Methodology of Window Management

This volume is a record of the Workshop on Window Management held at the Ruth­ erford Appleton Laboratory's Cosener's House between 29 April and 1 May 1985. The main impetus for the Workshop came from the Alvey Programme's Man­ Machine Interface Director who was concerned at the lack of a formal definition of window management and the lack of focus for research activities in this area. Win­ dow Management per se is not the complete problem in understanding interaction. However, the appearance of bitmap displays from a variety of vendors enabling an operator to work simultaneously with a number of applications on a single display has focussed attention on what the overall architecture for such a system should be and also on what the interfaces to both the application and operator should be. The format of the Workshop was to spend the first day with presentations from a number of invited speakers. The aim was to get the participants aware of the current state of the art and to highlight the main outstanding issues. The second day consisted of the Workshop participants splitting into three groups and discussing specific issues in depth. Plenary sessions helped to keep the individual groups work­ ing on similar lines. The third day concentrated on the individual groups presenting their results and interacting with the other groups to identify main areas of con­ sensus and also a framework for future work.

I.- 1 Introduction.- 1.1 Background.- 1.2 Goals of the Workshop.- 1.3 Organization.- 1.4 Structure of the Workshop.- 1.5 Demonstrations.- 1.6 Terminology.- II.- 2 Introducing Windows to Unix: User Expectations.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 User Expectations.- 2.3 Discussion.- 3 A Comparison of Some Window Managers.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 A Model of Window Management.- 3.3 Comparison of Window Managers.- 3.4 Architecture, Address Spaces and Communications.- 3.5 Other Systems.- 3.6 Summary.- 3.7 Acknowledgements.- 3.8 Discussion.- 4 Ten Years of Window Systems - A Retrospective View.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Smalltalk.- 4.3 DLisp.- 4.4 Interlisp-D.- 4.5 Tajo (Mesa Development Environment).- 4.6 The Docs System (Cedar).- 4.7 Viewers (Cedar).- 4.8 SunWindows.- 4.9 SunDew.- 4.10 Discussion.- 5 SunDew - A Distributed and Extensible Window System.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Goals.- 5.3 Design Sketch.- 5.4 Discussion.- 6 Issues in Window Management Design and Implementation.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 User Interface.- 6.3 Input.- 6.4 Implementation.- 6.5 Summary.- 6.6 Discussion.- 7 A Modular Window System for Unix.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Architecture.- 7.3 Future Requirements.- 7.4 Discussion.- 8 Standards Activities.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Models.- 8.3 Unresolved Matters.- 9 A Graphics Standards View of Screen Management.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2 Vocabulary.- 9.3 Interface to GKS.- 9.4 Subdivision of Frames.- 9.5 Aspect Ratio and Positioning within a Frame.- 9.6 Output Control.- 9.7 Input.- 9.8 Icons.- 9.9 Summary.- 10 Windows, Viewports and Structured Display Files.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 Windows and Viewports.- 10.3 Bitmaps and Structured Display Files.- 11 Partitioning of Function in Window Systems.- 11.1 Introduction.- 11.2 Who Paints the Bits?.- 11.3 Conclusions.- 12 System Aspects of Low-Cost Bitmapped Displays.- 12.1 Introduction.- 12.2 Models.- 12.3 Checklist.- 12.4 Discussion.- 12.5 Conclusion.- 12.6 Acknowledgements.- 13 A Window Manager for Bitmapped Displays and Unix.- 13.1 Introduction.- 13.2 Client’s View.- 13.3 Implementation.- 13.4 Applications.- 13.5 Assessment.- 13.6 Future Work.- 13.7 Acknowledgements.- 14 Issues.- 14.1 Introduction.- 14.2 Application Program Interface.- 14.3 User Interface.- 14.4 Architecture.- 14.5 The Issues Lists.- III.- 15 Application Program Interface Working Group Discussions.- 15.1 Introduction.- 15.2 Properties of a Window Management System.- 15.3 Issues.- 16 Application Program Interface Working Group Final Report.- 16.1 Definitions.- 16.2 Properties of a Window Management System.- 16.3 Controlling the Window Management System.- 16.4 Models of the Application - Window Manager Interface.- 16.5 Issues.- 16.6 Portability.- 16.7 Future Work.- 17 User Interface Working Group Discussions.- 17.1 Introduction and Background.- 17.2 Interface Techniques.- 17.3 User Interface Guidelines.- 17.4 The User’s Conceptual Model of a Window Manager.- 17.5 Applications Domain and Window Manager Design.- 17.6 User Types and Window Manager Design.- 17.7 User Interface Evaluation.- 17.8 Issues.- 17.9 Future Work.- 18 User Interface Working Group Final Report.- 18.1 Introduction.- 18.2 Interface Techniques and Exemplars.- 18.3 User Interface Guidelines.- 18.4 The User’s Conceptual Model of a Window Manager.- 18.5 Applications Domain and Window Manager Design.- 18.6 User Types and Window Manager Design.- 18.7 User Interface Evaluation.- 18.8 Specific Issues.- 19 Architecture Working Group Discussions.- 19.1 Introduction.- 19.2 Discussion.- 20 Architecture Working Group Final Report.- 20.1 Introduction.- 20.2 Nomenclature.- 20.3 Architecture overview.- 20.4 Input and Locus of Control.- 20.5 Window Redraw.- 20.6 Hardware and Operating System Prerequisites.- 21 Application Program Interface Task Group.- 21.1 Introduction.- 21.2 Group Discussion.- 21.3 Final Report.- 21.4 Discussion.- 22 Structures Task Group.- 22.1 Report.- 22.2 Discussion.- IV.- 23 Future Work.- 23.1 Introduction.- 23.2 Experience.- 23.3 Application Program Interface.- 23.4 Portability.- 23.5 Architecture.- 23.6 User Interface.- 23.7 Input.- 23.8 Standards.- 23.9 Cut and Paste.- 23.10 Distributed Systems.- 23.11 Conclusion.- 24 Bibliography.- 25 Acronyms and Glossary.