>Okay, you've asked for it ;-)
>
>> 1. Adhere to the current RealEstateAgent strategy.
>> 2. Collapse to the center of the window.
>> 3. Attach to the cursor.
>> 4. Center on the minimize box.
>> 5. Collapse to a 'MorphDock' at the bottom of the display.
>
>My personal favourite is the MorphDock (although you might just use a flap
>;-) I don't like neither 1) because it'll spread your icons all around the
>desktop and you'll never be able to find 'em again, nor do I like 3) since
>it's commonplace to collapse a bunch of windows at once. I think 2) and 4)
>are okay since the placement is reliable (e.g., you know where to expect the
>collapsed window) but my personal favourite is the last one.
>
>  - Andreas

Me too.

Usually windows are in the centre of the display - when collapsing them
they need to move to the edge somehow or they will be covered by other open
windows.  This means that options 2, 3 and 4 all involve a double action
when minimizing windows (minimize, then move).

Also a dock can take advantage of Fitts's Law, which none of the other
options can.

A couple of random thoughts:

+ The MorphDock concept is essentially the same as the MacOS X Dock,
(http://www.apple.com/macosx) which has a nifty feature of adjusting the
size of the icons according to available space, and whether the mouse
cursor is over them.  Without this I can see space shortages becoming a
problem in a horizontal dock.  And it looks really cool... :)

+ Once again following OS X, it would be nice if the minimized window icons
had a help balloon that popped up when your mouse is over them with the
name of the window, as all those browsers are going to be hard to find
otherwise...

+ Could the dock be extended to hold any minimized morph?

+ Could I choose whether my MorphDock is fixed to a side of the display
(top, bottom etc) or freely floating?

+ Make the left-most icon in the MorphDock a button which brings up the
world menu and you have a Squeak Start Menu! ;)

Ah well, back to work....

:)
Russell

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Russell Allen

russell.allen at firebirdmedia.com

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