bryce@COGSCI.BERKELEY.EDU.UUCP (06/08/87)
I have never been totally satisfied with several aspects of some of the windowing systems I have used. Specifically, relating to overlapping windows (not a problem for Microsoft windows, of course :-) :-) :-). With the Mac, when a window is slected (by clicking) it is automatically brought to the front. This works fine for the Mac. With the Amiga the window is slected, but NOT brought to the front. This fits the Amiga, since in a multitasking environment you will often want to type into an obscured window. It is quite easy to transparently modify the user interface of the Amiga, and quite a few such programs have been developed: sunmouse ;The window under the pointer is auto-selected, no clicking needed. sunmouse+ ;That window is also so brought to the front. poptofront ;Click in a window, press A-F to bring it to the front. macwindow ;Clicking in a window selects it and brings it to the front. (unless shift is pressed) Now some test beds on ways to make this is cleaner, mouse-exclusive action: (The first click left selects the window, then some action extends that selection) test1 ;click-hold left, click-release right (clumsy) test2 ;click-hold left, click right test3 ;click-hold left, click-hold right, release left, release right (complex to explain, easy to do) test4 ;click right, over window. test5 ;double-click right, over window. None of these where completely satisfactory. Turns out that I was working too hard. The solution (for me, at least) was there all the time. Click to activate the window. Double-click to bring it forward. It was easy to write, just fire up the input.device and check with Intuition's "DoubleClick" test. If you have an Amiga you may try this out after a short visit to comp.sources.amiga or comp.binaries.amiga. This is not perfect, it does not express all the actions that I perceive as desirable. These are: select a window bring it to the front push it to the back de-emphasize the window (iconify) normalize emphasize (expand to full screen) open an icon get/change information about an icon Also easy shuffling between two or three active work windows smoothly. With the Amiga the left button is classified the "selection" button, the right is the "information" button. Discussion relating to user interfaces seem to be collecting in comp.windows.misc, so if you respond, do so there.