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Application menu when using 2 screens

W

willybNL

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 26, 2006
323
67
((New York) - (New) ) + Zoom out = Europe, The Net
Never noticed it before, but now it freaks me out: when i'm using any program at all on the 2nd screen I have the menu bar is of course still on the first screen.

But this now results (due to my specific situation) in a very irritating way of working (constantly looking back and forward). Is it possible to disable this behavior and get the menu bar back in the application? (Like any app in X11 or Java has?).
 
you can change the location of the menubar to be either one display or the other, but afaik you can't have it dynamically change depending on which monitor the current app shows up on.
 
In Displays Arrangements Pane of Monitors System Pref. Drag Menu Bar To Other Monitor

willybNL said:
Never noticed it before, but now it freaks me out: when i'm using any program at all on the 2nd screen I have the menu bar is of course still on the first screen.

But this now results (due to my specific situation) in a very irritating way of working (constantly looking back and forward). Is it possible to disable this behavior and get the menu bar back in the application? (Like any app in X11 or Java has?).
Click to expand...
You understand how to move the menu bar to either screen by dragging it's little representaion in the Arrangements Pane from one screen to the other? :)
 
willybNL said:
Sorry, but this is not what i was asking. Let me rephrase:

How do disable the apple menu and get a menu per program (like X11 programs have, like windows programs have, like Java programs have)?
Click to expand...

That is not the way OS X works. You can't disable the Apple menu any more than you can disable the Start menu and task bar in Windows. You're still thinking in Windows terms, where a window == a program. In OS X, the program can be running without any windows open, which I think logically makes more sense. That, and because of basic HCI guidelines, is why the menu bar is at the top of the screen.

willybNL said:
How to get a apple-menu on both screens?
Click to expand...

You can't. That would be like having the Start menu on two screens simultaneously in Windows.

I know how you're feeling, because I first wondered the same things when I started using OS X. However, I mostly use keyboard shortcuts, so in the rare occasion I have to use a menu in the menu bar it's not a big deal.
 
technically this is possible ;) but your going to hope you know how to program, and hope your apps are open source ;)
 
mrogers said:
That is not the way OS X works. You can't disable the Apple menu any more than you can disable the Start menu and task bar in Windows. You're still thinking in Windows terms, where a window == a program. In OS X, the program can be running without any windows open, which I think logically makes more sense. That, and because of basic HCI guidelines, is why the menu bar is at the top of the screen.



You can't. That would be like having the Start menu on two screens simultaneously in Windows.

I know how you're feeling, because I first wondered the same things when I started using OS X. However, I mostly use keyboard shortcuts, so in the rare occasion I have to use a menu in the menu bar it's not a big deal.
Click to expand...


Oef.... the comparison with windows I really didn't want to make. Note the it is possible to disable the start menu in windows (you can run progman.exe or another window manager and get differend behaviour), and getting the startmenu on 2 screen: no problem at all...

But back to my problem.... ok; things like openoffice I can compile to not use aqua... but there is thus no standard option... mmm... I really wonder if i'm the only one getting to know these limitations..

wouldn't it just be nice to have the choice? If apple implements the choice I guess all programs can work instantly with it as almost every program has a main window.
 
willybNL said:
Oef.... the comparison with windows I really didn't want to make. Note the it is possible to disable the start menu in windows (you can run progman.exe or another window manager and get differend behaviour), and getting the startmenu on 2 screen: no problem at all...

But back to my problem.... ok; things like openoffice I can compile to not use aqua... but there is thus no standard option... mmm... I really wonder if i'm the only one getting to know these limitations..

wouldn't it just be nice to have the choice? If apple implements the choice I guess all programs can work instantly with it as almost every program has a main window.
Click to expand...
I agree with you, having the menu 'stuck' to one screen but with application windows on both screens does seem weird and hard to get used to. And why should I have to get used to it?
 
Apple should make the menu bar dynamic. So that the menubar spreads across both monitors but if your active window is on the second monitor the menubar on that monitor becomes active and all the menu options display on that menubar. This would easily solve the problem.
 
Apple can't really make the menu bar different for each screen, based on which windows are in front on which screens, because what if one window covers both screens? Or a program has a window open on both screens?

In addition, menu-per-program is just plain ugly, in my opinion. Having a single menu bar is not a limitation unless you are using multiple monitors.

The only thing I can see Apple doing is either making the menu duplicate for both monitors, or allowing you to "drag off" a copy of the menu (just a red x button, perhaps a yellow - mutton, and then the menu items), and then you can use that. Perhaps you could even dock the new menu to different sides of the screen, so you could have the main menu at the top, a copy of it down the left side, and a floating copy of it in the middle of the second monitor.

I wonder if Apple will do it?
 
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