Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!apple!well!shf
From: shf@well.UUCP (Stuart H. Ferguson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: Windows without Front/Back gadgets
Message-ID: <14741@well.UUCP>
Date: 27 Nov 89 09:26:02 GMT
References: <186@modcomp.UUCP>
Reply-To: shf@well.UUCP (Stuart H. Ferguson)
Organization: The Blue Planet
Lines: 21

+-- srp@modcomp.UUCP (Steve Pietrowicz) writes:
  [ example of program using overlapping immobile windows to control user
    input state machine ]
| Perhaps the real question here is this:  Is using windows to cover up portions
| of a screen a "correct" thing to do, or should this be avoided?  Is there
| a better overall way to handle the problem?

My personal opinion is that controling the user's control sequence in 
this way is a bad practice.  Not just because click-to-front utilities
will screw it up, but also on general principles.  "Modeless" is a big
buzzword in User Interface circles these days, and for good reason.  A
"Mode-full" interface is one like the one described, where the user has
to follow some sequence of steps to get through the control process. 
A modeless interface can accomplish the same input tasks, but allowing 
the user to do it in his own order.  Typically, the same design process
that leads to a modeless interface leads to a more flexible one as well.

Just my two cents.
-- 
		Stuart Ferguson		(shf@well.UUCP)
		Action by HAVOC		(ferguson@metaphor.com)