The Need for "Single Window Mode" 3234

Dan Johnson

Because the interface was designed to work in that manner. Indeed, anything *but* a full-screen window doesn't make much sense on a 9" display.

Two words: Resolution Independence.

Yes. If the function exists, it should be a mode entered into at install or boot time. It should *never* be a function that can be invoked at any time. All that does is f*** up the applications designed to use multiple overlapping windows.

Not really. Why would you activate it unless you wanted to clear your desktop?

I didn't say it completely invalidated D&D, just that it made it impractical to use (the functionality is so severely limited that it might as well not exist). Drag and Drop between applications is a disaster in a non-spatial interface.

It's not beyond them, it just requires extra thought to process. Experienced computer users suffer this penalty as well, though it isn't as pronounced (it's not even in the same ballpark).

Here, try this. Open 'My Computer'. Note how it doesn't use all the screen space even when the window is not maximized. What happens when you maximize it? All it does is add more whitespace (or blue space, in the case of the strip on the side). This is not useful space, and is presented only to help aid in the recognition of window boundaries.

I didn't use Mac OS 9. I don't even like OS X, despite owning two Macs.

Only because Apple chose to implement their interface in a way that necessitated such.

Because Microsoft has already taught users that method of organizing screen content.

Users do not often move windows while working on them.

Not really. Muscle memory is not learned for targets in the middle of a screen, especially for dynamic content (which is mostly what people work with these days). Your argument would be true if Windows had menus oriented against a screen edge, rather than floating in the middle of the window. Unfortunately, they don't.

The old method did not have this requirement.

They can at least make it as difficult as possible.