Re: [Usability] main window position

[Steve Fosdick <lists pelvoux nildram co uk>]

Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt myrealbox com> wrote:

> You should report this as a bug for each program. It's a basic part of a
> spatial interface that all windows (other than alerts or dialogs) should
> remember where you left them.

Does this include which workspace the window was on?  Remembering that would be even more useful for me than remembering the screen co-ordinates.

> The window manager could do most of this, except that it can't know which
> document is associated with which window. For example, if you close a
> document called "Annual Expenses", then rename it to "Expenses 2005",
> then later reopen it, it should have the same window position as it did
> last time -- but the window manager won't know it's the same document.

What that suggests as a possible architecture is that for any top-level window the window manager should be able to give the application something opaque that represents the current state of the window (position, size, workspace etc.) that the application saves as part of the document.  When the document is re-opened this gets handed back to window manager to set the size/position of the window correctly.

Of course there is also the case of an application started without a document (or with a new, blank document).  Also if someone chooses a document from the file/open menu and that document has stored window position information should:

1. The document be openned in the application's current window and the size/position information ignored.
2. The document be openned in the application's current window and the size/position information used, i.e. the window moves/resizes accordingly.
3. The document is openned in a new window, leaving the initial, blank document on the screen?

Steve.