Yep...I have a love hate with the Applications Frame. I tend to use it when using a laptop with a single display but hate it at the studio when using multiple displays. Since you are newish to CC, there will be a number of new behaviors and functionality to get used to...have fun with that :~)
Hi Jeff,
I agree totally with your assessment of the App Frame. I'm still using PS CS6, but when I first upgraded I could not work with the App Frame. I often have half a dozen or more image files open simultaneously, and I hate tabs with a passion. I figured there must be some way to turn the App Frame off, but at that point I had no idea what to look for, so I checked the prefs and nothing there. I then perused the menus and found what seemed to be what I was looking for in the "Window" Menu. Checked it and have never looked back. I have a very clean, medium gray desktop and that's what I want to see behind my images. Interestingly, I also have the Affinity Photo App. as a backup, and cannot work with that either. The App Frame can be turned off there as well, under "Window-Separated Mode" but the floating image in an oversized window makes absolutely no sense to me. And of course it also opens additional images in tabs. The only place I use tabs in in my browsers.
OK, there's my rant for the day.
Gary