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Multiple-document interface

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File:Photoshop.gif
MDI implementation in the Windows version of Adobe Photoshop.
File:MenuWindow.png
Example of Java support for MDI based on internal frames.

Graphical computer applications with a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) are those whose windows all reside under a single parent window (usually with the exception of modal windows), as opposed to all windows being separate from each other (single document interface). The initialism MDI is usually not expanded. In the usability community, there has been much debate over which interface type is preferable. Generally SDI is seen as more useful in cases where users work with more than one application. Companies have used both interfaces with mixed responses. For example, Microsoft has changed its Office applications from SDI to MDI mode and then back to SDI. Although the degree of implemenation varies from one component to another.

The disadvantage of MDI usually cited is the lack of information about the currently opened windows: In order to view a list of windows open in MDI applications, the user typically has to select a specific menu ("window list" or something similar), if this option is available at all. With an SDI application, the window manager's task bar or task manager displays the currently opened windows. In recent years, applications have increasingly added "task-bars" and "tabs" to show the currently opened windows in an MDI application, which has made this criticism somewhat obsolete. Some people use a different name for this interface, "tabbed document interface" (TDI). When tabs are used to manage windows, individual ones can usually not be resized.

Nearly all graphical user interface toolkits to date provide at least one solution for designing MDIs. Interestingly, the GTK+ lacks any standardized support for MDI. The Java GUI toolkit, Swing, for instance, provides the class javax.swing.JDesktopPane which serves as a container for individual frames (class javax.swing.JInternalFrame).


Compared to Floating Windows

Advantages

  • Many child windows do not fill up the OS task management interface, as they are hierarchically organised. Users simply switch applications.
  • With MDI (and also TDI), a single menu bar and/or toolbar is shared between all child windows, reducing clutter and increasing efficient use of screenspace.
  • All child windows for an application can be hidden/shown/minimized/maximized as a whole.
  • Without an MDI frame window, floating toolbars from one application can clutter the workspace of other applications, potentially confusing users with the jumble of interfaces.
  • Features such as "Tile" and "Cascade" can be implemented for the child windows.

Disadvantages

  • Cannot be used succesfully on desktops using multiple monitors.
  • MDI can make it more difficult to work with several applications at once, by restricting the ways in which windows from multiple applications can be arranged together.
  • The shared menu changes, which may cause confusion to some users.
  • MDI child windows behave differently from those in single document interface applications, requiring users to learn two subtly different windowing concepts. Similarly, the MDI parent window behaves like the desktop in many respects, but has enough differences to confuse some users.
  • Many window managers have built-in support for manipulating groups of separate windows, which is typically more flexible than MDI in that windows can be grouped and ungrouped arbitrarily; this arguably makes MDI redundant by providing a better solution to the same problem.

Application Examples

  • Internet Explorer 6: This is a typical SDI application
  • Visual Studio 6 development environment: This is a typical modern implementation of MDI
  • Visual Studio .NET: TDI with "Window" menu
  • Firefox: TDI
  • Opera: MDI combined with TDI
  • GIMP: Floating windows (limited MDI is available via "Deweirdifier" plugin)
  • GIMPshop: A fork of the GIMP edited to be more user-friendly for Adobe Photoshop users. Note: the Windows version (still in beta form) has the "Deweirdifier" plug in built-in
  • Adobe Photoshop: Floating windows in Mac version; MDI in Windows XP version. In newer versions of Photoshop, toolbars can move outside the frame window, but child windows cannot.
  • Microsoft Excel 2003: Interestingly, Excel is SDI if you start new instances of the application, but classic MDI if you click the "File → New" menu (except the child windows appear on the OS taskbar)

See also

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