Common Usability Terms: pt. VI: the Dock
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 18th Nov 2007 15:46 UTC
Graphics, User Interfaces This is the sixth article in a series on common usability and graphical user interface related terms [part I | part II | part III | part IV | part V]. On the internet, and especially in forum discussions like we all have here on OSNews, it is almost certain that in any given discussion, someone will most likely bring up usability and GUI related terms - things like spatial memory, widgets, consistency, Fitts' Law, and more. The aim of this series is to explain these terms, learn something about their origins, and finally rate their importance in the field of usability and (graphical) user interface design. In part VI, we focus on the dock.
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hobgoblin
Member since:
2005-07-06

hmm, ok. sadly i dont recall where i got the "info" from so...

ah, think i found it:
http://toastytech.com/guis/star.html

i see the star tried to not overlap the main windows (but dialogs still could overlap).

guess i, or someone else, got their wires crossed at some point...

Edited 2007-11-19 03:56 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 2

tupp Member since:
2006-11-12

Thanks for the link.

Not sure why the screenshots on the Xerox Star site that you linked show no overlapping windows on the first page, but they start on the second page.

Actually, free-floating, overlapping windows first appeared in the Xerox Alto, prior to the Star: http://www.digibarn.com/collections/software/alto/alto-cedar-enviro...

By the way, to all the fanboys who claim that Apple invented the scrollbar -- in the Xerox Star screenshots, did you happen to notice something interesting on the edges of the application windows?

Edited 2007-11-19 04:19

Reply Parent Score: 1

hobgoblin Member since:
2005-07-06

from what i gather, when a window is opened, it was arranged to make max use of the screen area, but with the condition that it should not overlap the icons on the right edge of the screen.

but the user was then able to move then windows about in any way he or she wanted.

but thats just be guessing based on the screenshots and accompanying text.

Reply Parent Score: 2