Re: MDI on X11

[Cristian Tibirna <ctibirna total net>]

On Sun, 25 Jul 1999, Marko Macek wrote:

> > Tastes are different. For me, MDI is a logical extension of the multiple
> > desktops  concept: a moveable desktop, dedicated to one application.
> 
> But you can't mix/match different applications when you have MDI frame.
> If you just run Gimp on it's own workspace you can do it.
> 

? How comes? Why can't you mix/match them? What's different between 125
gimp windows among which you mix an Emacs frame (to edit a script-fu) and
one gimp window with 125 subwindows/panes inside it having an Emacs frame
aside?

As Matthias proposed, MDI would be *an option*. Nobody should force the
user to use MDI. 

But MDI can't be dismissed altogether because a few of us
don't like it. MDI is a consacrated thing. Be it in the form of tabbed
notebooks (like gnome's editor has), in the (I agree, lame) way of ms MDI
with multiple subwindows in a main window, in the form of sliding panes 
(made famous by netscape's preferences dialog, or ms's winfile, or
kde's control center), MDI *is* a living reality.

But the best way to do this MDI thing optional is to make the wm aware of
it. This way, user can, by just instructing so the wm, to have its MDI app
windows inside of a container or cluttered all over the 36 virtual 
desktops if so (s)he desires.

The key word here is *optional*

Cristian

Cristian Tibirna     : ctibirna@total.net     : www.total.net/~ctibirna
PhD Student          : ctibirna@gch.ulaval.ca : web.gch.ulaval.ca/~ctibirna
KDE contact - Canada :  tibirna@kde.org       : www.kde.org