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I made a quick build: https://i.imgur.com/ZOcOBsl.png https://i.imgur.com/ZOcOBsl.png It is neat and i like how it remembers the sizing and open folders, but i

I made a quick build: https://i.imgur.com/ZOcOBsl.png https://i.imgur.com/ZOcOBsl.png It is neat and i like how it remembers the sizing and open folders, but it really shows how much Microsoft has neglected Win32 and MDI in particular: the theme is still the same used 12 years ago in Vista and while i am not a fan of the Win8 nor the Win10 theme (my favorite theme is the classic theme), the inconsistency sticks out like a sore thumb. And of course beyond the lack of a visual update (that would take perhaps 1 hour to fix), there are visual glitches like this one: https://i.imgur.com/Vfm5ndc.png https://i.imgur.com/Vfm5ndc.png (notice the black corners on the window at the right - ironically they happen because of the non-rectangular shape of the titlebar, which would not be the case if the Windows 8 or 10 themes were used since those are rectangular). And i suppose at this point it doesn't make much sense to mention missing features, like double clicking the top edge to maximize a window :-P. Which sucks because i always liked MDI applications. I know that some studies or whatever have shown that novices often get confused, but personally i find the idea of having a "group" of windows inside the application that manage them to make more sense - especially for visual stuff, like image editors where i can open two views of the same document in different zoom levels. And i also find being able to move and resize the subwindows in any way i want (not limited to splits and such which i find more annoying and a waste of space than helpful). Having said that i always always disliked, from the first day i saw it, the visual change from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 to make minimized windows look like tiny titlebars (they were called buttons but there is nothing button-y about how they ever looked in any version of Windows from 95 to today) instead of icons. mIRC adding a taskbar-like panel was a much better idea (you could say that novices would again be confused, but from what i remember from the late 90s and early 2000s, that didn't stop people from using mIRC :-P), but just sticking with icons would be fine too (i think icons inside the MDI area were supposed to be used for something else that i don't remember now, but i do not think any program ever used that). EDIT: added a tiny feature to search multiple wildcards separated by semicolons :-) - https://i.imgur.com/vi7BI7B.png https://i.imgur.com/vi7BI7B.png The code style is kinda weird though (3 spaces for each indentation level?) and seems that several comments are out of date :-P.

blattimwind 9y ago
The Win95 styling of the toolbar and some other oldie-looks are likely due to a missing application manifest, not because Win32 doesn't support the newer visual styles.
- badsectoracula 9y ago
  I was talking about the MDI windows (those inside the client area, the subwindows), not the toolbar. The MDI windows, regardless of manifest, use the Vista theme since their look hasn't been updated for ~12 years. This is actually something that has been reported to Microsoft before (here is a link for one of the feedback entries linked in one of the issues in the WinFile repository: https://aka.ms/Bjiosw https://aka.ms/Bjiosw ).
exikyut 9y ago
> i suppose at this point it doesn't make much sense to mention missing features, like double clicking the top edge to maximize a window :-P. wat? By "top edge" do you mean "it's showing a resize cursor"? And if yes, is there a difference between double-clicking there and doubleclicking the titlebar? Genuinely curious. -- > i also find being able to move and resize the subwindows in any way i want (not limited to splits and such which i find more annoying and a waste of space than helpful). I've been mentally playing around with "what if there was a reality where everything interacted properly and we only needed to worry about designs having good look and feel" for a long time, and tiling makes sense to me as an general idea - it's current implementations, particularly linux windowmanagers, that are disasters-squared. What is it about the freedom to move windows anywhere that is particularly appealing? I ask because I'm trying to get a bit of design perspective. Hm. Thinking about it, the ability to shove things wherever you want does make a lot of sense generally speaking. I think I'm trying to rank the un/usability of tiling versus MDI window grouping (which I can see breaking down outside of carefully scoped situations). (Maybe ignore this bit. I tend to mentally ramble to myself about UX all day.) -- > Having said that i always always disliked, from the first day i saw it, the visual change from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 to make minimized windows look like tiny titlebars Interesting! I'm curious why. The different aesthetic of a bigger icon? (The task buttons did also have an app icon) FWIW, the iPhone kind of won pretty big using the same approach. I think I've seen the mIRC task panel, it resembles tabbed browsing somewhat. Personally I wish I could switch to the correct focus in a given open app from a central location instead of having to focus the app then switch to whatever, but that's just me. -- > (i think icons inside the MDI area were supposed to be used for something else that i don't remember now, but i do not think any program ever used that). I'm guessing that infrastructure was primarily built out at all for Program Manager. I've seen some other old applications (I think for online services?) that also did the minimized-MDI-windows-as-icons thing.

blattimwind 9y ago

The Win95 styling of the toolbar and some other oldie-looks are likely due to a missing application manifest, not because Win32 doesn't support the newer visual styles.

badsectoracula 9y ago
I was talking about the MDI windows (those inside the client area, the subwindows), not the toolbar. The MDI windows, regardless of manifest, use the Vista theme since their look hasn't been updated for ~12 years. This is actually something that has been reported to Microsoft before (here is a link for one of the feedback entries linked in one of the issues in the WinFile repository: https://aka.ms/Bjiosw https://aka.ms/Bjiosw ).

exikyut 9y ago

> i suppose at this point it doesn't make much sense to mention missing features, like double clicking the top edge to maximize a window :-P. wat? By "top edge" do you mean "it's showing a resize cursor"? And if yes, is there a difference between double-clicking there and doubleclicking the titlebar? Genuinely curious. -- > i also find being able to move and resize the subwindows in any way i want (not limited to splits and such which i find more annoying and a waste of space than helpful). I've been mentally playing around with "what if there was a reality where everything interacted properly and we only needed to worry about designs having good look and feel" for a long time, and tiling makes sense to me as an general idea - it's current implementations, particularly linux windowmanagers, that are disasters-squared. What is it about the freedom to move windows anywhere that is particularly appealing? I ask because I'm trying to get a bit of design perspective. Hm. Thinking about it, the ability to shove things wherever you want does make a lot of sense generally speaking. I think I'm trying to rank the un/usability of tiling versus MDI window grouping (which I can see breaking down outside of carefully scoped situations). (Maybe ignore this bit. I tend to mentally ramble to myself about UX all day.) -- > Having said that i always always disliked, from the first day i saw it, the visual change from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 to make minimized windows look like tiny titlebars Interesting! I'm curious why. The different aesthetic of a bigger icon? (The task buttons did also have an app icon) FWIW, the iPhone kind of won pretty big using the same approach. I think I've seen the mIRC task panel, it resembles tabbed browsing somewhat. Personally I wish I could switch to the correct focus in a given open app from a central location instead of having to focus the app then switch to whatever, but that's just me. -- > (i think icons inside the MDI area were supposed to be used for something else that i don't remember now, but i do not think any program ever used that). I'm guessing that infrastructure was primarily built out at all for Program Manager. I've seen some other old applications (I think for online services?) that also did the minimized-MDI-windows-as-icons thing.