Will Unity make it easier to resize the active window?

Solution 1:

Yes, resizing windows is improving quite a bit with Natty. In previous versions of Ubuntu, windows are difficult to resize because the window border of the default Ambiance theme is extremely thin and hard to click accurately (1 pixel wide, compared to ~8 pixels in Windows 7). Natty is dropping the border completely, but the windows will actually be easier to resize thanks to an invisible 5-pixel border. Additionally, all windows will have a draggable grip area in the bottom-right corner.

If that doesn't take care of the issue, I'd recommend browsing Metacity themes on Gnome-Look for one with a thicker border. Alternatively, you can easily edit any theme to make the border thicker and easier to click.

It's also possible to hold down the alt key, then middle-click-and-drag with the mouse to resize a window, even on versions of Ubuntu prior to Natty.

Solution 2:

we have a new resize grip in natty.

Solution 3:

No, it was still hard in Natty, and as of August 2011 it's still hard in Oneiric.

Some windows have grab handles, some don't. Sometimes you can use Alt-middlebutton. Some windows have a resize area larger than the visible border, but this doesn't work on unity-2d and perhaps not in some other cases.

Vote up bug 160311 (but don't add me-too comments.)