User guide¶
Basic principles¶
arrangeit collects all the available open windows and puts them in a queue for operation. Ending operation on the current window is followed by starting operation on the next window in the queue. arrangeit v0.3alpha ends its execution after all the windows are exhausted and it should be started again for additional operations.
User interface¶
A box with the title of currently operating window occupies the top-left position of the main window. That window’s application name and icon are placed at the top-right.
The other windows in the queue are placed below the title box, in the order in which arrangeit will operate on them.
Workspaces boxes are placed on the right side of the listed windows, with the emphasized color for the current window workspace.
The status bar for displaying software messages is placed at the bottom of the main window.
Quit button and the button bringing options dialog (some basic program settings may be changed from there) are at the bottom-right of the main window.
Main operations¶
The default state of the program is its operational state. It means that moving the mouse cursor automatically moves the main window. That is the positioning phase of the software in which you’re choosing the future position on the screen for the current window.
You switch to resizing phase by pressing the left button of the mouse. There will be no resizing phase for a fixed size window, so a left click in such a case will switch to the positioning phase of the next window in the queue.
Click the middle mouse button or press Shift key on your keyboard to release the mouse. That will stop the positioning/resizing phase and the other functionalities of the software will be allowed instead.
Positioning phase¶
As you move your mouse you also move the arrangeit main window. You may set the future position of the window by pressing the left mouse button or by Enter key on your keyboard. The starting corner of the resizing phase can be picked either by pressing Ctrl key or it can be set automatically by the snapping process.
The main window will snap next to the other windows if it is moved close enough to them. From the options dialog you may choose a snap distance or you may completely turn off the snap functionality.
Press the right mouse button or Space on keyboard to skip the current window and start to operate on the next window in the queue.
You may reposition listed windows starting from the desired window by releasing the mouse and clicking its title in the listed window collection. If you don’t want to release the mouse for the action, you may activate a window by its ordinal number from the corresponding F key (F1 for the first window in the queue, F2 for the second, etc.).
To move current window to another workspace/desktop, click that workspace in the workspace list after releasing the mouse. Press a related number on your keyboard to switch to a workspace without releasing the mouse.
When you confirm the position by pressing the left mouse button (or by pressing the Enter key on your keyboard), the resizing phase starts for non-fixed size window.
Resizing phase¶
Your cursor is positioned at the opposite corner of staring point set in positioning phase. You are setting the ending corner of the window in resizing phase - just press the left mouse button when you are ready. You’ll be switched to the next window in the queue afterward, while the previous window will be positioned and resized based on the actions you did.
Target window background image is shown as the main window background during the resizing phase. From the options dialog you may set should that image be in grayscale. you may set the size for the blur filter, or you may completely turn off the background image and set the background to be made from the main background color instead.
If you release mouse (mouse middle button click or Shift on keyboard) then the resizing phase will be canceled and recapturing the mouse starts from the positioning phase.
Other operations¶
You access other operations either by keyboard shortcuts or by releasing the mouse cursor and use it to select some other functionality beside positioning/resizing.
Changing window properties¶
If the current window is a fixed size window, then there would be no resizing phase after left click - it will be immediately placed and the positioning phase for the next window in the queue will start afterward.
You may change that default behavior by clicking 
in the window title
box. It works the other way around too: if you click 
for resizable window,
then it will be just placed after positioning phase like it was a fixed size window.
Similar behavior is applicable for restored/minimized windows too: currently
minimized window will be restored after resizing phase if you click 
, and
currently restored window will be minimized if you click 
.
Note
In GNU/Linux if a window is pinned (visible in all workspaces) then if you change a workspace during the window operation, you will unpin that window and so make it visible in the selected workspace only.
Keyboard shortcuts¶
| Key | Mouse counterpart | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Enter | left-click | confirm position |
| Esc | Quit button | quit program |
| Space | right-click | skip window |
| Ctrl | by snapping | cycle corner |
| Shift | middle-click | release mouse |
| R | resizable icon | turn on/off resizing phase |
| M | minimize icon | make window minimized/restored |
| 1-9 | click workspace | change workspace |
| F1-F12 | click listed window | restart from selected window |
Options¶
You may change some program settings from the options dialog started after you release the mouse and click the Options button at the bottom-right of the main window.
A setting value would be changed and saved immediately after selecting, but some settings changing require program restart in order to take effect.