[comp.sys.mac.programmer] Moving windows and VersaTerm

cswarren@gershwin.berkeley.edu (Warren Gish;269A LSA;x3-9219) (04/08/89)

In article <12950@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton) writes:
>In article <2749@pegasus.ATT.COM> ech@pegasus.ATT.COM (Edward C Horvath) writes:
>>I have an application that tries to be a good citizen by shrinking windows
>>when it's not the foreground app.  I'm not the author of VersaTerm, but it
>>does this also.
>>
>
>     I for one do not ever want to have to write code which does this.
You don't! ;-)

>Window sizes and locations should always be under user control.

Those readers who have not used VersaTerm may have obtained a mistaken
impression of how the program (and its big brother VersaTermPRO) work.
Windows in VersaTerm are *always* under user control.  It's the user's
decision as to the size and location of the suspended terminal emulation
window (and the location of the file transfer progress window).
Furthermore, if the user does nothing with the window's size or
location, then the window's size and location do not change when the
program is suspended.

The feature makes life a lot simpler when combining local work with
telecommuting.  I can put VersaTerm in the background with a tiny
window in the corner, just big enough to see when I've received mail,
then switch to VersaTerm and have a full 24x80 screen ready to go.

Does this break Apple's User Inferface Guidelines?
Do the UIGs say we should avoid making a useful, sensible interface
for our programs?

An alternative method, whereby VersaTerm would use the Notification
Manager to tell me when some bytes come in, was not available to Lonnie
Abelbeck when the first version of Multifinder appeared.  But I don't
think I'd be very happy with the Notification Manager approach anyway,
since it doesn't give me any details about what's happening in the
background; with the tiny window approach, I can see at least some
of the in-coming text without switching VersaTerm to the foreground.

--Warren Gish
UC Berkeley

Disclaimer:  opinions are my own.  I have no affiliation with Lonnie
Abelbeck or Synergy Software other than as a satisfied customer.
(In fact, if it wasn't for VersaTerm, I'd be a much less satisfied
Apple customer).