Re: Do windows appear?

[Valerie Jachimowicz <VJACHIMO -at- OMICRON-USA -dot- COM>]

I would say that once you have used WindowShade your window is collapsed
(or rolled up, if you want to carry the window shade metaphor further).
However, you still must open a window before you can collapse it, so you
would still need to decide whether you want to say "the window opens,"
or "the window appears." Although I prefer open, because it seems to me
to relate the event more closely to the user's action, I think the real
key is consistency. As long as the writer uses the same term throughout
the document, I'm not sure that it matters which is used.

Valerie
vjachimo -at- omicron-usa -dot- com

>----------
>From:  Jacob Matthan[SMTP:findians -at- NETPPL -dot- FI]
>Sent:  Wednesday, August 14, 1996 4:45 AM
>To:    Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
>Subject:       Re: Do windows appear?

>Hi,

>The discussion about windows appearing, opening and closing does not
>make
>sense on the Mac OS platform.

>I can have 200 or more open (technically) windows on my desktop
>covering
>about 50 or more different applications (my RAM permits me this
>luxury).
>All these can be hidden by just double clicking on the title bar. The
>windows roll up like a Window Shade. Only the title bars (with the
>complete
>file name) are visible.

>I can go directly to any (open/closed?) document using the pull down
>menu
>on the right of the top menu bar (which lists all open applications and
>documents hierarchically) and by double clicking on the rolled up title
>bar, which instantly appears, whereupon it will roll down again
>revealing
>the document. So technicallly it is closed but it is not closed, it is
>open
>but not open. (There are also lots of ways on the Mac of showing
>hierarchically all the documents open but not seen without going to the
>top
>right and corner.)

>In short, even with 200 windows and 50 applications open simultaneously
>I
>have absolutely no desktop clutter. (Mail me if you want to know which
>50
>applications I keep open all the time.)

>This has been absolutely great as I work on books with chapters where I
>have all the chapters (each one is usually a seperate file) open and go
>from one to another dragging and dropping text, pictures, etc. from one
>to
>another, making indexes, bibliographies, etc. We are working on four
>books
>simultaneously at the moment. I keep all the chapters, pictures,
>graphics,
>etc. open. As writers inspiration may come at any moment, I enter the
>text,
>graphics, immediately in the appropriate document as it flashes across
>my
>mind.  I also run 3 fortnightly webletters and the next issue of each
>is
>always open so that as news comes in I just add instantly to the
>correct
>document.

>Further, and more importantly, when text from my clients comes in for
>editing it gets opened and edited without affecting any of my other
>work. I
>usually open the new document in TexEdit Plus and have the computer
>read
>aloud the document to me as a first acquaintance process as I continue
>my
>work on some other document or task or have Eudora download my mail
>while
>my web browser download a new web page, etc.

>So a (closed) document is being read to me by Veronica (my preferred
>computer voice) while I work on an (open) document in some other
>application. This is true multitasking where all your senses and those
>of
>the computer are being simultaneously used and this is only possible if
>all
>can be (open) and (closed) simultaneously without affecting the other
>tasks.

>This little control panel which has lain in my Mac control panel folder
>from 1989 (I think) is called WINDOWSHADE by Rob Johnston of
>Interactive
>Technologies (I use version 1.2 which I got way back in 1992). It
>changed
>the way I used my desk top - so no open/close during my work till I
>shut
>down, which is usually about a month on my PowerBook 170 when I do an
>optimising operation.

>I got WindowShade as either freeware or shareware in 1989 and it is
>absolutely great. I have no connection whatsoever with Rob Johnston or
>Interactive Technologies - just a very very grateful user for having
>made
>life on my Mac a real joy and totally productive - no
>Open/Close/Shut/Quit/Exit/etc.

>>At 02:14 AM 8/10/96 -0400, John Bell wrote:
>>[snip]
>>>I don't used "opens" because that implies that there is a closed status.
>>>Try as you might you can't find a closed window in a GUI environment,
>>>although
>>>you'll find plenty in your house. When you close a GUI window it goes away,
>>>it "disappears". That leads me to the next logical choice.
>>>
>>>Although "appear" sounds somewhat magical, I have settled on it because it
>>>does get the idea across and it is an intransitive verb. Thus it is
>>>grammatically
>>>correct to say "The Print window appears."
>>>
>>Although I don't really have a problem with "appears", I do question
>>your logic regarding "open" and "close". This is the metaphore that
>>Windows uses -- File > Open opens a document window in application
>>software. File > Close closes this window. But the closed window doesn't
>>actually disappear. It sits in the File Manager or Explorer list waiting
>>to be opened again.
>>

>Regards


>Jacob Matthan
>Editor: Findians Briefings; Kooler Talk (Web Version); Seventh Heaven
>http://www.netppl.fi/~findians/briefings.html
>Oulu, Finland

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                  TECHWR-L List Information
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E-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send administrative commands
         ALL other questions or problems concerning the list
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