Re: window-in-window MDI

[Mo McKinlay <mmckinlay labs interopen org>]

# Maybe it's the sado-masochist in me, but do you have any screenshots
# laying around that show what it looks like in action?

Not to hand, but I can give a pretty simple textual representation:

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
|  |                My Application                         |  |  | 
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| File    Edit   View    Window    Help                          |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                |
| +----------------------+                                       |
| |  | Document 1  |  |  |                                       |
| +----------------------+         +----------------------+      |
| |                      |         |  |  Document 2 |  |  |      |
| |                      |         +----------------------+      |
| |                      |         |                      |      |
| |                      |         |                      |      |
| |                      |         |                      |      |
| +----------------------+         |                      |      |
|                                  |                      |      |
|                                  +----------------------+      |
|                                                                |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

Basically, applications which have multiple document windows contain them
all within an MDI parent window. In some situations, this can actually be
preferable, but most people don't like it. Apparently, UI experts see this
as a bad practice, although nobody's actually provided any quotes from
credited experts.

To be perfectly honest, I don't like having what I can and can't do
dictated to me by experts, which is primarily why I use Linux. In the same
way that I can use yellow text on lime green backgrounds if I want to, I
want the choice to be able to use WiW MDI, not to be told that I can't
because experts say it's bad. 

Hey, here's an idea...why don't we build a list of foreground/background
combinations that clash, and prevent people from using them?

My several cents.

-- 
Mo McKinlay                                T: +44 (0) 709 22 55 05  x1
Chief Software Architect                   F: +44 (0) 709 22 55 05  x3
inter/open                                 E: mmckinlay@labs.interopen.org
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