Choosing a region

SideScopes analyzes one rectangular region at a time. At launch, a moderate square global region appears on the display containing the application. With no saved window placement, the compact application window opens at the left of the primary display and the region is centered there. The square provides a neutral starting area for landscape and portrait content. This is an ordinary region: drag or resize its border, replace it with another selection, attach it to a window, or clear it.

Opening a region tool dims the desktop and previews the candidate region on the scopes before you confirm it.

The toolbar and keyboard provide three selection modes. You can switch among them while the picker is open. Window and face suggestions are offered only when the platform reports or detects them; otherwise you can draw the region directly.

Global region (D)

Drag a rectangle anywhere on the current display. A global region remains at that screen position when windows move beneath it. Use this mode for any fixed area of the desktop, including part of an application window.

The launch region is a global region and behaves exactly like one drawn with D. It is centered on the display containing the SideScopes window when that space is clear. If a saved application-window position occupies the center, the region moves into nearby open space instead.

Select a window (A)

Click a suggested window to create a region attached to it. SideScopes insets the initial rectangle so its own border and label do not cover the title bar. To exclude application controls, draw inside the window instead or edit the border after selection. Either method can produce a window-attached region.

An attached region follows the window when it moves. When the window becomes smaller, the region is temporarily constrained to remain inside it; if space returns, the saved geometry is restored. The region does not scale with the window, which avoids changing the measured subject when an application panel or window edge moves.

You can attach regions to several windows. SideScopes measures the region for the focused attached window. If focus moves elsewhere, it uses the unattached region when one exists. A closed attached window is removed.

Select a face (F)

Where face detection is available, SideScopes presents detected faces as suggestions. Selecting one creates a region that follows the face within its window. If no face is detected, the picker reports that result instead of creating an estimated region.

A face-tracked border uses the same face icon as the selection tool. Its label remains the window title; tracking state is not added to the title text. Click the face icon to stop following the face while keeping the current rectangle attached to its window. The region does not return to the face’s original position. Click the resulting pin icon to make the region global.

Face selection is a geometric convenience. It does not classify complexion, evaluate skin color, or change how the scopes analyze the enclosed pixels.

Editing the border

A confirmed region has a desktop border labeled with its attached window when applicable. The border is interactive:

• drag the striped band to move the region;
• drag a corner handle to resize both axes;
• drag the midpoint of an edge to move that edge;
• use the close control to clear the region;
• use the binding control to change what the region follows.

The binding control shows the current state. The face icon identifies a face-tracked region, the pin identifies a region fixed inside a window, and the struck-through pin identifies a global region fixed to the display. Clicking the face icon stops face tracking and leaves the current rectangle attached to its window; clicking the resulting pin makes the region global. On a global region, the control attaches to the frontmost window under the region’s center.

The scopes update while the border is edited. The border hides while a picker is open, while SideScopes is hidden or minimized, while an attached window is being moved, and while face tracking is reacquiring its subject.

No region

Escape, the clear-region toolbar action, and the right-click menu can remove the selection. The scope traces then remain empty while their graticules stay visible. Pointer sampling and compatible markers continue to work anywhere on screen.

With no region selected, SideScopes suspends continuous region capture and analysis. Clearing a region does not restore an earlier selection or default to the entire screen. The next launch creates a new starter region.

Multiple displays

The starter region appears on the display containing the SideScopes window. A picker opens on the display under the pointer, and confirming a region there moves capture to that display. A global region belongs to one display and is cleared if that display’s configuration changes. An attached region follows its window across displays.

If the captured display disconnects or becomes unavailable, SideScopes pauses the scopes and reports the interruption. Capture resumes when the display returns.