Originally posted by daflame:

Persistent Default Window Resolution

Hi. If you have been using computer software for a long time, you will notice an effect in software design that has exploded over the last year. Programs no longer remember their last arrangement, window size, and when you update them, they seem to always stretch to a long resolution even if their UI doesn't conform to those standards.

Example:
The Steam window is neatly meant for a 800x600 screen. Steam now decided to stretch to be about 720p but all the of the text and graphics are still tiny.

This is sometimes called: Billboard Protocol
This treats the application window like a roadside billboard. The logic is: "If we make it smaller, the user might not engage with it. If we make it unmissable, we win." It prioritizes impressions over usability.

Basically software windows are competing for your attention and don't care how you arranged things

With Steam updating so that when you close it and then reopen it, it then reverts to a sub-1080p size, this shows disrespect for the user. The first symptom of this occurred when Small Mode stopped being useful because you could not stretch it properly.

People can complain about all sorts of things on Steam, but this software design "marketing principle" is now universally accepted among many stack and programming communities.

Everyone is competing to own your monitor space. That's why it "forgets" where you placed it and how much you shrunk it.

Add Steam to the list of software "forgetting" where its place is.