Re: [Usability] Grouping Windows: Sticky Windows

[Ryan McDougall <ryan mcdougall telusplanet net>]

On Mon, 2004-04-05 at 09:47 -0700, Nadyne Mielke wrote:
> At 05:41 PM 4/4/2004, you wrote:
> 
> >This would basically work just like XMMS: when windows are dragged near
> >each other, they snap together like magnets so when you move one, you
> >move the whole as a group. The only non intuitive part is a notion of
> >"root" or "parent" sticky window, so moving the parent moves all of
> >them, and moving the child detaches it. Alternatively, stickiness could
> >a metacity menu command, with a corresponding "unstick" command to
> >detach child windows.
> 
> I think that you hit on the biggest problem with this idea: the concept of 
> a 'parent' window and 'child' windows.

[snip]
> 
> Outside of the question of parent windows, how do I prevent windows from 
> sticking?  I might want to just have two windows next to each other without 
> sticking, or one window on top of each other (which I often do when one 
> window has some level of transparency).  The menu command that you've 
> suggested approaches a solution to this problem, but I'd have to remember 
> that my two windows aren't just next to each other.

We can trash the parent notion if we make "stickiness" a menu option
with a keyboard shortcut. When you drag a metacity window around on
Fedora/GNOME2.4 a little plus appears beside the pointer. I have yet to
figure out why, but that (and XMMS) gave me the sticky idea: when
"stickiness" is activated, by menu option or key stroke, a little plus
appears and lets you stick the windows together. Conversely the
"unstick" command puts a little minus beside your pointer and allows you
to unstick individual windows, or possible all windows at once.

> 
> How do I tell that windows are stuck together, and not just next to each 
> other?  To use this at a system-wide level, it seems like we would need 
> some sort of visual clue that these three windows over here are stuck 
> together, and these four windows down there are stuck together, and these 
> two windows in the middle that are next to each other aren't stuck together.

Valid observation, although I think the problem this creates is minimal.
While one might be annoyed by windows that are stuck together against
your will, it doesn't get too far in the way of usability. Also if there
was an option to "unstick" the windows in the metacity menu, then it
would be fairly discoverable how to separate them.

> 
> Outside of the issues that I've raised above (which may or may not be 
> relatively easy to solve, I'm just throwing out some questions), what is 
> the benefit for the user?

Basically organization: 
-people like to group things that are related in ways that are
meaningful to them, like the way virtual desktops are now.
-GUI desktops generate a lot of windows, and manipulating each as
separate entities divorced from any relationship with any other window
requires the constant mental overhead of know which window relates to
which, and the constant manual manipulation (moving, resizing, etc.) on
their own. The GIMP is one example, as is the common developer's setup:
editor, terminal, debugger, music player, etc. If we have *some* means
of tying these windows together we can improve usability by decreasing
the distinct and separate entities that a user has to track and
manipulate.

Do you agree?

> 
> /nm
> 

Cheers,
Ryan