0009909: Allow windows to be centered instead of where mouse cursor is located - MantisBT

ID	Project	Category	View Status	Date Submitted	Last Update

0009909	ardour	features	public	2025-03-18 23:42	2026-01-27 14:52

Reporter	sound8	Assigned To
Priority	normal	Severity	feature	Reproducibility	N/A
Status	new	Resolution	open

Summary	0009909: Allow windows to be centered instead of where mouse cursor is located
Description	I have mentioned this in the past. Ardour is designed to open up dialogs, windows, plugin GUI windows where your mouse cursor is located. To me this has always been very confusing and is the only program I have ever seen do anything like this. Here are just a couple of examples of issues I have experienced with this behavior. -Sometimes I use "X" or hotkey to close Ardour. I still get tricked each time because I am looking in the center of my screen and do not see anything, I then think maybe I did not apply hotkey or click on the "X" correctly but then realize that the little "are you sure" dialog is opened somewhere on my screen already. -Another issue is when in the Mixer when you click on effect button to open effect GUI window for the first time (remembers location for that session after) the effect GUI opens right on top of that mixer channel blocking anything from being seen, prevents the ablity to do things like open up another plugins window or even toggle that window back close if just checking something quickly. Suggesting to add some options in Preferences - Quirks section :) to allow users to choose how / where these items are opened. Could get tricky how many settings to add but I will mention some ideas and developers can choose if interested in adding this request. QUIRKS -Center dialogs and windows for their first open but remember their location/size after repositiioned -Center dialogs and windows always (only remembering size adjustements) Probably will not be considered but could also offer a different set of same settings mentioned above specifically for plugin GUI windows -Center plugin windows for their first open but remember their location/size after repositiioned -Center plugin windows always (only remembering size adjustements) Thank You
Additional Information	The only dialog that I have seen that centers is the "are you sure you want to delete" dialog for track deletion, which is probably to not mistakenly click by accident and remove a track.
Tags	No tags attached.

paul 2026-01-26 15:10 administrator ~0029769	windowpos.png (102,094 bytes) windowpos.png (102,094 bytes)

paul 2026-01-26 15:10 administrator ~0029770	This does not work as reliably as it ought to, especially on windows with multiple monitors. But the option is there.

GhostsonAcid 2026-01-26 17:45 reporter ~0029771	@paul I can report that "Center of screen" and "Center of screen, really" (haha O___o ?) has worked perfectly so far for centering my Lua script popups. ~Nice to have this feature! Thanks!

GhostsonAcid 2026-01-27 14:08 reporter ~0029779	@paul Would it be possible to force track/bus comments windows to abide by these settings? Or do prefer or intend different behavior? Because currently comment boxes (-after every fresh restart of Ardour-) ALWAYS initially manifest in some far-left position (-literally on another screen in my case). So it would be very nice to force-center them as well via one of these new settings, if possible! : ) -J

paul 2026-01-27 14:49 administrator ~0029780	Done.

GhostsonAcid 2026-01-27 14:52 reporter ~0029781	@paul : O : D Thaaaaaaaannnnnnkkkkkk yyyyoooooooooouuuuuuu! ~Cheers! -J

Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2025-03-18 23:42	sound8	New Issue
2026-01-26 15:10	paul	Note Added: 0029769
2026-01-26 15:10	paul	File Added: windowpos.png
2026-01-26 15:10	paul	Note Added: 0029770
2026-01-26 17:45	GhostsonAcid	Note Added: 0029771
2026-01-27 14:08	GhostsonAcid	Note Added: 0029779
2026-01-27 14:49	paul	Note Added: 0029780
2026-01-27 14:52	GhostsonAcid	Note Added: 0029781