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re: window-frame sizing for spare border for access to desktop ...
here is a thought/question about how the cocoa windowing classes access quartz ...
we already know that the Aqua UI conventions for a display context can present multiple windowframes with various levels of opacicty, as an alternative to the standard frame-clipping approach that blocks out that the (view of the) state of of other windowframes ....
and using quartz compositing is indeed a nice way to 'compress' multiple channels of visual information to the user ....
but this access method is only one-way: there is no corresponding accessor quartz method (supported in the aqua conventions) for "drilling down" through multiple layers of the over-layed windowframes, in order to be able to select a new focus object underneath the current focus object ...
the existing aqua conventions still force us to wade through the windowframes manually (even if we at least now have the elegance of knowing more clearly what our target is) ...
so a question: would it be easy to use a cocoa delegate method to gather-up all the context information for the objects which lay underneath (or over) the a given windowframe ... for the purpose of passing this list into a small aqua widget that overridges one of the windowframe controls ....
eg, a alt_mouse event to the scroll-bars might allow the user to cycle through to a 'proxy' of the the windowcontrols for all of the other windowframes open on the desktop (ie not docked) ...
this is broadly similar to the idea used when a keyboard command (eg alt-tab) is used to cycling through a (text) list of active processes or open files; except in this case, it is the direct manipulation of the intermediate object that allows the user to graphicaly click-thru down into windowframes underneath, rather than selecting an item indirectly from a pop-up textlist.
any thoughts?
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...various levels of opacicty...
You introduced Aqua UI conventions for display ---context--- as opposed to merely being focused on forground window you get this context depth.
...'compress' multiple channels...
The quartz compositing with opacity depth cue lets the user have accessible channels in a context that, in effect, might be considered a compression much as an outliner. Compression (just as a channel you might tune in) means information accessibility, not necessarily information there.
...this access method is only one-way...
What desktop metaphor can be used to coordinate this learning to see in 3D with learning to control in 3D so us kittens with blinders really learn to see 3D context.
...existing aqua conventions still force us to wade through the windowframes manually...
I could imagine a widget that would present the layers of windows in their order and then on mouseover event mark the window for a click to make it foreground. That would be a nice 3D desktop metaphor involving only a 1D widget to compliment the 2D desktop.
...cocoa delegate method to gather-up all the context information...
In the old os 9 there is something called a window list attached to the app. I suspect Next Step has a similar thing in os x. That has gathered up the information.
...aqua widget that overridges one of the windowframe controls...
A neat confusing of words overrides for overridges that precisely captures the flow of your thoughts. Perhaps this should be called the overridges override of the windowframe controls.
...alt_mouse event to the scroll-bars...
Don't like it attached to a particular window, but where would I like to send the alt_mouse event to?
What of a special menu with mouseover event marking window as augmenting Aqua UI conventions?
;-)