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From: ccplumb@watnot.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Matt's new DME (Iconifying!)
Message-ID: <12795@watnot.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 4-Apr-87 06:54:53 EST
Article-I.D.: watnot.12795
Posted: Sat Apr  4 06:54:53 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 5-Apr-87 08:37:53 EST
References: <8704031013.AA17765@cory.Berkeley.EDU>
Reply-To: ccplumb@watnot.UUCP (Colin Plumb)
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 41

Adding some kind of icon support to 1.3 would be a win.
I'd like to suggest some details.  Comments (especially
on ease of implementation) are welcome.

- Icons are certainly a good idea.  The number of times I've
  reduced my CLI window so I could look underneath, then
  enlarged it again so I could fit a directory listing in
  it is enormous.

- Icons should work a lot like they do in the workbench.
  I.e. they're one big drag gadget, and double-clicking
  opens them.

- Extrapolating to windows, double-clicking on the title bar
  should iconify them.  This is of marginal value.  An
  iconify gadget would do just as well.

- It should be possible to rearrange them front-to-back.

  This could be tricky.  You want to keep icons small, and
  not clutter them up with gadgets for this purpose.  Perhaps
  the right mouse button could be used?  It does seem a bit
  underused.  (After all, you have to be at the top of the
  screen to *use* the menus, even if you can push the button
  anywhere.)  How about having one click bring it to the front,
  two send it to the back?

This might be putting too many features on the mouse buttons.
Yet, after playing with suntools and X, I really like the
versatility the mouse can achieve, even if it does take a while
to get used to what all the buttons do depending on where they
are.  (Note:  I think using shift/alt/control/meta/super/hyper/
top/greek - mouse button combinations is a loss.  You have to look
at the keyboard to find the key to hold.)

Anyway, would someone like to improve on these ideas?
--
	-Colin Plumb (watmath!watnot!ccplumb)

Silly quote:
Keep your ear peeled!