Difference between revisions of "Single-window mode specification"

Revision as of 11:17, 5 May 2011

introduction

This is the specification for the single-window mode, in addition to the multi-window one.

analysis + design goals

Designing the single-window mode (swm) interaction solution boils down to the following tasks:

1. understanding the user needs behind the huge request for single-window and base the overall design on it;
2. design the switching that controls which is the current active image under swm;
3. design the opening and closing of GIMP and image files under swm;
4. design working side-by-side with several files under swm;
5. redesign docking and tearing off of dockable dialogs, and whole columns of them.

understanding single-window

The interest from (potential and ex-) GIMP users in single-window is huge, literally 100 time higher than any other GIMP topic. Absorbing and classifying all the input, we define the following user needs that drive this interest:

single application instance

This is the user need to see the (usually single) GIMP application instance that is running represented as a single entity. e.g. one item in the ‘taskbar,’ only one menubar (not one for every open file).

stop fighting window managers

Users are fed up with GIMP dialogs getting lost under document windows. And with the ‘taskbar’ being stuffed with non-entities. This has a lot to do with recalcitrant window managers and application–window manager communication on several platforms. All this cannot be ‘repaired’ by patching all these window managers and gtk glue code to non-linux platforms. Users see the magic bullet in stop fighting and going single-window.

single working plane

This is the user need for a continuous work surface where everything is GIMP, and only GIMP, in order to concentrate on their work. It also is the need for an end to every GIMP window, toolbox and dialog floating around in the desktop window stack individually.

Reminder: the world is still a 50-50 place: 50% of users want to keep the current multi-window way, and the other 50% is looking forward to a single-window interface.

Putting all this together, a single-window interface aims to fulfil the user need of 50% of GIMP users. We also feel that for each of these users, the user needs are slightly different: they consist of a linear combination of the three user needs outlined above.

expression

While further investigating the essence of single-window, we hit upon two orthogonal dimensions of expression of above user needs.

The first one is a scale with at one end the need for a flat + clean interface and on the other end the need for free-form working. These are defined as:

flat + clean interface

This is a purist form of the single working plane. All the elements that form the plane—toolbox, dockables, menubar, status bar, canvas for working on the file(s)—are non-overlapping and with no gaps between them. As a result of this everything is laid out in rows and columns that pad themselves out automatically, and the ‘work canvas’ is simply defined as the consecutive area that is left over on the working plane. Another result is that no matter how users configure their single working plane, it is nigh impossible to create a mess. Everything stays neat.

free-form working

switching the current image

opening and closing of files

working side-by-side

docking and tearing off