Window Resizing Woes
Graphical desktop environments and window abstractions have been around for at least 25 years (if we limit ourselves to the 1984 release of the Apple Macintosh, the first commercial product to sport such an environment).
Even though we have seen improvements to the original ideas, all the basic funcionality is still in place. The ability to resize windows is one such basic funcionality which is (and should be) taken for granted by all kinds of users.
That being the case, it’s hard to accept the fact that a window manager like Metacity (the standard choice within the popular Gnome environment and, therefore, an important player) can’t seem to get it right. If you have not done it yet (unlikely), try resizing your windows from the sides or top/bottom and see how you perform. It takes a very good quality pointing device and a firm hand to grab those pixel-wide regions. As a side note, resizing from the bottom-right corner is not as difficult, at least in some applications.
Sure I appreciate the fact that there are very nice keyboard+mouse shortcuts to help the user manipulate windows. I often get frustrated at work as I try to move windows (the MS kind) around by using the ALT <drag> combination. Makes me feel like coming back home to Linux. The ALT+<middle button> combination for resizing windows sure rocks too! But none of that is an excuse for not getting the basics right.
The issue is certainly not new. Some people have pointed it out years ago. The bug #160311 on Launchpad provides some information and discusses a possible solution involving making the window borders thicker. I definitely disagree with any solution that goes in that direction, though. Resizing must not be related to nor depend on the visual characteristcs of the windows. Put another way, one should not have to cope with heavy, ugly 10px-wide borders just to be able to grab them more comfortably. Ideally, window borders should be left as thin as the user likes and the window manager should be the one responsible for “seeing” a virtual, say, 10px-wide border that would serve as a hot spot for the resizing cursor. Is that really hard to accomplish?