Rick Scott wrote:
>
> On 31-Jan-01 at 17:26, Michel Bardiaux ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> > Does anyone know about any done or ongoing translation of Scott W.
> > Sadler's "Motif MDI" C++ classes into C and/or a proper Motif XmManager
> > subclass?
> >
> > And would it be worth doing? I can see several cons:
> >
> > (1) In the Open Source world many people hate window-in-window MDI, for
> > ergonomy reasons or because they hate anything smelling of Windows...
> > the 2 reasons are not incompatible!
>
> Personally, I would like to see this type of interface banished from the
> planet. What we really need is something that implements a "normal" windowed
> environment out of any app that tries to confine me to dealing with only their
> application. And if this is the only way you can figure out to iconify multiple
> windows when a main window gets iconified, read the man pages!!! Microsoft has
> some nice features in their interfaces, THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM.
I thought I *had* acknowledge the repulsion some people have towards WiW
MDI, so we could go forward and be constructive. But if we must:
(1) Personnally I have used both WiW MDI (Interleaf, Word, Excel) and
WaotP (window-all-over-the-place) MDI (Island, FrameMaker) and I prefer
WiW.
(2) To each his taste, the *best* approach surely is to offer a *choice*
of policy, just as window managers usually offer choice of
focus-on-click vs. focus-on-move.
(3) One doesn't always have a choice: when you have an application that
must also run on Wintel and is targetted at non-geek Wintel users, you
follow Wintel common practices.
>
> Let the flames begin, if you must. But I will ignore them, much the same as I
> ignore the comments that emacs is better than vi (NOT).
I do a few minutes of vi every day to keep in practice. After all, vi is
the only editor you find on *all* 'nix machines, so, like English, it is
worth knowing.
>
> Recently I have been forced into some development that has to be done on a
> Microsoft platform, I need to produce a win32 dll. This involves multiple tools
> that each has its own MDI, each _requires_ it's own editor, and so on. It's a
> ****** nightmare!!!!! And I consider myself somewhere above the "rookie" stage
> when it comes to programming, probably not an "expert" but definitly beyond
> rookie. When I need to deal with one window from "this" MDI, and one window
> from "that" MDI, you end up with two applications that "assume" they "own" the
> entire screen.
>
> I am however starting to understand why there are so many people getting rich
> offering "Windows" help, it is so ****** up that you need an expert to explain
> the screwed up reasoning behind doing the simplest of tasks.....
>
> Damn, this is turning into a rant.....I haven't had a good one in a while
> though.....sorry.....
I had a rant of my own recently on a completely different topic, see
"Almost giving up" in comp.os.windows.motif. So, I recognize and
understand the feeling.
>
> Bottom line, don't expect any help from me to implement an MDI interface :)
Pity, I'm sure it would have been invaluable. But I'm not asking for
help at this point, just discussing desirability and feasibility. Is
your aversion towards WiW so intense an MDI widget would be *banned*
from Xlt?
>
> >
> > (2) These classes impose the MWM look-and-feel regardless of the actual
> > window manager - and Linux has KDE, Gnome, Enligtenment, AfterStep, "A
> > maze of twisty little WMs, all different".
> >
> > The pro, of course, is that there does not seem to be anything else...
Greetings.
--
Michel Bardiaux
Peaktime Belgium S.A. Rue Margot, 37 B-1457 Nil St Vincent
Tel : +32 10 65.44.15 Fax : +32 10 65.44.10
