7 ms·

Floating windows in floating windows, I can't believe I forgot that was ever a thing.

Jaruzel 6y ago
It's called Multiple Document Interface (MDI) and in some instances can be quite useful. MS have completely depreciated it now to the extent that MDI apps no longer render their window chrome properly since Windows 7.
- vinw 6y ago
  FYI: deprecate [0] [0] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/deprecate https://www.dictionary.com/browse/deprecate
  - Jaruzel 6y ago
    FYI: depreciated [0] :) [0] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/depreciated https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/deprecia...
    - bmn__ 6y ago
      Yes, that's the wrong word. Please note the difference in usage.
      - Jaruzel 6y ago
        No, I used it correctly for what I was saying. Don't put words in my mouth please. MDI has not been removed. It's been DEPRECIATED as in it's still there and it still works (kinda) but MS no longer see value in it's function. My terminology for what I was saying was correct. This sub-thread is a classic example of HN pedantry. Down vote me into oblivion if it makes you happy. /sigh
        vinw 6y ago
        But deprecated doesn't mean it's "been removed". If I understand what you were originally trying to say, then deprecated is a better fitting word than depreciated because that is a financial term. Whereas deprecated is a common software term meaning exactly what you said "it's still there and it still works [...] but no longer see value in it's function".
        pedrocx486 6y ago
        Not pendantry, just pointing mistakes... If you want a good read: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprecation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprecation
    - forgotpwd16 6y ago
      Depreciate is about monetary value, deprecate in software terminology means something to be removed, and obsolete means it has been removed. As per Cambridge and others, you're correct since they don't include the aforementioned definition. Merriam-Webster[1] and Oxford[2] for example do. [1]: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deprecate https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deprecate [2]: https://www.lexico.com/definition/deprecate https://www.lexico.com/definition/deprecate
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- toyg 6y ago
  Right move IMHO, I always found it a bit confusing and somewhat arbitrary. However, removing MDI from Office apps was not followed by implementing a persistent-background-app replacement. So now you open a Word document, wait with splash-screen, look at the document, close it, then open another Word document, wait with splash-screen, repeat... so annoying.
  - badsectoracula 6y ago
    I do not see how it is confusing (to someone who is familiar with computers - i can see how some people who aren't used to computers might be confused by the maximization state). It is very useful in several types of applications, like image editors where you want to have multiple images open while having docked toolbars/controls, avoiding a waste of screen space and a clean background. This way you can have, e.g. the same image visible in two views or you can have an image that you pick colors from to paint or you can have several tileable images as "materials" to quickly a brush with the clone tool, etc. Personally i always found the UI of Paint Shop Pro 7 the best image editor UI and its MDI-based interface is a big reason for that (though not the only reason). In fact i find MDI so useful that i recently implemented it in Lazarus' LCL backend for Win32 - the next version of Lazarus is going to be the first one to support MDI under Windows. The reason is that i want to use it in a game engine editor i'm working on to open different resource types inside their own windows that often do not warrant using a fullscreen window (e.g. a list editor). And actually the two main annoyances i have with the most common "solution" (a work around really) of using tabs is that very often most of the content space in a tab is wasted since there isn't really a reason to have it cover the entire main window while at the same time you can only have one view visible at any time (no side by side or anything like that). In theory you can split the tabs in different groups but again you are forcing the views to adhere to the main window - and in practice the only application i've seen doing that is Visual Studio (which also has an in-editor split functionality and the number of times i needed either was much less than the number of times i needed to have documents/views visible side by side in other types of applications). Honestly i think Microsoft did a mistake for abandoning MDI just because some people weren't able to use it back in the 90s. Windows has a ton more stuff that can be confusing to a newbie but they aren't getting removed because they are useful.

It's called Multiple Document Interface (MDI) and in some instances can be quite useful. MS have completely depreciated it now to the extent that MDI apps no longer render their window chrome properly since Windows 7.

vinw 6y ago
FYI: deprecate [0] [0] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/deprecate https://www.dictionary.com/browse/deprecate
- Jaruzel 6y ago
  FYI: depreciated [0] :) [0] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/depreciated https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/deprecia...
  - bmn__ 6y ago
    Yes, that's the wrong word. Please note the difference in usage.
    - Jaruzel 6y ago
      No, I used it correctly for what I was saying. Don't put words in my mouth please. MDI has not been removed. It's been DEPRECIATED as in it's still there and it still works (kinda) but MS no longer see value in it's function. My terminology for what I was saying was correct. This sub-thread is a classic example of HN pedantry. Down vote me into oblivion if it makes you happy. /sigh
      - vinw 6y ago
        But deprecated doesn't mean it's "been removed". If I understand what you were originally trying to say, then deprecated is a better fitting word than depreciated because that is a financial term. Whereas deprecated is a common software term meaning exactly what you said "it's still there and it still works [...] but no longer see value in it's function".
      - pedrocx486 6y ago
        Not pendantry, just pointing mistakes... If you want a good read: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprecation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprecation
  - forgotpwd16 6y ago
    Depreciate is about monetary value, deprecate in software terminology means something to be removed, and obsolete means it has been removed. As per Cambridge and others, you're correct since they don't include the aforementioned definition. Merriam-Webster[1] and Oxford[2] for example do. [1]: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deprecate https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deprecate [2]: https://www.lexico.com/definition/deprecate https://www.lexico.com/definition/deprecate
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
toyg 6y ago
Right move IMHO, I always found it a bit confusing and somewhat arbitrary. However, removing MDI from Office apps was not followed by implementing a persistent-background-app replacement. So now you open a Word document, wait with splash-screen, look at the document, close it, then open another Word document, wait with splash-screen, repeat... so annoying.
- badsectoracula 6y ago
  I do not see how it is confusing (to someone who is familiar with computers - i can see how some people who aren't used to computers might be confused by the maximization state). It is very useful in several types of applications, like image editors where you want to have multiple images open while having docked toolbars/controls, avoiding a waste of screen space and a clean background. This way you can have, e.g. the same image visible in two views or you can have an image that you pick colors from to paint or you can have several tileable images as "materials" to quickly a brush with the clone tool, etc. Personally i always found the UI of Paint Shop Pro 7 the best image editor UI and its MDI-based interface is a big reason for that (though not the only reason). In fact i find MDI so useful that i recently implemented it in Lazarus' LCL backend for Win32 - the next version of Lazarus is going to be the first one to support MDI under Windows. The reason is that i want to use it in a game engine editor i'm working on to open different resource types inside their own windows that often do not warrant using a fullscreen window (e.g. a list editor). And actually the two main annoyances i have with the most common "solution" (a work around really) of using tabs is that very often most of the content space in a tab is wasted since there isn't really a reason to have it cover the entire main window while at the same time you can only have one view visible at any time (no side by side or anything like that). In theory you can split the tabs in different groups but again you are forcing the views to adhere to the main window - and in practice the only application i've seen doing that is Visual Studio (which also has an in-editor split functionality and the number of times i needed either was much less than the number of times i needed to have documents/views visible side by side in other types of applications). Honestly i think Microsoft did a mistake for abandoning MDI just because some people weren't able to use it back in the 90s. Windows has a ton more stuff that can be confusing to a newbie but they aren't getting removed because they are useful.