Re: [Usability] HIG and MDI/SDI/Tabs

["Curtis C. Hovey" <sinzui cox net>]

On Mon, 2003-09-01 at 18:54, Sean Middleditch wrote:
> On Mon, 2003-09-01 at 17:13, Curtis C. Hovey wrote:
> 
> > MDI has traditionally offered a cascaded or tiled view, both of which
> > have usability problems since the child windows can appear to be
> > top-level windows.  Multi-view must provide a paned mechanism.  Panes
> > are poorly labeled in all UI's, users must have the option in the
> > gnome-control-center to display window titles/pane labels.  Users must
> > be able to select and move a window up, down, right, or left to change
> > it's position in relation to the other child windows.
> 
> I'm not too sure about this paned stuff.  It's basically trying to
> duplicate, to a very poor degree, the WM.  Why not just do things the
> way most GNOME apps do MDI now - like GIMP and such?  Users get full WM
> control.  Otherwise, we end up with three MDI interfaces (separate
> windows, paned window, tabbed window) none of which work the same and
> all overlap.

I'm not keen on defending paned windows, if they cannot be reinvented to
work, they should be tossed.  

The Gimp is an anomaly, firstly for separating the application menus
from the document menus, secondly, for hiding the document menu bar from
the user.  This would be a non-issue if we had a document-centric UI
that hid the application from the user.  It would be nice if GNOME had a
global menu like the Mac to alleviate the menu clutter of multi-document
apps and provide a central point to manage multiple documents.  Until
GNOME can successfully hide the app from the user, the user will have
issues discerning the app from the document.  

I suspect the success of tabbed windows is because it strongly binds the
document to the app and the user is confidently in control.  The
solution might be something a that clearly indicates there are other
document open and where they are (sounds like the task list and desk
switcher).  Putting documents in top-level windows solves the task
switching problems for the panel and the keyboard.  But user may be
looking for a faster way to switch between documents, maybe across
desktops too.  Something along the lines of alt+# to switch between
document windows as well as document tabs.

we also must address the fact that the application/user may have
additional windows needed work with the document.  I like the Gimp's new
(1.3x) palettes--they provide an excellent example of how single-view
and multi-view can operate.  I would only alter it to offer a menulist
if that is the user's preference.  The menulist solves the problem when
tabs are two large to fit in the space of the window.

-- 
__C U R T I S  C.  H O V E Y____________________
sinzui cox net
Guilty of stealing everything I am.