From kde-core-devel  Tue May 13 22:26:48 2003
From: Neil Stevens <neil () qualityassistant ! com>
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 22:26:48 +0000
To: kde-core-devel
Subject: Re: Moving QExtMDI to kdelibs
X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=kde-core-devel&m=105286491517929

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On Tuesday May 13, 2003 03:21, Jason Keirstead wrote:
> MDI isn't just about grouping windows together.. if that was the only
> benefit I would be running fluxbox instead of KWin right now and there'd
> be no discussion. There are many other benefits of MDI that people get
> used to
>
> - Only one close button for the app. When you have 8 browsing sesssions
> open and you want to stop browsing and get back to work, one click and
> you're done.
>
> - Only one toolbar / menubar for the settings. When I am using an MDI
> app and I change an option, I am assured it takes effect for all the
> child windows (or at least if its developed properly it does). With SDI
> this is all wishy washy, some apps do this, some dont. The majority
> don't from my experience.
>
> - Only one window to export via X for remote browsing. Less windows
> means less bandwidth.
>
> - Less Kicker clutter. I dont like having more than 3 or 4 windows in my
> kicker at once, more than that and theyre overly compressed.

Your thinking is so application-centered.  Why can't I have the same 
application being used for tow *different* tasks?

> > If you did, then you'd see how this MDI limitation is so bad.
>
> Again, this is a poor "its my way or the highway" attitude. Just because
> some people like using 32 desktops and flying windows all over the
> place, with only one on each desktop, does not mean we all do. We don't
> all have photographic memory to remember that the userfriendly.org
> window is on desktop 17, and the second KDevelop editor window is on
> desktop 9. Nor do we all have the superhuman vision it would require to
> read all these window titles on the kicker.
>
> Some people like MDI, some hate it. Saying "MDI is evil" is no different
> from saying "SDI is evil". It is all a matter of perspective and
> opinion, and the users should be able to choose which they use if at all
> possible.

Consistency *is* a black or white thing.  Either KDE apps act the same way, 
or they don't.  If every app developer throws up his own special case 
exception, then the desktop is no longer consistent.

- -- 
Neil Stevens - neil@qualityassistant.com
"The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the
sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him
for the same act as the destroyer of liberty." -- Abraham Lincoln
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