cca@pur-phy (Charles C. Allen) (01/12/90)
>> [example of how DECwindows wraps menubars in windows] > People can scan through the current menu bar by dragging left and > right, and select from within a menu be dragging down and up. If > you wrap the menu bar, you can't do this. I can scan through a DECwindows wrapped menubar with no difficulty. I understand what you're saying, but I've *used* both systems (the Mac for several years, and yes, I love it!), DECwindows for about 6 months. Thought experiments are fine sometimes, I think it's time for a little more practical investigation. > Another problem: What if an application has more than one window open? > Do they all have the same menu? Do different types of windows have > different menus (making them look like different apps)? Is there a > master window which has the single menu bar? An earlier part of my previous posting mentioned a possible separation: The screen menubar contains items which pertain to the current application as a whole. Each window contains a menubar that contains items which pertain to that window. For instance, looking at the MacWrite II menus, I see that the apple menu contains two MW II application items ("About MacWrite II..." and "Help"), and the File menu also contains items that don't operate on the current window ("New", "Open...", maybe "Open Merge Data File..."). These would go in the screen menubar. Most of the others appear to apply to the current document or selection. Those would go in a window menubar. This is not at all a new concept. Most draw programs have a palette on the left side of the window that applies only to the window the palette is in. Different types of windows would certainly have different menus if they need different operations. I don't understand the bit about "making them look like different apps". Currently, there is no way to distinguish between an inactive window in the current application, and windows in other applications. There needs to be a "inactive, but still part of the current application" titlebar highlighting style. > Another problem: If the menu bar is no longer at the edge of the > screen, the user can no longer use the top of the screen as a > backstop. It becomes possible to overshoot. Yes, it's possible, but once again thought experiments aren't good enough here. I find them easy to use. Perhaps other people can share their actual experiences with such things. At any rate, Apple would certainly do user tests before blessing such interface issues. Charles Allen cca@newton.physics.purdue.edu