Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!smsc.sony.com!dce
From: dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Application switching attributes (was Re: Remember Black Box?)
Message-ID: <1990Mar8.181228.18711@smsc.sony.com>
Date: 8 Mar 90 18:12:28 GMT
References: <18108@cs.yale.edu> <4197@hub.UUCP>
Reply-To: dce@Sony.COM (David Elliott)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Sony Microsystems Corp.
Lines: 38

In article <4197@hub.UUCP> 6600pete@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu writes:
>> the ability to have windows associated with a
>> running app disappear while in another app -- clicking on that app makes
>> them reappear
>
>Wait for System 7.0. That will be in the Apple menu. Or at least beta
>MultiFinders I have seen exhibit that feature. It's called "Put Away"...

"Set Aside..." (from MultiFinder 6.1b*) is nice, but it may not be the
same behavior.  Sometimes, I'd like to say "only show me one
application's windows at a time", but it would be nice to be able to
mark applications with various types of behavior.

Examples of attributes I would find useful:

* Auto set-aside - Set aside the windows for the application when not
  the front application.

* No rotation - Don't bring the application to the front as a result of
  clicking on the MultiFinder menu bar icon.

* No window-clicks -  Don't bring the application to the front as a
  result of clicking in one of its windows.

* Stay back - Whenever the application is not in front, force it to
  the bottom.

For me, Word, NCSA Telnet, and PowerStation would be great with auto
set-aside, but things like _Launch would only be useful with no rotation
and stay back.  The spinning globe, multiruler, and navcom applications
would be much more useful with no rotation, no window-clicks, and
stay back (like applications in X that draw on the root window).

-- 
David Elliott
dce@smsc.sony.com | ...!{uunet,mips}!sonyusa!dce
(408)944-4073
"...it becomes natural, like a third sense." -- Homer Simpson