Sidebar really needs a "lock" feature

[OpticalOrange99]

I've made a thread about this before but it didn't go anywhere.

Thread

It really needs a lock feature. Every time I start my PC, regardless of whether it's a different resolution than before the reboot, Gadgets in my Google Desktop Sidebar will resize seemingly at random.

They should REALLY make a way to just lock each gadget in place so that it takes up the designated amount of space I've specified.

Well at least they remember the order they're in. I guess that's a start.

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I'll just give you a scenario to help you visualise it:

I have 6 gadgets and the search box on it at the moment (weather thing at the top got cut out):



When I restart the news ticker could be only showing 1 and a half News Stories instead of 4, the Hot or Not rating gadget at the bottom will probably be too tiny to see and the Flickr Photo Finder will probably be much bigger than it needs.

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I just wish there was a way to lock it.

[OpticalOrange99]

Hmmm thanks for the "Thank You" thing. I didn't know you could do that.

[OpticalOrange99]

Any news on the new Google Desktop version? I downloaded the latest one and it seems better in that the gadgets seem to not warp anymore, but that could be just the way I have them repositioned.

Anyone care to share their experiences? Does it seem like Google has stopped them warping randomly whenever the sidebar is loaded? Has the "lock" feature I hoped for finally been semi-realised?

[cicciohofman]

I totally understand you. And it FRUSTRATES ME!! I get everything all nice and formatted how I want it, then when I shut down the computer and turn it back on, it is all screwed up. The gadgets are all resized and nothing is like I want it.

A "Lock" feature would be AMAZING. I don't think it would be that hard, but maybe I am wrong. I will include a pic of what happens:

This is what it looks like pre-shutdown:

[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/CORNEL%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG]


Then after I turn the computer back on it looks like this:




Everything gets shrunk down and IT PISSES ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really hope someone looks at this and does something about it because I love the sidebar but this frustrates me.

[OpticalOrange99]

Yeah I just decided to uninstall it and use the Windows Sidebar. I couldn't stand the warping since I play a lot of games and the game will frequently resize the resolution from 1600x1200 to like 800x600, so the sidebar would get warped pretty bad.

It's sad that Google Desktop has been around 3 years and they still haven't made it more robust than this. It shouldn't be so bloody annoying.

[Chemeleon]

Heres what i did.... It worked for me

Some gadgets, like the calculater will still shrink but just a little.

Right click on your desktop, choose lock web items...done
reeboot and see if it workes for you.

[grantw79]

I have it on my work machine and home machine, and stuff resizes after rebooting all the time. Even more annoying, on my home machine it randomly drops widgets. I don't have that problem on my work machine, so maybe a reinstallation is needed. Usually after a reboot, the google inbox widget is minimized to nothing more than a title bar, the google talk widget is just gone and has to be readded, and the bottom third of the sidebar is just empty available space.

I really like the concept but I think I'll remove the sidebar because it's just annoying to have to keep resizing things every morning for no apparent reason other than that a 5 year old app still hasn't been programmed to remember how widgets were sized. Just one of those "gets under your skin" type things...