[FancyZones] Add zone layout for large, high-resolution displays

[olegsych]

I'm using a 27" 4K display for software development. To avoid straining my neck and eyes, I need a focus zone in the middle of the screen that I can see without tilting or turning my head. This is the zone I use most of the time for reading documents, working with a command-line shell, etc. I also need the Windows' built-in "left half" and "right half" zones for opening two windows side-by-side for comparison. However, I since prefer using keyboard, I turn on the FancyZones option to "Override Windows Snap shortcut (Win + Arrow) to move between zones", which disables the built-in Windows zones. Because of this, I end up customizing the "Focus" layout as shown below every time I reimage my development machines.

    {
      "uuid": "{750F4B18-EDC6-4D6C-B1B4-02F2D2BCB801}",
      "name": "4K Focus",
      "type": "canvas",
      "info": {
        "ref-width": 2560,
        "ref-height": 1400,
        "zones": [
          {
            "X": 0,
            "Y": 0,
            "width": 1280,
            "height": 1400
          },
          {
            "X": 500,
            "Y": 200,
            "width": 1560,
            "height": 1000
          },
          {
            "X": 1280,
            "Y": 0,
            "width": 1280,
            "height": 1400
          }
        ]
      }
    }

Please consider adding a layout like this to the built-in templates that come with FancyZones.

The "Priority Grid" template doesn't work for me because it forces me to tilt my head and doesn't allow accessing the left-half and right-half zones with Win+Arrow shortcuts overridden. The "Focus" template also doesn't allow accessing the left-half/right-half zones and defines zones in the upper left corner of my 4K display instead of the middle of it.

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[altimmons]

If the above works for you, then problem solved right. Your template doesnt sound useful to me (as in me personally given my work flow) and the numbers you give dont correspond to where you think on my monitor. My point is just that its not useful to suggest templates. Though we can use configurabilty corrections.
I compensated for what you talked about (Win snap) by just putting overlapping panes over each other. eg say a single monitorn computer. #1 is the whole screen, #2 is the Right side, #3 is the left side, #4 is the Right upper corner (and so on).

Windows arrow will now toggle through all of these in order, including the right and left halves. it goes 1 -> n zones, then back to one.

[crutkas]

Why can't you just customize the layout to suite your need? Click edit selected layout and tweak it to your hearts content. Or do a canvas base layout

From there just copy and store your layout

[ghost]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has been marked as requiring author feedback but has not had any activity for 5 days. It will be closed if no further activity occurs within 5 days of this comment.

[olegsych]

@crutkas, as I've explained in the issue description, the Priority Grid template doesn't work for me because the center pane is too tall and requires tilting your head up and down to read text on a 27-inch 4K display you have positioned at arm's length.

I can see how this may not seem like a big deal to someone who doesn't have chronic neck pain. Because I do, I need a zone centered both horizontally and vertically. I have been customizing the default Focus template to achieve what I need. I'm asking to add a template like this to the default set included with PowerToys because I think it will be useful to others like me who have additional ergonomic needs. Plus, the default set of templates includes the identical Columns and Grid templates. Why not replace one of them with a template that allows people to do something different?

This is a feature ask, the actual implementation could be different. For instance, if there is a single focus zone in the middle, but the Windows left/right zones continued to work, I'd be happy as well. By the way, I assume that the ref-width and ref-heights are used to scale the width and height values of the zones, so this template could be used on other screen resolutions.

[enricogior]

@olegsych

the default set of templates includes the identical Columns and Grid templates

They are very different, try increasing the number of zone to 4 and it will be clear why they are different.

[enricogior]

Closing this issue in favor of #7875 since it's more useful to provide an easy way to center zones in the editor, rather then providing templates that may only fit a limited number of users and that lose their characteristic of being "centered" as soon as you need to increase/decrease their size.