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posted by Editor on Monday October 01, @08:40AM
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nemo writes "Everyone is familiar with the normal GUI of multiple overlapping, resizable windows. But is that the only way that windows should be displayed?
PWM is a *nix windowmanager with a unique (as far as this writer knows) feature. Multiple windows can be placed within the same frame. This saves me an amazing amount of clutter (I currently have 7 netscape windows open, all inside the same frame - from a conventional point of view, this looks like a single netscape window :)
It's not for everyone, and takes a little getting used to. But shows that even a 20 year old concept can be evolved in new, interesting, and usefull ways :)" This screenshot shows the basic idea, which is that the window itself has task buttons for selecting its application (here is a simplified example).
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From a Microsoft standpoint:
* Microsoft adds MDI windows to Windows 3.1 to cut down on clutter.
* Microsoft decides people don't undersand MDI windows and find that they cause clutter. Office 2000/Internet Explorer uses thread-based SDI (SDI windows that are all in the same thread as if they were MDI windows).
* Microsoft decides SDI windows cause to much clutter and add new taskbar to Windows XP that concatenates all of the windows for the same app into a menu.
Anyone else find this hugely ironic? I don't think the terms SDI and MDI even really apply anymore beyond the use as standard programming concepts.
I think this illustrates my opinion that PVM is certainly not the first to take similar steps against clutter.
There are also the many programs such as mIRC and HTML-Kit (from Chami.com) that implement their own Psuedo-Task Bar for their MDI app.
--WorldMaker--
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by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02, @06:20AM EST (#2)
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...MDI and SDI stand for what?
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by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02, @09:57PM EST (#3)
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MDI - Multiple document interface
SDI - Single document interface
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Basically, windows like Solitaire (SDI) versus PhotoShop (MDI), to provide a visual example. MDI windows have large gray open areas (called the Application Background, IIRC, in the Appearance settings) and have lots of smaller windows inside. The easiest way to know if a program is MDI or SDI is whether it has a Window menu on the menubar.
Hope the helps, for those who did not know;
--WorldMaker--
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