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Topic: «What to do with unwilling skinned windows like Spotify? » on forum: Window Rules, or Tips and Tricks   Views: 14896
 
Pim Joosten
 
 Posts: 549
Joined: 11/11/2010
Posted: 08/26/2011 15:19:19
 
 
 Spotify has a skinned window that caused me some annoyances. I have found some solutions for these annoyances which may be helpful for others when dealing with skinned windows.

I am using 2 monitors with different resolutions. On the first monitor I have the primary taskbar and on the second monitor AWM’s secondary taskbar. The annoyances were:
1. Spotify did not have AWM’s title bar buttons.
2. I have set both taskbars to auto-hide. On the second monitor with Spotify open I could however not get the secondary taskbar to appear.
3. If Spotify was maximized and I wanted to move it from one monitor to the next and back, after the 2nd or 3rd move the window was not maximized anymore and it was difficult to get the standard AWM behaviour I got accustomed to from my other applications. See the attached picture as an illustration. It displays the entire upper area of my monitor. Note that according to the Spotify window it is maximized (because you can restore its size), but you can see it is not. Please note that I have the Default settings (the Size tab) to keep the aspect ratio after moving to another monitor.

The solutions are:
1. In the specific settings for Spotify on the tab Startup check “Change standard window parts” and for Border and title bar choose “add”. The title buttons will now appear. In this particular case I also had to adjust the location a little bit: on the tab Title buttons under Options I shifted the buttons 1 position.
2. Apparently the window was a little bit too big and I could not reach the taskbar to unhide it, it seemed. On the tab Size under “Fix maximal size to” I set the height to 1 pixel less than the height of both monitors (768 pixels). Now I can always make the taskbar unhide and do not really loose any size of my window. If your monitors have different heights in pixels you may want to choose 99% of the current desktop or monitor. That should also do the trick.
3. The problem here is that apparently a maximized window cannot be kept maximized when moving back and forth between monitors that have different sizes. I made the window height 1 pixel smaller than the maximum window and the problem was solved. I did so on the tab Size by resizing the window width "At startup to" 100% of the current monitor width and the height to 767 pixels (see also the previous point). Now when I move the window from monitor to monitor, AWM will keep it covering my entire monitor. It is only 1 pixel smaller than a maximum window, but nobody can really see that.
One should not press the standard maximize button anymore, or you will get the same issue all over again. Removing the maximize button under options on the tab Startup did not work in this case, but it might in yours. That is even a better solution than remembering not to press "Maximize". For maximizing the window the adjusted way I have included an extra resize title button on the tab Title buttons that resizes to 100% x 767 pixels.

I think other skinned applications can have the same issues as described here for Spotify. Maybe these solutions will work for these programs too.
 
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Will
 
 Posts: 27
Joined: 07/28/2012
Posted: 02/19/2013 07:10:31
 
 
 Hi,

Does NOT seem to work anymore.

Runn Spotify Version 0.8.5.1333.g822e0de8 on Windows 7 x86 SP1.

Unable to Skin it at all if I try doing the above it causes Spotify to act really strange and use a lot of CPU, an entire core is maxed out in fact.

Take Care,

Will
 
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Pim Joosten
 
 Posts: 549
Joined: 11/11/2010
Posted: 02/24/2013 03:21:39
 
 
 Hello Will,

Indeed, a couple of months after I wrote the above post Spotify was updated and skinning was not possible anymore. I have not been able to solve it and encountered similar issues as you did. All other options described in my post however still work.

Best regards,

Pim
 
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Will
 
 Posts: 27
Joined: 07/28/2012
Posted: 05/22/2013 00:32:17
 
 
 Hi,

Glad to see I'm not alone. Thanks Pim!

@developers, any chance on a "fix" soon?

Thanks again,

Will
 
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Alexander Salnikov
Administrator
-retired-
 
 Posts: 235
Joined: 07/17/2013
Posted: 10/04/2013 18:15:50
 
 
 Good day gentlemen,

Will tell me please, are you still facing this issue?

Any questions?Mail to support@actualtools.com!
 
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Will
 
 Posts: 27
Joined: 07/28/2012
Posted: 10/05/2013 05:04:53
 
 
 Yes same problem still.

Running Actual Window Manager 8.0.3 on Windows 7 x64 SP1 with Spotify 0.9.4.178.g259772ba.
 
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Alexander Salnikov
Administrator
-retired-
 
 Posts: 235
Joined: 07/17/2013
Posted: 10/08/2013 17:24:12
 
 
 Hi Will,

Sadly, we don't have access to Spotify in our country, so we can't test this issue

Any questions?Mail to support@actualtools.com!
 
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Will
 
 Posts: 27
Joined: 07/28/2012
Posted: 10/11/2013 07:55:04
 
 
 Bummer! :(

Any chance of using a VPN to test?
 
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Alexander Salnikov
Administrator
-retired-
 
 Posts: 235
Joined: 07/17/2013
Posted: 10/13/2013 17:19:05
 
 
 Sadly, we don't have any.

Perhaps if you could send us the installation file it would help us solving the issue

Any questions?Mail to support@actualtools.com!
 
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