Re: tab behaviour, was [gedit-list] gedit 2.15.2 released

[Dimi Paun <dimi lattica com>]

On Thu, 2006-05-18 at 14:09 +1000, John Pye wrote:
> How exactly do you feel you are letting down users 'c'?

Well, that's simple: by forcing MDI on them when they don't need it.
And this is not a victimless choice. Here is a _very_ common workflow
that I encounter in my daily routine (be it that I am in "development",
"sysadmin", or "simple user" mode)":
  [Let's assume I'm trying to configure service foo]
  0. I open up /etc/foo.conf in vim in a terminal
  1. I realize I'm missing some info, I search for README file in
     Nautilus, then click on it. It opens in gedit. Great!
     Notice that the title of the window starts with "README".
  2. I Alt-TAB back to the console
  3. I do some work, then Alt-TAB back to the README file,
     whose title is correctly displayed at the bottom of the
     Alt-TAB switch window.
  4. I Alt-TAB back to the console
  5. Then I realize I need the "TODO" file. Fine, I click on
     in and it opens in gedit. Now the window title in gedit
     becomes "TODO..."
  6. I Alt-TAB back to the console
  7. I realize I need to look again at the README file.
     I Alt-TAB through the windows, looking for README...
     Fsck, I *swear* I had it opened... Maybe I've missed it.
     Go through all the windows again...No...It's somewhere
     here, damn it! Ah, STUPID ME!!! I should actually Alt-TAB
     to the TODO file, and _then_ go to the README file.
     <blush>How can an experienced person like me make such
     a childish mistake, and not figure out this logical step?!?</blush>

Give me a break. As long as you operate 90% of your time in the
MDI env (like in Eclipse for example), everything is fine. But when you
start mixing different apps, MDI gets in your way _big_ time.

Regular users have no business operation 90% of their time in
gedit. If they did, by definition they would not be regular users!

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