06:59 pm, 23 Sep 03
last one, i promise
But really, all of that is looking at it too closely. I think the overlapping windows metaphor for programs isn’t very useful, with two exceptions:
I’m always thinking about ways to replace it because my screen always seems to be shrinking. Right now from the top, I have the GNOME menu bar, the firebird title bar, the firebird menu bar, the firebird address bar, the firebird bookmark bar, then the firebird tabs, and only then to I get to the actual content I was trying to read.
So many system monitors/launchers present on the screen at all times have the same effect on me as a messy room. There’s a real clarity to be found in running an app full-screen¹ (in the real sense: without title bars or toolbars or anything) that is soothing.
1: ion lets you full-screen any program with a hotkey. It’s good.
- when you’re copying/referring to something in one program while typing in another (arguably could be handled with alt-tab-style switching);
- keeping the width of web pages / text editors small so it’s easier to read (the web is probably unfixable, but both could be addressed as simply a “width” problem in a “better” system).
I’m always thinking about ways to replace it because my screen always seems to be shrinking. Right now from the top, I have the GNOME menu bar, the firebird title bar, the firebird menu bar, the firebird address bar, the firebird bookmark bar, then the firebird tabs, and only then to I get to the actual content I was trying to read.
So many system monitors/launchers present on the screen at all times have the same effect on me as a messy room. There’s a real clarity to be found in running an app full-screen¹ (in the real sense: without title bars or toolbars or anything) that is soothing.
1: ion lets you full-screen any program with a hotkey. It’s good.
