Subject: Fwd: Re: Close and Exit
From: John H. Raines, Jr. (raines@one.net)
Date: Wed Aug 22 2001 - 01:46:47 CDT
*********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE ***********
<snip>
Thus, there still is a difference between Exit and Close, but it becomes a
simpler story. Forget about applications entirely. You're just working
with documents. Close gets rid of this document. Exit does the same thing
for all of your AbiWord documents. Think of it as a "super-Close" if you
will.
what's the right precedent?
---------------------------
I might feel more tentative about advocating this style of interface if I
didn't have a *huge* precedent backing me up -- namely, web browsers. The
switch from application-centric UIs to document-centric UIs has already
made great inroads with users.
<snip>
*********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE ***********
Just a few comments regarding this explanation:
1. Abiword is simply not consistent in the application of the SDI model, thus the confusion. To be consistent, at a minimum, the following changes would be required: the program would not open to a blank document but would instead open with the file manager with an option to open a new document which could be named when opened. The file (or document commands) new, open & close should be grouped together to emphasize their sameness. The exit command should either disappear or become Close-All since exit is definitely a program-centric concept. The window menu item doesn't make a lot of sense: if we are trying to emphasize the desktop & not the program then you should look for your documents on the desktop.. not the program.
2. The web browser is pretty weak as a precedent since web browsers are designed to... well, browse! Something designed to edit documents may need a different model. Right now (due to disk space problems) I only have iExplorer available. I note it only has a close command, no exit. I also note that the Opera browser, which many seem to think is the best browser now, chose MDI!
3. Having followed this discussion I DO understand the concept of SDI and can see some advantages. Abiword has a little ways to go to be truly SDI (see above) where the user in a very natural way gets focused on the document and sees the program as attached to it (not visa versa).
4. My original point about user orientation still holds. My example was:
"Be pure user oriented designers for just a moment. The user has one document open in Abiword. They click on the file menu. If the user is done with this document, then they can only desire to do one of two things: 1) close Abiword & do something else entirely or 2) close the current document to then open another document and do some more word processing. The programming design that allows the user to do what they want with the least effort is the superior design."
So, if you have an SDI solution that simplifies the process and minimizes error when you close the last document but you want to continue word processing, then you have resolved the real objection. It might be noted that launching Abiword with a file manager instead of a blank document would resolve most of the objections, especially if "Exit" became "Close-All" thus more clearly defining Abiwords orientation.
Again, just my 2 cents worth.
J. Raines
-----------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to
abiword-user-request@abisource.com with the word
unsubscribe in the message body.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Wed Aug 22 2001 - 01:46:04 CDT