The Need for "Single Window Mode" 3231
Dan Johnson
It's important for a non-spatial interface with a relatively small amount of screen real estate. Very good for people still using 1024x768 on a 17" CRT. Not so great for the people using 20+" LCD displays at insanely high resolutions. Screen clutter isn't actually that detrimental if there's proper window management techniques in place. It's certainly less detrimental than allowing a single window mode.
If you want to get down to it, having overlapping windows is a bad design from the get-go. Tiled window management makes much better use of all available screen space.
Dan Johnson Because the interface was designed to work in that manner. Indeed, anything *but* a full-screen window doesn't make...
I usually have more screen real estate than I know what to do with. I put windows in places where they have the most visible space.
Something they should include in Spaces is a "Get my poo off this desktop" function. Invoke it, and windows for background applications get shoved off onto another window.
snip Apple's approach in Aqua is to mostly cut down application interfaces to a single window. This effectively turns apps into little self-contained "widgets...
This has a number of problems.
1) It absolutely destroys the functionality of drag and drop. 2) It makes window switching a non-spatial event, which usually means that it will confuse new users in practice (they understand what maximize means, it's just not instinctive to change windows by clicking on a disconnected button). 3) It wastes a lot of screen space for application windows that do not have enough content to fill the screen (most applications). Blank white space is even less useful than a desktop. 4) It hampers muscle memory, since window placement in the task bar is controlled by the order in which applications were launched rather than by the arbitrary preference of the user.
There's a ton I didn't even brush on as well. Too lazy, I guess.
Actually, the overlapping windows are best for small screens. On the old 9-inchers, you needed to keep each window simple, or its content...
From a usability standpoint, this isn't that harmful. I admit, Mac OS looks like poo while a user is actually working at the machine--but ultimately, productivity is what matters.
No, Window Zoom on OS X just flat out doesn't work properly. There should *never* be a way for application developers to change the function of a system-wide UI element like that.
The Need for "Single Window Mode" 3232
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