view the thing as with coffee: there are the dippers and the non-dippers, and to each his own, but when I see people arguing/complaining I'd rather point out that they should use a setup matching their preference and not try to force others into some "enlightenment".
I do blame (in jest) the "maximiser" mindset for the flurry of apps with huge "content" that basically forces you to maximise yet end up reinventing ad-hoc window management inside the app, only poorly and inconsistently.
† Which is the default behaviour of the "maximise" (a.k.a "zoom" in Apple HIG parlance) green plus traffic light on macOS, that you now have to reach to with Option.
†† The only use case I found possibly interesting is looking at documentation over there, which in practice I found equally efficient to have on either a separate virtual desktop, or on an iPad.
[0]: http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2014/11/11/horror_vacui/