Re: [gedit-list] RFE: remove the tab when viewing a single file

["Dimi Paun" <dimi lattica com>]

From: "Paolo Maggi" <paolo maggi gmail com>
> Why? People always says "MDI is wrong"... but no one is able to explain
> me why.
> It is not a dogma... there should be a reason.

Absolutely, and there are very good reasons for it.
It has to do with typical workflow for the simple case.
Let me start by saying that a MDI is not wrong per se.
There are plenty of examples where it makes sense. However,
these tend to be specialized usage scenarios, most often
encoutered in a programming environment: Eclipse, Emacs, etc.

However, most people don't do programming. I am a veteran
hacker myself, and I can appreciate a good IDE, but when
not programming, MDI breaks the "object oriented" nature
of the desktop. That is to say, I work with a _document_,
not I edit with gedit. In other words, I focus on the document
(object) that I edit, not the application that I edit it with.

More concretely, a document can be editied with multiple
applications. For example, sometimes I want to open a text file
in gedit, sometimes in gvim, othertimes in another application.
Having a window for each of this documents is quite helpful,
you don't have to remember: oh, click on gedit icon, then on
the document I want. Again, in the simple usage scenario, this
is just additional work for the user, with no added benefit.
However, when you have a lot of files open, and your wokflow
centers around gedit, MDI makes more sense because it keeps
the context of your workflow closer. But the exact oposite
is true for simple workflow.

For a more practical concern, I hate to use the mouse, makes
my hand hurt. When every document has a first-class window,
I can switch between them with a simple Alt-TAB. MDI almost
_forces_ me to use the mouse. Please understand that this is
a huge usability concern for me. And I'm sure for others as well.
 
> If you want to know which is, in my opinion, the biggest usability
> problem we have in the scenario you described, I can say: too long
> startup time.

And I agree. This would be my second concern. I have a 3GHz/2GB box,
and it takes gedit sometimes 3-4seconds to start! Notepad startsup
in my 200ms on Windows. For the simple case when I just want to take
a look at a file, this is a big problem. Again, all the advanced
editing with lots of plugins are probably hurting the simple case.
Maybe more lazy loading would help, I dunno.
 
> I really would like to know "why" you people thinks being a MDI editor
> is a so big usability problem. All my "whys" are not rhetoric questions.

I hope I've answered them :)

-- 
Dimi Paun <dimi lattica com>
Lattica, Inc.