Re: interapplication communication

[Dylan McCall <dylanmccall gmail com>]

> >  but I for one need a visual reminder of what windows I've got open
> > for the current activity - it helps focus my mind on what I'm doing,
> > what information I have available to me, what I need to do next, etc. 
> 
> One of our big problems with the task list going in was that we didn't
> feel it did that; window titles get abbreviated beyond
> comprehensibility, titles for tabbed windows aren't meaningful, it
> doesn't scale beyond 5-6 windows, and so forth. These are some of the
> reasons that Windows 7 moved from a window list to an application list,
> and are things that we are trying to address with the overview.

This is something I, for one, totally agree with. Zooming out and seeing
your applications (daemons, applets, running, closed or otherwise) makes
a lot of sense.

However, the overview as it is does not make a good application list.
This is because it devotes a microscopic bit of space to each
application and only provides one bit of dynamic information at a
glance: how many windows are open. That information is of no benefit in
practise over, for example, an indicator showing the number of new
messages. To get useful information about an application's status one
must exit the overview.

I think there needs to be an interface for applications to dynamically
describe themselves to the overlay, providing the sort of information
that makes this style of presenting applications actually useful to end
users. Just saying “you're going to switch between applications, now,
instead of windows” does not cut it. I don't remember seeing this
clearly defined in the design document, although it may have been. I
guess the application menu stuff provides some of that (the same stuff
goes in the right click menu in the overlay, right?).

Also on the topic of going for an application-centric design (yay!),
it's worth figuring out how Apple gets away with it. In their case, I
think the spatial window management stuff is neatly designed. Their
window manager makes it easy to manipulate a reasonable number of
windows without a window list. Reasons:

      * Exposé keeps windows as close to their original size and
        position as possible. Using it does not break context.
      * Related windows stick together, for example with the Sheets
        design. Modal popup windows should never find themselves
        obscured by or distanced from the windows they are blocking. In
        Metacity, popup windows like appearing where there is open
        space, _wherever that is_. This is a world of hurt, especially
        for users with big screens or smaller fields of view when using
        computers. (The latter phenomenon is common amongst non-geeks).
        Try, for example, opening the Preferences for a panel applet or
        a notification icon and watch as the preferences dialogue
        appears on the opposite side of the screen!
      * Windows rarely fill the entire screen. An issue for some, but it
        does help to keep the others accessible. (Presenting some
        representation of a window which is obscured some place close to
        its spatial position is another possible approach to the
        problem. The Clever Windows and Window Trays mockups have such
        things).

None of those happen right now. I'm not saying I have lost hope (this is
a constantly changing, super exciting work in progress, after all), but
I do hope there is some movement in their direction, or (naturally) in a
new and better direction :)



Take care!

Dylan McCall