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Moving Windows Off-screen

Overview

Windows should never be permitted to move fully off-screen (or sufficiently off-screen such that no draggable portion of the window is visible).

Mac OS X

OS X does not permit windows to be moved fully off-screen. No matter how far off-screen you attempt to move a window, a portion of its titlebar will always be visible, and windows can always be dragged from their titlebar area. Most applications will not allow their titlebar to be moved downward below the dock. Some applications, however, will (such as the Finder). For these applications, it is possible to move their windows so far downward off the screen that only a sliver of their titlebar will appear; still, you can drag this sliver to pull the window back into view. This is not an optimal scenario, but at least the window cannot be completely moved off the screen.

For windows that are partially off-screen, the Finder includes a feature to automatically slide them back on. When dragging an item onto a Finder window that is partially off-screen, the window will slide back into view after a short delay. If you drop the item onto the Finder window, it will stay in its new position; if you drag the item off, it will slide back to its original position.

If you adjust your screen resolution downward, any windows that would then be located off-screen will snap back into view.

Windows XP

By default, XP does not allow a window to be moved fully off-screen. However, readers have reported that with faulty video card drivers, this scenario can occur. When this happens, users can invoke XP's Size and Move keyboard commands to move the window back onto the screen.

Conclusion

Theoretically, neither operating system should allow windows to be moved completely off-screen. XP's Size and Move commands are, essentially, an admission that this scenario does happen. That being said, this fault lies with the manufacturers of video card drivers, not XP itself, so it would be unfair to deduct points from XP for this deficiency. With the correct video drivers, windows would never accidentally become lodged offscreen.

Mac OS X: 9
Windows XP: 9

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