One of the more exciting tools that developers can leverage with Windows 10 and the Fall Creators Update is Compact Overlay. The feature lets apps like MyTube or Movies & TV shrink down to a picture-in-picture format that enables you to view media while doing other work.
A new app by MerlinE (MMEnter) appropriately called Compact View is just a mini Edge browser with built in Compact Overlay abilities. Simply put, you can type in any website into the app and hit the overlay icon to enable an always on-top mini-mode.
Compact View is perfect for things like Netflix as its UWP app does not have the feature just yet. Other sites like Twitter (or its progressive web app version mobile.twitter.com), any video streaming site, or any web page that you want a live view pinned work well too.
The app is barebones with the ability to save sites as a quick bookmark. There are a few quirks too like the dark theme mode that leaves some of the title bar light, or how you must type HTTP:// before all web addresses. It's also a bit tricky to re-enlarge the app once Compact Overlay is enabled, but resizing is easy by just grabbing the window edge.
Luckily, Compact View is an open source project, and you can find it here on Github if you want to contribute to the venture.
Eventually, we hope to see Compact Overlay is all UWP apps where it makes sense, but for now, Compact View is a clever kludge that can be quite helpful too. The app works for even those not on the Windows Insider program and are running Windows 10 15063 "Creators Update."
