GUI windows open off screen

Started by tristanlbailey

tristanlbailey Lv 1

This isn't a big issue per se, but something frustrating that can happen on occasions (it has now happened to me twice).

After getting to know the Foldit interface quite well, I know where certain things are straight away as soon as I need them. On a couple of occasions, I have started wiggling a protein, opened a context menu (right click) of a band close to the bottom of the screen (approximately 1 third of the menu is cut off), and then clicked on the Band Strength option (about a quarter of this button is still visible and can be clicked). After clicking on the button, the Band Strength window appears, but almost half of the window is off screen, with the bottom half going off the bottom of the screen.

Consequently, nothing except for the Band Strength slider control can be clicked on. The Reset Default and OK buttons cannot be clicked on, as they are off the screen. The Band Strength window cannot be moved up. The window cannot be exited by pressing the Escape button on the keyboard. No other menus or buttons can be clicked on the entire screen, preventing the *wiggle process from stopping. The Space on the keyboard does NOT stop the *wiggle process. Resizing the window outwards does NOT fix the problem, since the window simply moves down with the change. Maximising the window also does NOT work in this regard.

*Note: It could also happen with Shake, or a recipe running in the background; any process that normally prevents things from being clicked on.

Thus, the user has no other option, but to click on the program's Close button that the OS provides, which brings up the normal "Are you sure you want to quit?" message.

A similar problem can also arise with the Band Length window, at the far right edge of the screen, when the Foldit window is maximised.

Possible solutions:

  • Provide the ability to close the window, by pressing the Escape button on the keyboard
  • Close the window automatically after 10 seconds of inactivity
  • Allow the user the ability to move the window with the mouse
  • Change the behaviour of how GUI windows and/or menus move/position within Foldit </ul>

Heinermann Lv 1

This is actually a major issue IMO. Opening a dialog that cannot be closed off is almost as bad as the game crashing.

[img_assist|nid=990773|title=|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=200|height=82]
Seen here is a dialog that can't be closed. Now the game must be closed off entirely and restarted.

Rav3n_pl Lv 1

To avoid it try to move screen around that way, to have band or other object to manipulate near center of screen.
It is really messed up, need kill client if open dialog too low. Even resizing game window not helping - dialog have fixed height relative to bottom of screen.

spmm Lv 1

It may be useful to the deveopers to tell them what operating system you are using, which version, and your monitor size and resolution. It will be difficult to replicate without that info, not saying it doesn't happen of course.

tristanlbailey Lv 1

Spmm, I imagine this problem occurs regardless of the OS being used. Please make sure you read my feedback properly, before replying.

Heinermann Lv 1

As Rav3n_pl pointed out, the screen resolution and window size are not factors. I am using Win7_64 but I don't believe OS is a factor either.

It still occurs in the latest release as of this posting.

How to reproduce: Simply create a band from the bottom of your protein to somewhere off the bottom of the screen. Zoom in or move the screen so that only the top of the band is visible. Right click it and move over "Change Band Length".

This happens mostly when zoomed in a lot and banding an alignment puzzle.