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List:       kde-look
Subject:    MDI/SDI -- THE Solution !!! (/ Feature-request for the taskbar/kasbar)
From:       Torsten Rahn <torsten () kde ! org>
Date:       1999-12-03 1:53:45
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Today I had an idea which solves the MDI/SDI-thing completely IMO:
There are two situations in which one 'would like' to use something like
MDI:

- you deal with dozens of files (images, icons etc.) simultanously and
want to
   have control over all of them.
- You want that only those documents which belong to the same type of
application
  show up on a clean desktop showing these documents *only*.

IMO we can imitate those advantages of MDI without dunping pure SDI for
certain apps if we implement two modes (or 'views') into the  taskbar
(or iconbox
or whatever). You can choose one of these 'views' by  clicking the RMB
on the
taskbar:

1.) app-centered view
2.) doc-centered view

1.) when you click on 'doc-centered view' the taskbar will look like
this, e.g.:

-----------------------------------------------------
kedit-doc1  |  kword-doc1 |  kedit-doc2 |  kword-doc2 |   ....
-----------------------------------------------------

(where keditdoc1, etc. are just the names that I gave to the documents
to make my
thoughts clearer -- of course these names will be usually names like
'My_love-letter to_Pamela.txt' or something instead...)

you can minimze/deiconify one of these tasks by clicking the LMB

2.) when you click on 'app-centered view' the taskbar will magically
transform into this:

-------------------------------------------------------
kedit   |   kword   |   ....
-------------------------------------------------------

If there's only one document opened created with kedit you can
minimize/deiconify
(where deiconify means that it gets the focus if it is already
deiconified)
this task by clicking the  LMB on the app in the taskbar (just  like it
is now).
But when there are more documents opened by kedit e.g. then a menu
(looking
similar to the start/panel-menu) slides out of the kedit-entry in the
taskbar showing
all documents opened by kedit:

---------
| kedit-doc2|
| kedit-doc1|
=========----------------------------------------------
kedit   |   kword   |   ....
-------------------------------------------------------

Now a possible extension: If you click with the middle mouse button onto
kedit
all windows non-related to kedit minimize and all kedit-windows
deiconify.
If you click the LMB on kedit instead and click with the middle
mouse-button
on kedit-doc2 e.g. all windows non-related to kedit minimize and
kedit-doc2
deiconifies.

This way you get all advantages that MDI might have while using pure SDI

*just*  by adding a feature to the taskbar!!!!  And it is even
consistent
for all apps then.

PLEASE: Microsoft is already dropping MDI in Office 2000! They use
already
pure SDI in their whole office-suite. And you can be sure that MDI will
therefore die within the next two years in the Windows-World.
Lets not implement this stupid MS-MDI-misinvention into KDE just to play

catch-up in two years again by removing this crap then.
What's even more important: KDE is about consistency.  And MDI and  SDI
are so totally different approaches that it will irritate the user if we
use
both systems on one desktop. This would even be the most inconsistent
thing one could ever do.

I hope you like my idea and I think there's no, really NO excuse for
using
(inconsistently) MDI in some apps if we implement it this way IMO.

Torsten Rahn

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