[openbeos] Re: inconsistency?

Adi Oanca <e2joseph@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
 ...
>       Would you have preferred to have them 
> minimized/closed one by one? I think floating 
> windows' behavior(and look) is very inspired - they 
> appear only when needed - no screen space is
> lost when not needed anymore.

My Mac is unfortunately in the closet, but I'll try to remember how it 
works. Any Mac-heads feel free to correct me! :)

I think that in MacOS, at least the old MacOS, each app has all of its 
windows in what feels like it's own layer. If an application has 
multiple windows, all of them would pop to front when one of them is 
clicked. Which in my mind is more like all windows, palette or not, 
being "equal", having less disparate behaviour than what they have in 
BeOS, where for example palette windows very much look and feel (and 
smell) like a special case (which takes some getting used to).

I don't think MacOS palettes hide when the main window is not in focus. 
They probably gray out somewhat, like other non-palette windows. This 
is probably not how the current MacOS X behaves though. Steve brought a 
lot of UI change with the NeXT heritage.

IIRC, Be meant that drag&drop between different apps worked better with 
the current window policy. Workspaces is a thing to consider too, that 
sets BeOS aside from MacOS. I haven't given a whole lot of thought to 
what would constitute a better window focus/order/grouping/etc policy, 
but I do think the one currently employed by BeOS is not finished and 
was supposed to be refined, had Be lived on. 

Perhaps one could implement the windowing policy as a replaceable add-
on. The apps / API provide the window metadata (like how it works now), 
and the app_server / policy addon implement and enforce it.

 ...
>       Could you tell me what was/is better? Who knows, maybe they're 
> right...

IIRC, it feels more complete. 

MacOS X is another story. I'm not yet comfortable with that UI. (My 
.edu has a bunch of eMacs I use from time to time.) The only thing that 
comes natural is the Apple key <--> Alt key shortcuts. The OS X apps 
are great though.
 
/Jonas Sundström.                    www.kirilla.com

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