Using Windows 8 from-the-outside swipes with a bevelled touchscreen

I have 2 Viewsonic touchscreens that weren't designed for Windows 8. (Some info here.) I'm not an expert on what you need to be Windows 8 certified, but I believe 5-point touch (Windows 8 can do 10) and the ability to swipe into the screen (no raised or bevelled edges) are two requirements.

Desiring lower cost over Windows 8 compatibility, I purchased the Viewsonics knowing the screen edges were raised due to the technology used, essentially detection devices built into the sides. This means you can't easily swipe from outside-in.

I used Windows 7 for a while and then decided to upgrade my work computer to Windows 8 to try out the differences. It wasn't long before I wanted to attempt to experience how Windows 8 was designed in the first place, i.e., with swipe from outside in mind. I soon found out that with my monitors, if I place a fingernail on the edge of the screen, I could swipe in and cause the Charms bar to appear, for example. However this wasn't very natural and at the same time it took a few tries to get it right.

The solution I stumbled upon was to reduce the effective resolution of the monitors. Both are 1920x1080 (1080p in TV parlance) - if I could reduce the resolution without scaling, it would give me some edges to the monitors that would allow me to swipe, while keeping the display from looking fuzzy. Essentially I wanted Windows to output, centered, 1880x1020 or so.

Diagram of my monitor and new swipe area

Luckily my graphics card, an ATI, supported this. Using their Catalyst software, I was able to set both monitors to "1000p" by going to Desktop Management > Desktop Properties. The resulting display has a few less pixels but allows me to swipe. (I have been trying to find a generic utility that will do this and allow me to control the final size but have not found one yet.)

There is a big difference in using Windows 8 with the swipe ability. I know I can press Windows-C to open the charms bar, but when you are touching the screen, it's much more naturally to swipe in the Charms bar than it is to move your hands back to the keyboard. Also, closing "new UI" windows by dragging from top to bottom is great, something I kind of used to do with a Windows 7 "swipe".

Windows 8 Dual Screen: Change which display has the new Start screen, and other goodies

I had read that, if you are using two monitors with Windows 8, the main display is the one that gets the Start screen and Windows 8 apps mode, and it can't be changed. In fact, pressing Windows + PageUp (or PageDown) moves the new Start screen from one monitor to the other and back.

I learned this not from searching Google but from venturing into the Windows Store. There's a handy app titled Windows 8 Cheat Keys you can install for free. It contains the Windows + PageUp suggestion plus a whole list of other handy shortcut keys you may not have heard of, such as Windows + Plus (or Minus to zoom in and out, and Windows + B to display the current active desktop app.

The app also has other nice tidbits like how to hide notifications.

Windows 8 Cheat Sheet Web Site

Prevent the Windows 8 onscreen keyboard from popping up

I have been using Windows 8 for about 2 days with 2 touchscreens. Even though I have a keyboard attached to do the heavy typing, Windows insists on displaying the onscreen keyboard every other minute.

So far the only trick that works is to turn off the touch keyboard and handwriting service:

1. Go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.
2. Stop the Touchscreen and Handwriting service.
3. Set it to disable so it don't come back.

(Thanks to Seansmash in this thread)

Update 2: Turns out that turning off this service also disables the Tablet PC Settings control. I discovered this when I wanted to try calibrating my screen again, since I am using both my 2-point optical touchscreens in a slightly-reduced resolution so I can get the slide-in-from-the-edges features of Windows 7.

Update 1: Note: At first I tried to turn off using the following method but it didn't work for me.

1. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar.
2. Click the Toolbars tab.
3. Clear the touch keyboard check box.
4. Click OK.

Now if only MS had added a check box to the keyboard named "Show onscreen keyboard even if physical keyboard present". Nah, too obvious. :)

Windows 8 bottom toolbar: by design or by accident, a benefit to the desktop touchscreen user

Like any new user interface, the designers of Windows 8 had to make compromises. The Windows 8 UX leads had some particular conflicting requirements to deal with: make it work on the desktop and on a tablet. Sometimes the reasons for decisions are not obvious. Many decisions are controversial. One implementation in particular, the decision to display shortcut menus / toolbars at the bottom of the screen in Windows 8, baffled me at first. Toolbars are supposed to be at the top - point final.

When I first tried Windows 8, it was with a laptop with no touchscreen and no touchable mouse. There was no reason to have the menu at the bottom. Later I discovered that on a Windows 8 tablet, sliding your finger up from the bottom would display this shortcut/right click menu. Since your finger is already there, it makes sense to put it there. Also, if you are holding a tablet with two hands, your thumbs are close by. But I stumbled onto another reason, and whether or not Microsoft did it on purpose, it makes total sense to me now.

Recently I started using two touch screens with Windows 7 with my main desktop at work. I plan on upgrading to Windows 8, but was leery about committing without having used it first; so I installed Windows 8 on a laptop and connected the touch screen. The first app I tried was don't-call-it-Metro Internet Explorer.

I can't slide up from the bottom with my touchscreen (it has a thick bevel), so I triggered the bottom menu using a right-click of my mouse. I then realized I was supposed to be trying to use Windows 8 with touchscreen, so I tapped in the address bar. It was then that it hit me.

My monitor is a 22" wide screen on the top part of a 2-shelf desk, my keyboard underneath. If I had to reach up to the top of the monitor all the time, my arms would get sore in a hurry. But with the toolbar at the bottom, buttons were much closer and did not require me to lift my arm so much. The change, while perhaps aimed at people using a tablet, is also hugely beneficial for those of us who are trying to use touchscreen with a large, table-bound monitor. I don't say this often, but well done, Microsoft.

Now if only Office 2013 were to have its toolbars at the bottom...

Selecting text, touch screens, and Windows 8

In the age of the finger-driven tablet, Microsoft has released Windows 8. Despite their improvements in how touch input is handled (don't snicker, there are some decent ideas), Microsoft has dropped the ball on one huge aspect of daily computer life: OS-wide text selection.

I've been using Windows 7 with two touch screens for a week. (They're Viewsonics.) Selecting text in Word or any other program is difficult, though not a dealbreaker, but at the same time is the toughest problem I'm facing in being able to work less with the keyboard.

You can tap on the screen to place the Insertion point (inaccurate with a finger but serviceable). You can hold your finger down and drag left-right to start selecting (up-down starts scrolling). But unless you have a transluscent finger (I don't), you can't see what you are selecting.

Mobile OS's (iOS, Android, Windows Phone) offer ways around this. Once you have a selection or insertion pointer, handles appear above or below the text that can be dragged to change the selection. This takes care of the selecting text and being able to see what you are doing. This feature is system-wide. Every program that allows you to select text, does it this way.

You might say that Windows 8 offers this feature, but it does not do so in system-wide fashion. APIs may exist for this, maybe, but it's up to each program to specifically take advantage of this. For example, if you run Word 2013 and try to select some text, you'll get two little circles below the words that act as selection handles, just like mobile OS's. That's good. The same occurs in Internet Explorer "Metro" edition. However, if you use Notepad in Windows 8, you don't see the selection handles. And Internet Explorer in Desktop mode doesn't offer them either.

When I run Word 2007 in Windows 8, I don't get the handles either. I have to upgrade Word so I can select text using my finger in a touch-focused operating system. Seems expensive for what should be a feature that should be naturally available. I'm sure there are technical reasons for not being able to graft selection handles onto pre-Windows-8 programs, but at the same time, it's a touch-centric OS. This kind of thing should be available everywhere by default.

I've spent many Google CPU cycles trying to find a hack or add-on that will get me this feature in Word 2007. I'm considering trying to code something myself in Visual Basic or AutoHotkey. If I discover something I will post it here. But in the meantime, if you are planning to use a touch screen to edit documents, keep your mouse and keyboard close.

Brief review of Viewsonic 22" touchscreen monitors

Smitten by the touch screen bug from using an iPad since the original came out, I took the plunge and purchased two 22 inch touch screens last week. They are Viewsonics, 2-point touch, and the goal was to reduce my reliance on using the mouse at work. If you read my speech recognition blog, you'll know that I get sore hands very quickly from using computers. Getting a touch screen was another way of varying my work habits.

Note: This review will focus on the touch capabilities only. I was not too concerned about color vibrancy or sharpness, assuming they will be decent (and they are for me).

When starting my research, I found that most larg-ish touch screens (over 20") were out of my price range, since I wanted 2. The Viewsonics were the least expensive I could find, at 300-400 $ (one has Android built in). Price was important as I was paying for them myself, to use at work. The screens use optical technology (the bevel senses the position of your finger) instead of capacitive (what is used by iPads and most tablets). If I were to do it over again I would probably save some money by just getting two VT2220's, but the techy in my wanted to play with Android as a desktop experience. (I have an iPhone and have had limited access to the Android world.)

From a touch performance standpoint, these monitors work as well as my iPad for most actions. Dragging is fine as is reliable tapping and the albeit limited number of gestures I use. (I have a close "flick" defined in Windows 7.) Sometimes a tap is registered before I even tap the screen but this is expected since the touch is camera based.

Touching the corners of the monitor is the only real problem. Because the monitors are using cameras or some kind of infrared system (not sure which), when you try to tap the corners or edges, the accuracy goes down. This is usually not a problem unless I'm trying to hit the small X of a tab in Chrome. For most other software, it's not an issue because most hit points are a bit off the edge of the screen. For example, in Word 2007, the Ribbon tabs are far enough down so that I can hit them without a problem.

Tip: If tapping works well in Windows, don't calibrate, or get rid of the calibration data (Control Panel > Tablet PC Settings > Display options). I found I was more easily able to touch corners and the top more accurately without callibration. Still a bit inaccurate and corners still nigh untouchable, but better.

The stand for the VSD220 is unusual for a monitor but terrific. It's essentially like a photo frame stand with a tight spring. You can bend it pretty far without worrying about the monitor slipping off the desk. I don't plan on using it horizontal because of neck pain, but you can get pretty close (maybe 20 degrees). Right now I'm using it near vertical and keeping the monitor very close to me to avoid arm fatigue.

The stand for the VSD220:

The stand for the VT2220 is more typical of your average monitor stand, which, having used the VSD220, I'm not too fond of. When I tap the VT2220, the screen "gives" slightly (moves backward), which does not occur in the VSD2220. It is also much less bendable than the VSD220 - which doesn't have an impact on my usage because I use it near vertical anyway, but if you are looking to have it horizontal, the VT2220 isn't your screen. Why Viewsonic didn' reuse the same stand for both, I'm not sure.

The stand for the VT2220: 

When it comes to using the monitors with Windows 7 and 8, I only have experience with Windows 7. The one thing that should be noted about using these monitors with Windows 8 is that you cannot slide from outside the monitor because of the raised bevel. This eliminates use of some Windows 8 gestures. For example, you can't slide from outside the right side of the monitor to the inside, to bring up the Charms bar. This could be a deal breaker for some. I plan on upgrading my computer to Windows 8 next week and will provide information on my experiences. For me, it's not a big deal, as I know I can press Windows-C. However if you plan to work exclusively with touch, it's something to keep in mind.

Bottom line: Both monitors are very capable solutions for those looking to add touch screen input to their work environments. The monitors are the smallest I was willing to get for work, the touch performance is accurate except near the edges and corners, and the price is decent.

Stay tuned for new blog entries describing my experience using touch in Windows 7 and as I migrate to Windows 8.

Updated Jan 18: Corrected ability to change slant of VT2220.