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On one tab I have (let’s say) 3 form fields — with label and text input. On another tab there are a bit more forms. Is it OK if the window resizes based on the forms it has?

Example:

Form window resize example Or, is it better if the first window would be the height and width of the largest window of all tabs (if I were to add more)?

What is the best practice, or what is the most common solution to this?

NOTE: this is for desktops.

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  • Is this for a desktop app which might have a custom size window? Or a website?
    – Alvaro
    Commented Nov 17, 2016 at 16:12
  • For a desktop, window resizes are not very intuitive. That woud throw off the user a bit, and he might need a few seconds to recalibrate. I would prefer the constant window size option. Fit/Resize the elements in the smaller screen to fit the bigger screen size
    – JustAnotherPM
    Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 6:14

1 Answer 1

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I can only speak from my own personal experience: on desktop I often arrange my windows' sizes and positions using nView or [insert generic window manager] depending on the combination of applications I am working with.

An application that would resize itself based its content, would likely interfere with window management workflows. As an end-user, I would rather the application start with its 'biggest' reasonable size (Form 2), and instead display the content from Form 1 in a way that it looks nice even with the screen size presented in Form 2.

This leaves the freedom of controlling the window size to the user, and contributes to a consistent and predictable experience in terms of window management - a central aspect of the desktop experience.

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  • This is what i am trying to figure out. If form is little and input is not more than 100 chars, i wouldn´t put form one below another and resize the form to full width. But i do agree on starting with window line on Form 2 for content Form 1 has and not resizing based on content. Makes sence
    – CookieWookie
    Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 8:49

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