? MDI depreciated

[Tony Nelson]

In article <1131294807.907281.58980 at g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
 "LenS" <lsumnler at uniqueinsuranceco.com> wrote:

> Hate to ask this dum question (since I've been hiding under a rock).
> But if the MDI UI model is/was depreciated.  What is the new UI model.
> 
> Would love some links that explain in gerneral and specific terms.

In article <1131301424.814634.237230 at f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
 "Brendan" <spam4bsimons at yahoo.ca> wrote:

> This is probably a question better suited for a wxPython or MSDN
> newsgroup.  What OS are you referring to?  What GUI toolkit are you
> using?
> 
> Microsoft's office on Windows has moved to a model where every document
> has its own toolbar, menubar, and taskbar entry.  Windows developers
> tend to mimic MS Office, so many are also moving to this model. Mac
> apps have never had MDI.

MS also uses a "Tabbed" version of MDI where only one document at a time 
is visible.  Sometimes this is /implemented/ using the MDI APIs (and 
they also have some MDI apps that don't use the APIs; go figure).  Gnome 
uses Tabbed windows as well; see Gedit, which opens documents in tabs, 
though they can be dragged out into their own windows.  In GTK, at 
least, the Tabbed interface is easily done as a Notebook.

MacOS apps used MDI from the beginning of Multifinder; it just worked 
better than on MSWindows because instead of a grey background you got to 
see the rest of the desktop and the other apps.  On MacOS, MDI was 
referred to as "Layers".  If on MSWindows MDI windows were always 
maximized, had no grey background, and hid the MDI Frame when not in 
front, they would be almost exactly what MacOS did.

MOSX, being a version of NextOS and NextStep, has the more "advanced" 
no-layer, no-MDI UI, and Apple recommends that each app should have only 
one window.
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