Re: gnome-terminal idea

[Tim Moore <tmoore tembel org>]

George wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Sep 22, 1998 at 06:24:22PM -0400, Tim Moore wrote:
> > Why on earth does anybody like the GNOME-MDI? (Or any MDI, for that
> > matter)
> >
> > I don't mean to offend anyone, I just don't see what the advantages are to
> > using notebook pages instead of top-levels. I know you can set your
> > preference in Look and Feel Properties, I just wonder why anyone would
> > rather have multiple views in one window.
> 
> have you taken a look at gnome mdi

Only in gEdit, which doesn't seem to respect the settings you make in
L&F properties.

> .. it can do both .... I for one like
> the notebook approach a lot ... but you can just use the toplevel
> window part ...

Right, I mentioned that I knew you could change it, I just didn't know
why anybody *wouldn't*.

> 
> > * You can't tile the windows next to each other.
> > * It's application rather than document-centric, where windows represent
> > abstract application controls rather than a frame for the current
> > document/task/whatever.
> > * It breaks the autonomy of individual document windows.
> > * It eats screen real-estate
> 
> separate windows eat screen real estate .. one notebook with windows in it
> is very nice to the screen real estate

How so? With separate windows I just put them on top of each other. With
tabs, I have a big row of tabs on the screen all the time. Now when I
just stack them, it of course obscures the windows in the back such that
I can't tell that they're there, but if that bothers me, I have my WM
use a taskbar. Taskbars serve pretty much the same purpose as the row of
tabs, but work for all of the windows on the desktop, not just one app
at a time. This way, I end up having a taskbar, plus a row of tabs in
each app, taking much more space up.

> if I want to tile one next to the other, I just pull out the notebook
> tab, drop it on the root window, and voila ... I have a new topleve
> window

Oh, that's kinda cool. I didn't know you could do that. But it doesn't
work in gEdit or gTop (at least not on my 0.27-0.28 GNOME installation).
Is this a recent innovation, or do I need to use another app to see
that?

Tim