
Have we given up too quickly on non-overlapping window GUIs? - amichail
Given the success of Exposé, perhaps we have given up too early on non-overlapping window GUIs?<p>For example, suppose you combine the automatic layout of Exposé with different zoom levels and win 7's dock.  Could that provide something workable that would do away with overlapping windows?<p>You could provide Exposé on a per app level as well.  Just click the app's icon and you will see all its open windows all on the screen at once with no overlap.<p>If you want to see a certain subset of windows on the screen at once, just click on all of those in the subset to zoom in to only those windows, again with no overlap.
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sharkbrainguy
It sounds like you're talking about tiling windows managers.

<http://awesome.naquadah.org/> <http://www.nongnu.org/stumpwm/>
<http://xmonad.org/>

or am I just confused?

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amichail
Why allow window overlap at all in mac/win?

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nostrademons
Because some people really like it. I always feel claustrophobic in tiling
window managers, for example.

There is a significant geek population that likes tiling WMs. More power to
'em. But I think the general public probably like the freedom to overlap
windows as they see fit.

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amichail
Is there a usability advantage to overlapping windows?

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unalone
My immediate response is that yes, there is, because it preserves the physical
feeling that I have. That is to say, my windows go where I _want_ them to go.
That's control that I like.

The other response is that there is because you can hide things you aren't
using behind other windows. Right now, the 4 windows I have open wouldn't all
fit on a single screen without overlapping.

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klahnako
I dislike the free-form overlapping windows, but tiling is still worse. Tiling
could be better if windows had a 'reduced' mode: which needs minimal screen
area to show status. Some examples: I like the last two lines of IM and
terminal windows to show. I like to see the folder status on Thunderbird
peeking out from behind other windows. I only need the smallest portion of the
top left title bar to show for plain documents (they have no 'status').

Three screens help. :)

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ilaksh
I am definitely with you on the zoom capability rather than just leaving
windows all on top of eachother. If you have that, you don't necessarily need
automatic window layout (Expose).

I think eventually when people have enough experience with ZUIs on phone
browsers etc. all of the OS/window managers will have to provide
zooming/panning (at least as an option).

I am building a ZUI javascript components / thing because I think its also
useful for browsing the web.

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johnm
Use a window manager that supports multiple independent workspaces. E.g., on a
Mac use Spaces.

That way you can arrange your windows as you like and leave them that way.

