If you have a numpad, in Unity you can use ctrl-alt-[0-9].
Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 7 - Place window in top left corner of screen.
Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 8 - Place window in top half of screen.
Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 9 - Place window in top right corner of screen.
Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 5 - Center/Maximize the window in the middle of the screen. In 12.04 this toggles between maximize and restore state
Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 1 - Place window in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 2 - Place window in the bottom half of the screen.
Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 3 - Place window in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Ctrl-Alt-Numpad 0 - Maximize the current window.
> 2. What if you want the window at the top of the screen without being maximised?
I'm using Unity in Ubuntu 16.04, and there a window only gets maximized if you drag it very close to the top edge of the screen. If you drag it to the bottom of the top bar or anywhere in the bottom half of the top bar, it moves to the bottom edge of the top bar without maximizing.
Maximize maximizes onto the current screen. I might want it maximized on another screen. The maximize button is also super tiny and harder to hit compared to the title bar.
I also think that in those rare cases you actually want to put a window at the top without maximizing it you are better off with a tiling window manager with keyboard shortcuts. In Windows you can quickly get top left quarter with win+left, win+up. On the other hand, win+up, ctrl+win+left also gives you full screen on another monitor.
Gnome: middle click a window's Maximize button (usually a square) will maximize in the vertical direction only. Right click it and it maxes in the horizontal direction.
> 2. Drag a window to the left or right side of the screen. It will resize and snap to the edge of the window taking up 50% of the display. (Great for having two windows side-by-side.)
How do I stop Unity from resizing and snapping the window?
I spend more effort and suffer more distraction undoing Unity's "helpfulness" than I ever spent on window management before, on any OS.
Holding Option when clicking the green maximize button will expand the window without entering full screen mode. You know you're doing it right if the glyph inside the button turns from two triangles to a plus sign.
Shift+click the "plus" button and it'll maximize. I've been using BetterTouchTool's window movement abilities to set hotkeys to maximize and halve windows. It'll also do an aero-snap-esque thingy. Pretty useful
Cmd+tab is pretty nice, keep in mind you can use Cmd+` to switch between windows of the current application. It's a bit different than the way Windows does it, but once you use it for a little bit you get used to it and Windows feels a bit awkward ;)
What am I missing?.. there is a maximize button in the top-right corner of every window.
EDIT: Oh, I guess these are hidden by default? I don't remember enabling them on my setup but I've been using Gnome a few years now. I agree it would be better if they were visible by default.
Install Spectacle. [cmd]+[alt]+[f] for actual maximize (NOT fullscreen). Replace the f with left arrow and you get half pane left, same with right, or up... you get the idea.
Switch alt for ctrl with the same commands to send to the top quarters of the screen, add a shift to that to send it to the bottom quarters.
I don't move windows with the mouse on OSX/MacOS anymore.
I have Super+Numpad assigned as window positioning hotkeys in XFCE. First window would be Super+4 to position it on the left half of the screen. Next two would be Super+9 and Super+3 respectively to position each in the upper-right and upper-left corners. Super+5 maximizes.
Protip: Alt + Middle-button drag anywhere on a window should allow you to resize from the nearest corner/side. On a similar note, Alt + Left-drag anywhere on a window will allow you to move it without having to click on the titlebar.
I keep trying Unity every once in a while, but I always find it difficult to bring up exactly the right window I want. So I go back to Gnome, which has the task bar where I can simply click something to maximize it, and click it again to minimize it.
I'm gonna try Unity again, because I want to like it, but I always find myself getting angry at the "application-centric" grouping of my open windows, and how when it zooms out and I click the window I want, all sorts of other things I'm using become obscured.
Also, did you know that Ctrl-w | maximizes the a window horizontally? So if you have splits open above and beside you ctlr-w _ ctrl-w | will maximize your current split.
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