I'm just curoius,
Has mdi applications a bright future ?
Edit: I mean mdi applications = free floating child windows (thanks to Guffa) not tabbed-interface application.
+1
A:
There is no reason that the MDI concept would die in any foreseeable future.
Some applications work bests with an MDI type interface, while others work best as separate windows. A lot of applications use some combination between them.
For example, the browser that you are right now looking at most likely has an MDI type interface, only the windows are handled as tabs instead of free floating child windows. (Some of the earlier versions of Opera had a standard MDI interface.)
Guffa
2010-05-11 11:13:09
Yes, I agree that mdi application more appropriate sometimes. But modern applications such as MS tend to not use mdi ...
alex
2010-05-11 11:38:24
From what Guffa says it sounds like those applications are still using MDI, only with a custom implementation so that it doesn't look dated?
littlegreen
2010-05-11 11:43:52
@alex: MS Office started as SDI, changed to MSI and has now changed back to SDI. They might change again in a few years...
Guffa
2010-05-11 15:52:56
+1
A:
MDI is marked to die. MS is evangelizing against it from some time now, and they do not include it in WPF. Their apps stop using it long time ago (with the exception of Excel, but I bet that they do that for legacy compatibility).
Enough that you have to deal with windows management on the OS.
The future is Tabbed and Docked.
Eduardo Molteni
2010-05-11 12:09:53
Hm... That's a slightly contradictory, as tabbed and docked windows are a variation (evolution) of MDI...
Guffa
2010-05-11 15:58:02
@Eduardo: Yes, that is exactly what I said in my answer, so what is your point?
Guffa
2010-05-11 21:40:22
My point is: if we define MDI as "free floating child windows" (as I do), it is dying (just count them on your system). Of course that if we define MDI as "child windows inside a program", it will never die.
Eduardo Molteni
2010-05-11 23:14:30