A method of managing display of windows (108, app1, app2, appN) of respective mutually autonomous applications executing on a computer (100, 300) comprising a display, a processor, an input device and storage, each application comprising a respective process managed by an operating system of the computer, the method comprising: - displaying a plurality of windows (app1, app2) on the display, each window separately managed by a windowing system that manages windows for the applications; - -receiving interactive user inputs specifying respective locations for insertions of the windows to user-designated locations (150, 152, 240, 242, 280) within a managed region of the display; and - -each time one of the interactive inputs is received to place an insertion of a corresponding target window (appN) when only one or more of the windows, excluding the target window, are currently displayed in a tiled arrangement in the managed region, responding to the interactive input to insert the target window into the managed region by: when it is determined that the target window is inserted by a user at a divider or an insertion region that is not an edge, * if it is determined that the divider or default layout has not been altered by the user, then a layout manager determining to arrange the application windows by equally distributing display space between the newly displayed target application window (appN) and the previously displayed application windows (app1, app2), * if it is determined that the divider or default managed layout has been altered by the user, then a layout manager computing a tiled arrangement to minimize impact on the user preference implicit in the determined manual alteration, the tiled arrangement including at least one of inserting the target window (appN) at its minimum size, or reducing the pre-existing applications to preserve the ratio between the pre-existing application windows (app1, app2), - newly displaying the target window in the managed region such that the target window and the one or more windows currently displayed are displayed in the tiled arrangement in the managed region. - displaying a plurality of windows (app1, app2) on the display, each window separately managed by a windowing system that manages windows for the applications; - -receiving interactive user inputs specifying respective locations for insertions of the windows to user-designated locations (150, 152, 240, 242, 280) within a managed region of the display; and - -each time one of the interactive inputs is received to place an insertion of a corresponding target window (appN) when only one or more of the windows, excluding the target window, are currently displayed in a tiled arrangement in the managed region, responding to the interactive input to insert the target window into the managed region by: when it is determined that the target window is inserted by a user at a divider or an insertion region that is not an edge, * if it is determined that the divider or default layout has not been altered by the user, then a layout manager determining to arrange the application windows by equally distributing display space between the newly displayed target application window (appN) and the previously displayed application windows (app1, app2), * if it is determined that the divider or default managed layout has been altered by the user, then a layout manager computing a tiled arrangement to minimize impact on the user preference implicit in the determined manual alteration, the tiled arrangement including at least one of inserting the target window (appN) at its minimum size, or reducing the pre-existing applications to preserve the ratio between the pre-existing application windows (app1, app2), * if it is determined that the divider or default layout has not been altered by the user, then a layout manager determining to arrange the application windows by equally distributing display space between the newly displayed target application window (appN) and the previously displayed application windows (app1, app2), * if it is determined that the divider or default managed layout has been altered by the user, then a layout manager computing a tiled arrangement to minimize impact on the user preference implicit in the determined manual alteration, the tiled arrangement including at least one of inserting the target window (appN) at its minimum size, or reducing the pre-existing applications to preserve the ratio between the pre-existing application windows (app1, app2), - newly displaying the target window in the managed region such that the target window and the one or more windows currently displayed are displayed in the tiled arrangement in the managed region.