Depends on the plant. Either way, right up in front of the window is better. The further away you place the plant, the less light it gets, even if it's direct.

whats the plant in question?

It is a small tomato plant.

Tomatoe needs lots of sunlight - and many other plants too; winter is difficult to over-winter them indoors without stretching - etiolating. Is it a seedling you started from the seed?

I started it from seed.

Is it going to be grown outdoors? You are in warm zone but I have no idea what are temps like; when can you put it outside?

I am planning on keeping it inside and growing it in front of a west facing window in about 2 months or more depending on how tall it gets. I get 100-115 degree f summers here so it probably would be difficult to grow outside even if it is simply because I don't want to deal with keeping a plant watered in those conditions.

Those temps are too high for good fruiting. You will need to make sure that it has plenty of sunlight, otherwise will grow very stretched. You will need to probably help with pollination, and keep nighttime temps above 55*F (pref. no higher than 70*F) and daytime temps 70 - 85*F.

Do you know what kind of tomato is it? For indoors, best would be to grow determinate type, otherwise you could end up with feet and feet of tomato plant :)

Not so easy to grow to grow them indoors.

It is an indeterminate type and I picked it so I would have a big plant. I am also growing a bean vine until the tomato is ready to be planted. Once it is planted in the planter, everything taller than 1 foot tall will get direct sun most of the day and those shorter than 1 foot will get some sun during the middle of the day. I was also planning on helping with the pollination.

I always started tomatoes from seeds (one year as many as 90 plants...). In much colder zone, I usually start them much later since they can't go outside until mid to - very often - end of May. Seedlings need lots of sunlight, and I keep them by unobstracted south window. Even then they can get 'leggy'. From my experience, I would give them all, 1' or shorter, best light possible. I aim for compact plants - as much as possible in my climate.

I was wrong. It is a south facing window. I got it confused with the direction of a wall that I was wanting to plant a garden near was facing.

They say a bright sunny window is equal to full shade outside.

Where are you growing this plant? I'm in Florida, same zone as you. My Tomatoes are outside in full sun. This is the time to start tomatoes here. By the time they grow, the weather will warm up for flowering. Tomatoes do not fruit nor grow here over the hot weather. This is the time to grow them.

Put your seedlings outside unless you get a freeze. By the time they are big enough for flowering, the weather will be warm and the bees will be active again. Usually by March.

You will have bad results growing indoors. They need tons of sun and bees to pollinate the flowers.

Jane

I live in Phoenix, Arizona and I will take my chances because I looked to see what the pollination requirements were for tomatoes and multiple websites reccomend giving the plant a good shake and some some small shakes to the flowers and it would be fine.

I will not grow plants outside.

Pip313:

How does that work?

Turtle - I would bet on the indirect light with the plant in the window. To attempt to confirm, you can try a digital camera set manually.

Basis: My own measurements with Lux meter and PAR DLI light meter in my own home.

In my opinion, it is extremely dependent on window/outside area obstructions throughout the day and then sun direction.

Eyes/brains are incredibly deceptive and without measurements it is difficult to recognize the difference.

Try to think which spot gets the most light throughout the day on average.

ewwmayo gave you good tips; it is difficult to get proper amount of sunlight thru the windows and without measuring, it could be very misleading.

Glass cuts down on intensity; single, double or triple glazed, low E - these are all features that will make it less than it is outside while we think it is bright enough.

if you have a smartphone there are many 'light meter' apps. While not calibrated the same way a real light meter is, you can use one to get an idea of the relative difference between various locations inside and outside.

It is much better than eyeballing it - your eyes and brain are designed to make all light appear as equal as possible - like an automatic camera, except that your eyes can and do actually vary their exposure settings over any scene - (kind of like dodging/burning in a darkroom, but in real time) in a way a camera can't.

I have used the 'whitegoods lightmeter' app for iOS and found it works as well as you can expect a phone app to. There's plenty of alternatives for just about any kind of phone that can run apps.

I can try to put one on my tablet. Thanks.