Thinking about a better UI

Norton, Chris chrisn at Kronos.com
Thu Apr 15 17:02:39 UTC 1999


Hear hear!  I constantly have multiple windows open (Squeak and other apps
too).

In fact, when I program my Smalltalk in VSE I often have 12 or more windows
open, including several browsers, my sample application(s), inspector(s),
workspace(s), transcript, window builder(s) and sometimes the debugger.  I
often feel very hampered in Squeak because it is so hard to organize (on a
17" monitor) 2 browsers, a change set, one or more inspectors, etc.., even
with the screen maximized.  Let's face it:  my eyesight isn't very good; I
prefer the 800 X 600 setting.

Unlike the other folks who've participated in this discussion, I often use
the M$ Alt-Tab (& Alt-Shift-Tab) feature.  I also use the start bar buttons
with great frequency.  There has to be a simpler way to navigate betwixt the
various Squeak windows!  I often "lose" an inspector or workspace behind
another Squeak window.

I'd prefer any solution to this problem that can be accessed via the
keyboard AND the mouse.  To provide only a key board solution or only a
mouse solution will just frustrate too many people.

---==> Chris

PS>  Let us not forget Morphs.  Whenever I'm working with morphs, I
inadvertently lose some morphs under others.  There should be a simple way
of get a list of the available morphs in your project and then getting any
specific one to move itself to your mouse from wherever it is.  Sometimes my
morphs get put into positions where I can't get at some of their halo
options too.  The halo mechanism should know that its buttons are off of the
screen and adjust themselves into visible space appropriately.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Jerome.Garcia at wj.com [SMTP:Jerome.Garcia at wj.com]
> Sent:	Thursday, April 15, 1999 12:37 PM
> To:	squeak at cs.uiuc.edu; Peter William Lount
> Subject:	Re[2]: Thinking about a better UI
> 
>      Peter William Lount wrote:
>      
>      >
>      Hey, I DON'T represent that remark! :-b
>      >
>      
>      Hey! Me too, Me too!
>      
>      I am very often working with lots of windows associated with at least
> 
>      3 VisualWORKS images running simultaneously plus MS Word, Adobe 
>      Acrobat Reader, and InternetExplorer. And yes, I can write documents,
> 
>      debug code, and alter user interfaces efficiently in this mode and 
>      therefore prefer it. As Peter, I use the task bar a lot and I want to
> 
>      choose which windows I bring to the front not have someone determine 
>      what is best for me. I also agree with Peter that it would be nice to
> 
>      be able to better organize and operate on all of an applications 
>      windows when desired.
>      
>      Just my two cents :-)
>      
>      Jerome
> 
> 





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