

Canvas UI Library Demo - skenney26
http://mochaui.com/demo/

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axod
I'm still not convinced that conventional windows work inside a browser. I
think it confuses the user, and makes for bloat and mess.

Yeah it's cool you can do things like emulating desktop windows, resize, drag,
minimize etc, but just because you _can_ do this, doesn't mean you _should_.

There's a lot to be said for keeping things clean and simple. Keep things
accessible.

~~~
palish
Also keep in mind that your users may be viewing your webpage with their
phone, which is one big reason to not go the desktop simulation route.

Still, it's a very cool demo.

~~~
axod
Agreed. I have had users suggest I use right click to open up a contextual
menu on my webapp... All well and good until you're using an iPhone, or wii,
or something else without a mouse.

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benbeltran
I don't think the whole "Desktop in the Web UI" fad is good for the web.

A lot of apps that are used in the desktop could be easily ported to the web
without the need of windows like this. There are other ways to do it, AJAX
allows for them.

What works in the desktop doesn't necessarilly work in the web.

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dhotson
Have you ever used meebo?

It's one case where I think the metaphor works quite well.

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benbeltran
Actually you're right about meebo. But I've used several other "Desktop on the
web" websites or sites that use this paradigm and generally I think there must
be another way because that doesn't really work for me.

Now imagine if those kinds of idea of decentralization were used in a modern
OS for certain configurations and stuff...

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dhotson
I don't quite follow.. what do you mean by decentralization?

.. do you mean something like having your desktop settings on a central
server? ..something like apple's new Mobile Me?

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neilk
Awesomesauce. Though I agree the world should move away from windows in the
browser, frameworks like this are great too. The tabs and so on are slick.

Edit: hey, it works in IE! I guess this is Canvas.IE? Is the author on
news.yc?

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ph0rque
can anyone tell if it works on ie6?

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spydez
It works in IE6.

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PieSquared
That was awesome! I never believed the idea that actual applications, like
work processing or something like that, could shift away from the desktop, but
now I think that it actually might be possible.

I was literally open-jawed when I created a new window with the content URL of
<http://www.google.com>, used that to search for Mocha UI, then opened another
instance of Mocha UI in itself. I thought that was pretty nifty. Although
useless in practice.

~~~
DougBTX
> Although useless in practice.

A good point. Also notable that Mocha UI did not invent the iframe, nor use it
in any way unforeseen by it's inventors.

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KirinDave
I can see a lot of use for this in monitoring frameworks and admin interfaces.

~~~
babul
or porting desktop app interfaces to the web to save having to retrain users
in business environments.

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jasonlbaptiste
pretty interesting. seen tons of libraries do stuff like this, but if you can
have it:

a) well documented b) with good performance c) easily extendable

people will use it to make very desktopy like web apps ala gho.st etc

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DougBTX
MDI interfaces are so last century...

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ashu
You use stuff when it's relevant and applicable and not by applying various
"century" flags.

~~~
DougBTX
Reinventing past mistakes in new mediums does not count as innovation.

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mattdennewitz
very slick

