Re: [Usability] spatial desktop

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>]

On Sep 16, 2006, at 1:03 AM, brian muhumuza wrote:
> > Does that mean I won't be able to have both applications open on the
> > same file on the same screen?
>
> we would have both tools "open"/loaded onto the document but not using 
> both at the same time. When using the text editor, we have the text 
> editor's tool bar and menu bar, etc on the document, then with a key 
> stroke to switch tools, the editor's tool and menu bars are replaced 
> with the hex editor's tool and menu bars.

I agree that would be a useful ability in general (and Microsoft's OLE 
has allowed something similar since 1990). I also agree that if you try 
to open a document a second time, the application should automatically 
focus the already-open copy instead of doing anything weird (like 
"gedit opened this instance of the file in non-editable way [sic]").

But if you explicitly choose to open the same file in multiple 
applications, I do not think there is any benefit in preventing you 
from doing so. Obvious example: for an HTML document, I don't want to 
have to constantly flick between source editing mode and browsing mode. 
I want the document to update automatically in one window as I type in 
the other. (Epiphany nearly does this already, updating whenever I 
save.)

>  I am completing a topaz mock up for which i'll post a link soon.
> ...

Why mention "topaz" here? It makes your idea less credible. :-)

Cheers
--
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/