Tiling Windows

Those of us old enough to remember Windows 2 and 3 have little reason to pine for the "Good Old Days" of MS Windows, but one feature that was readily available in those versions was the ability to tile windows.  With one or two mouse clicks, one could easily arrange all active windows within a neat grid on the screen.



I occasionally use this feature when I need to have two applications open at once.  For example, when I submit expenses, I need my Google Calendar open at the same time as the Excel Spreadsheet in which I calculate mileage for the month.  Teachers or students may want to have a browser window in which they are doing research open at the same time as an MS Word or MS PowerPoint Window.

While the option for tiling windows isn't conspicuous within Windows XP or Windows Vista, it is available, at least for tiling two windows.

Here is the process in Windows Vista:

• Click the taskbar button for the first window
• Hold down CTRL and click on the taskbar button for the second window
• Right-click on either of the selected taskbar buttons
• Choose "Show Windows Stacked" to split the screen top/bottom, or
• Choose "Show Windows Side by Side" to split the screen left/right.

In Windows XP, the process is the same, except the choices are:

• Tile Horizontally and
• Tile Vertically.

If you choose multiple windows, you can also elect to "Cascade Windows" which will lay out all selected windows, overlapping like a small deck of cards.