DexControl

Interactive Full-screen preview and integrated Window catalog

1. Description

Dexpot 1.6 comes with a new feature called DexControl. It optimizes the user experience for Full-screen preview and Window catalog by making heavy use of new technologies first introduced with Windows 7.

2. System requirements

Technically, you need one of the following operating systems to run DexControl:

The Windows Aero Glass theme ? must be enabled.

3. Downloading & starting Dexpot

Download and install Dexpot 1.6. Run Dexpot (from your desktop).

You'll see the Dexpot icon in your systray.
Open up a few programs so you have some windows to work with.

3.1 Starting Window catalog

Pick 'Window catalog' from the Dexpot main menu.
Tip: CTRL + left mouse click the Dexpot systray icon to start 'Window catalog'.

Subsequently, you'll see a tile view of the windows on your active desktop:

From 'Window catalog' you can change to 'Full-screen preview' by either moving a window, by clicking your middle mouse button
or by pressing the 'Full-screen preview' hotkey or using the hot corners feature (see 'Plugins and Extras > MouseEvents').

3.2 Starting Full-screen preview

Pick 'Full-screen preview' from the Dexpot main menu.
Tip: Double-click the Dexpot systray icon to start 'Full-screen preview'.

Your active desktop will zoom out. You'll be presented with a bird's-eye view of all your desktops:

3.3 Settings

4. Active desktop & selected desktop

Active desktop: The desktop you were on when you activated DexControl has a soft white glow.

Selected desktop: The desktop currently selected with the mouse has a strong white glow around its margin.

5. Switching desktops

Click the desktop you want to switch to with the left mouse button.

6. Closing DexControl

Press ESC. :)

7. Moving windows

Let's say I want to move my Firefox window to Desktop 2.

Click and hold the Firefox window with your left mouse button, drag it to Desktop 2.
See how the selected target desktop glows white?

Drop it: The Firefox windows is now on Desktop 2.

8. Copying windows

Let's say I want to copy my Firefox window to Desktop 2.

Click and hold the Firefox window with your left mouse button. Hold the CTRL key.
The Firefox window will leave a copy on Desktop 1.

Drag it to Desktop 2. Drop it: You now have a copy of the Firefox window on Desktop 2.

9. Closing windows

9.1 Closing a single window

Let's say I want to close my Firefox window on Desktop 2.

Click and hold the Firefox window with your left mouse button. Keep it still for a second.
The Firefox window will flash red.

Close on this desktop: Left mouse click.
Close on all desktops except for this desktop: Hold SHIFT, then do a left mouse click.
Quit the application: Hold CTRL, then do a left mouse click.

9.2 Closing several windows

Let's say I want to close several windows on more than one desktop.

Click and hold on the empty black space between desktops with your left mouse button. Keep it still for a second.
All windows will flash red.

Click those windows with your left mouse button you'd like to delete. Click on the empty black space again to leave close mode.

10. Zooming desktops

DexControl allows you to zoom in on desktops. In this example, I'm interested in the content of the Firefox window.

Click the desktop you'd like to zoom in on with your middle mouse button. In the screenshot above I chose Desktop 1.

Click another desktop to zoom in on with your middle mouse button.
In the screenshot above I chose to add Desktop 2 to my overview.

Click a desktop again to zoom out.

11. Displaying windows as tiles

11.1 Windows as tiles on a single desktop

Display all windows of a specific desktop as tiles by clicking with the right mouse button on that desktop. When you click on a tile, DexControl switches to its desktop and activates the window.

11.2 Windows as tiles on all desktops

In order to get a full overview of what's going on all your desktops, DexControl allows you to display all windows of all desktops as tiles at once.

Right-click on the empty black space between desktops.
All windows of all desktops will display as tiles.

Right-click a specific desktop or the empty black space to undo the tiling.

12. Touch controls

Pinch to zoom windows and zoom desktops. Do a two-finger tap for tile view.

13. Scrolling through windows

When not in tile mode, you can scroll through windows with your mouse wheel.
Just move the mouse pointer over a desktop and turn the mouse wheel.

14. Zooming a window

Hover over a window with your mouse, then hit SPACE.

Hover over another window and hit SPACE again to zoom it. Exit the window zoom mode with another press of the SPACE bar.

15. Hotkeys

16. Settings

In 'Settings > Components > Full-screen' you can find further options for DexControl.