Double-clicking a document in Windows

[Graham Samuel]

On Mon, 24 Feb 2003 12:20:32 -0600 "Chipp Walters" <chipp at chipp.com> wrote:
>
>Using MSWord 2000 and XP: when you double-click a .doc file, it appears that
>it *also* launches a separate instance of MSWord (at least it shows so in
>the Application tab of the task manager) - though MS does have a special
>quick launch memory handling feature for all OFFICE apps.
>
>I'm not so sure this is a big problem. What *should* the desired behavior
>be? This was a bit confusing for me, too, coming from the Mac platform
>several years ago. But, since the menubar is not tied to the top of the
>screen, but rather to the window, it seems appropriate for Windows to 'open'
>another version of the app with the document. Especially since Windows
>handles memory so much better than Macs do (no App memory size -- VM
>*substantially* better).

Well, up to a point... but what about all those useful features where 
you have a number of docs open in Word or Excel or Photoshop or 
whatever, and the app arranges the screen so you can see them all, at 
least in part. This makes it easy to cut/paste or even drag/drop 
between the different documents. It's also possible in Word (if I 
remember rightly ) to have each chapter of a book as a separate 
document, but then to arrange the page numbering etc to run on from 
one chapter to another... these kind of features seem to me to be 
more naturally dealt with using just one instance of the app. However 
I admit this is just background, rather than an immediate issue for 
me.

>
>What is your app trying to do that it doesn't want a second file (app) open?
>
It wants to replace one document with another - generically the app 
is an educational game, and we don't want the user (a child) to have 
two separate maps or skill-and-drill screens or whatever open at one 
time - so when a new one opens, the old one closes. In the context of 
this type of app it would just seem unnecessarily complicated to work 
on two at once. For the same reason, my publisher's guidelines 
suggest the app attempts to fill the screen so as to limit the number 
of choices the user is tempted to make (although I don't go as far as 
getting into kiosk mode). You can see therefore that two instances of 
the same app would also seem confusing.

Graham
-- 
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          Graham Samuel / The Living Fossil Co. / UK & France