Subject: Re: Abiword pager
rob.campbell@att.net
Date: Wed Aug 15 2001 - 08:04:01 CDT
IIRC, DeScribe (a native OS/2 word processor) had
a "Close & Open..." option in the File menu, which
closed the current document and allowed the user to
select a new one. This would address what I think is
the main issue with AbiWord's SDI.
DeScribe was an MDI application. So if the user
cancelled the open operation, the application remained
open but with no file loaded. Since AbiWord is SDI, it
would need to prompt for and load the new file, then
close the previous file.
> Quoting Scott <mrphido@prodigy.net>:
>
> > First let me say that I love Abiword.
> > I'm not a programmer, but I have helped where I can and kept up on it's
> > development.
> > Having said that there is one thing that irritates me and I also know
> > that this has come up before, but I will suggest it again. I know that
> > AbiWord is built on Multiple Document Interface, and that is a more
> > complete soulution for working with any one document. However it has
> > it's own problems, as has been well discussed before and I will not go
> > over again. I simply offer a possible solution to one of those problems.
> > How about if there were a pager of some sort, after the style of
> > Electric Eyes, that would open. It would include the Abiword opening
> > screen, and only New, Open and Exit buttons below that. It would stay
> > open for the duration of all open documents and only close on an Exit
> > command.
> > It solves three problems:
> > 1) Starting a new document quickly, rather than closing the last
> > document and having to go through the complete loading process.
> > 2) Opening an existing document quickly after you have closed out your
> > previous docs and forgotten to open the next one you need to work on,
> > rather than close that last document, go oops, or $#!%, and have to
> > completely restart the process of opening abi from scratch, click open
> > document, find it and only then be able to edit it.
> > 3) Solves the redundancy of Close and Exit. Close would close the
> > current document. Successive closes of all open documents would leave
> > you with the pager. Exit in any window would close all windows and
> > shutdown the pager.
> >
> > I'm only a user, and I have no idea of the work that this would entail,
> > but it is one of the few elements of SDI that MDI really lacks in my
> > insignificant opinion.
>
> Hi Scott,
>
> Many SDI programs have taken this route (you've reversed SDI and MDI in your
> above analysis). Photoshop, the Gimp, ElectricEyes are all examples of
> this "Pager" type behavior.
>
> I personally feel that this functionality feels klunky and unusual for the
> user, though my personal opinion should not be used in place of some usability
> study. I just get the feeling that pagers are more useful when they act as a
> highly-functional palette/toolbar like the Gimp or Photoshop have.
>
> I hate having lots of little pagers loose on my screen, and I feel that other
> people might have similar feelings. MSWord 2000 and XP don't do this, for
> instance, though we need not follow their every behavior.
>
> What I'd like to see are a few papers or use case studies that have documented
> that pagers help out users when they're using a SDI application, and arguments
> against using them (if any should exist in either case). If some reputable
> sources have done studies on the topic, I'd be more inclined to implement this
> functionality.
>
> Take care,
> Dom
>
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