I booted into the live ISO image of Zorin OS 17.1 Pro in preparation to reinstall Zorin OS as part of my moving back from Linux Mint. I was checking out any and all potential changes on the live image when I ran across this irregular window behavior. See picture below. Does this occur on an installed copy of Zorin? Can someone please double-check their install for me and let me know?
This happens when I go to:
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Zorin Appearance (from the main menu), THEN ...
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Interface > Taskbar Settings. (This is when the problem happens.)
Ideally, it's supposed to show up as a centered window. Not this.
(Note # 1: The live image is using X11 and not Wayland.)
(Note # 2: This doesn't always happen - try again a few times.)
I hope this isn't an overlooked bug. I like my OS to behave consistently.
Anyone else? Please let me know your result using Wayland.
Thanks very much.
You mean that windows should open centered? If so, it seems to be working fine by me:
Sorry for the quality... I've been experimenting with ffmpeg lately 
Maybe this Behavior is because of the Live Mode.
Thanks for replying. The windows do open centered, yes. But for this particular window, it opens to the side and behind the window I had been using previously. That shouldn't be happening. (See picture.) Can you please follow the sequence I explained about in my post (if you're willing) and let me know what you find?
Perhaps. That's what I'm trying to eliminate as a possibility. Is it just because of the live mode, or is it still present when the OS is installed? And is it still there in Wayland? I don't want to have to reinstall Zorin just to find out this bug is still there when it's installed. That'd irritate the heck out of me, especially after putting in the time and effort to reinstall it. I suppose I could install Zorin in a virtual machine, but I was hoping to get some quick confirmation from someone else on the forum (who's using actual hardware) to save myself the trouble. If no one still responds, I'll go ahead and install Zorin in VirtualBox and see. I hope this still doesn't happen then. I've given Zorin a lot of latitude. I don't like using an OS that has inconsistent behavior. It hurts the user experience. Thanks.
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I tried a few times in a row and then it happens like you said, eventually. It doesn't seem to happen on the first time I launch Zorin Appearance though, only after I've closed the Taskbar Settings at least once.
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I have it installed as a Dual-Boot. So, it runs on Hardware. And I run it with Wayland. After I set it up to centered Open the Windows are open in the Center. All including the Extensions Windows.
Update/Report:
Tested Zorin OS 17.1 Pro in VirtualBox. Interesting - this bug happens when in X.org. But not so in Wayland. So there's that. I prefer Zorin in Wayland, so it's not an issue. But why is it present in X.org? For as long as X.org is offered as an option to users, this kind of thing should be taken care of, and I mean that in a humble, user-centric way. Incidentally speaking, I also ran VLC on the live image of Zorin and the same problem (same one as what I posted about here with the window positioning) I reported a few months ago is still present. I installed the APT version of VLC, and the problem went away (which is what I did before in the first place when I ran into this issue with the default VLC app included with the Zorin ISO). I'm a little disappointed to see it still hasn't been fixed. I mean ... not to sound ungrateful for all that Arytom and Kyrill have done, but it'd have been nice to see this kind of UI discrepancy fixed after this whole time. I would imagine that these things could've (and should've) received priority fixes on account of Zorin OS presenting itself as an alternative to Windows for Linux newcomers, because the appeal is supposed to be partly inherent in the overall presentation of Zorin OS as an user-friendly (and cohesive) OS. Do you see what I mean? I mean, users of Mac OS or even Windows wouldn't be OK with buggy performance of their OS. No reason why users of Zorin OS wouldn't feel the same way. Again, do you see what I mean? So ... yeah.
Well, thanks in any case. I would've been displeased if this window positioning thing was still present in Wayland, because we'd be talking about an inherent system behavior; one that'd be a dealbreaker from an user perspective. Because then the user would have to wait for a bugfix from the Zorin Group while dealing with it unnecessarily. This would run contrary to the Zorin philosophy of Zorin OS being an alternative to Windows, because then the user wouldn't be able to fix it themselves on account of them being a Linux "newbie." As I've said in previous posts, I wish there was more Q&A (quality and assurance) involved with the presentation of Zorin OS. I have faith that Arytom and Kyrill will eventually fix this kind of thing, though. Be nice if they'd communicate directly with users on a pre-set schedule (e.g., like with a quarterly blog post) about known bugs and their plan to fix this and that. Even other Linux distros with similarly smaller development resources communicate on a semi-regular basis to their users (case in point: PCLinuxOS or whatever). So, yeah. Just saying, ya know? I am not a programmer nor do I claim to have as much knowledge as a developer does (although I've done some light programming back in the day), but if there's one thing I do know, it's the vital importance of getting the user experience right out of the box. And when it comes to a distro like Zorin OS, the out of the box (OOTB) experience is what should stand out from the "get-go."
OK - gonna get off my soapbox now ... 
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One more thing. See below:
Link # 1: https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-ditch-local-accounts-windows-10/
Link # 2: https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/21/24063379/windows-11-ads-bing-edge-cruft
This kind of stuff is a big reason (if not the sole reason) why I ditched Windows. I picked Zorin OS because of its appeal to me as a newcomer to Linux. Microsoft has gone and ruined the user experience for many people. It's a big reason why Linux as a platform saw its adoption rate go up to 4% in a single year.
I recommend Zorin OS to others because of its (mostly good) user experience and its easy transition from Windows to Linux. And both links act as good case examples of why it's all the more important that the Zorin Group endeavors to fix these type of OS bugs that interfere or hinder the user experience.
(See what I mean ... ? Anyone? Ha.)
OK, definitely getting off my soap box for sure this time ...
Ball's in the Zorin Group's court, and I sincerely hope they act.
Thanks!
Update/Report # 2:
Switched back to Zorin OS ... again. Let's see if the forced logoff issue has been resolved once and for all. Incidentally, while I'm typing here, I wanted to share that I did a fair share of distrohopping (out of curiosity) because there have been major Linux releases lately. Fedora 40, Ubuntu 24.04, and so on. I did like Fedora KDE, but the prospect of using so many apps that started with "K" bordered on being slightly cheesy and ridiculous. "K" this, "K" that. Why do that? It's silly, in my humble opinion (IMHO). I did try Ubuntu Mate, which was very, very interesting, but the 24.04 release was buggy here and there. Not that I would've switched if it wasn't buggy, but I liked the look of it. Fedora Budgie was nice, but it was buggy with regard to the interface and overall look (e.g., icons not following theme changes and so forth). It was nice, but unpolished. That didn't appeal to me. My brief bout with distrohopping with these OSes (and a few others, like Linux Lite) reinforced to me that Zorin OS is a good (and unique) OS, and that the closest competitor it has is Linux Mint. Mint is good, but for me, I happen to prefer Zorin (and its general look). Like how many others have said here on this forum, I wish the Zorin Group would communicate more regularly and more openly. And I think that's reasonable. Same goes for better Q&A when it comes to vetting applications (and their respective behaviors) and so on prior to OS releases. All right - back to it ...
