Re: Desktop-style window management

Lalo Martins wrote:

>It is *not* correct to refer to overlapping windows as "desktop-style" and
>PicoGUI's as "PDA-style".  The non-overlapping mode of PicoGUI is perfectly
>fit for desktops, and in fact it is *better* than overlapping.  Heck, I'm
>looking forward to (and working on) using PicoGUI as my desktop, and I will
>as soon as it has enough tools for me to do my work.
>
>In real-life practice, I *never* have seen anyone using overlapping windows
>for real work.  Most people use one single "maximized" window at a time,
>others (when there is legitimate need to have more than one app or set of
>data readily available) use "tiling" (spreading the windows so that they
>don't overlap).  Except for dialog boxes, overlapping windows are extremely
>confusing and unintuitive.
>
Yes. It is interesting to read, that you work the same like me. Also 
most collegues of mine work the same way. As far as I read, this is one 
of the strenght of  PicoGui, that it has no overlapping windows. So why 
go away from it. Is it not a strength, but just a shortcoming. Didn't 
you want to keep us away from featureism?  ;-)

One very fine example of a "real life" and non PDA usage of not 
overlapping windows is the EPOC OS, which is not only used in Psion 
organizers, but also in industry and on Psion notebooks. It's usage is 
very natural in that it does not again implement the old style desktop 
paradigm of a user interface, but goes back to a fullscreen on. Each 
person can just concentrate on one (main) applciation at a time. The 
application can for shure do what it want with the screen.

BTW, did you ever see overlapping windows in any of the terminals you 
see for buying tickets, get tourist information etc.? Why should this 
then be good on my desktop computer?

Peter, please see this as a "power" and not as a shortcoming. Also see, 
how happy many people still are with character mode applications. This 
power does not come from the restriction to characters, it comes from 
the the way how simple and clear they are to use. 

The only thing I'm not so satisfied with in PicoGUI is the kind, how the 
not ruinning programs are presented on the screen. These "rolled up" 
windows. I better would like to press a button on my keyboard and have a 
menu coming up, like the <ALT + TAB> in windows and have the not running 
windows away so long. Or additional a button somewhere on the screen to 
click with the mouse alternatively.

--
Martin Doering




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