Working on xmlDig, the question comes up, which GUI do you prefer: An MDI GUI, or one where every window is "dockable"?
As I see it, MDI is a bit cleaner, since all the windows are in one space only. Here's a couple screenshots:
The latter one there is an MDI where the windows are fully maximized (note the X button in the upper right hand corner). Now, the alternative GUI is one where all the windows are "docked" into one working space, shown here:
This is a *great* GUI for advanced users, since they have the ability to move everything around and undock the windows they need to. This is a *huge* problem for the novice user though, since once things start undocking, they get paniced and scared. For example, the same application and windows as above are shown here with things undocked:
I like how with a docked application, you can undock to move a second window into a 2nd monitor. But I hesitate since a user can *easily* become lost and confused in a docked application. Sometimes less is more...
I ask, since it's being decided now how to move forward with xmlDig. The current beta is an MDI application. Before moving forward, we were curious to see what are users liked.
-BKN
As I see it, MDI is a bit cleaner, since all the windows are in one space only. Here's a couple screenshots:
The latter one there is an MDI where the windows are fully maximized (note the X button in the upper right hand corner). Now, the alternative GUI is one where all the windows are "docked" into one working space, shown here:
This is a *great* GUI for advanced users, since they have the ability to move everything around and undock the windows they need to. This is a *huge* problem for the novice user though, since once things start undocking, they get paniced and scared. For example, the same application and windows as above are shown here with things undocked:
I like how with a docked application, you can undock to move a second window into a 2nd monitor. But I hesitate since a user can *easily* become lost and confused in a docked application. Sometimes less is more...
I ask, since it's being decided now how to move forward with xmlDig. The current beta is an MDI application. Before moving forward, we were curious to see what are users liked.
-BKN
