Re: Separation into dock widgets

[John W. Eaton]

On 29-Apr-2011, Michael Goffioul wrote:

| Usually, I step into code line by line and watch outputs in the terminal 
window.
| That's the constant switch between editor and terminal that I find annoying,
| while I typically want to see the code while typing commands in the debugger
| or watching outputs.

Similarly, I think it is essential to be able to open the help browser
while looking at the terminal window and/or editor window.  I think
many users would find it quite annoying to have to switch between
these and only view one at a time.

If you (Jacob) insist on tabs for some things why not the history and
workspace too?  They take up valuable screen space, and some people
will probably not want to see them as much as they would like to see
the editor or help windows simultaneously with the terminal window.

Since choices about what screen layout is best are all subjective and
may be different even for the same person depending on the task at
hand, it seems to me that we should not force one particular layout on
users.  It would be much better for users to configure the screen
however they like.  We can, of course, provide a default, but we
should not make it impossible for users to make other choices about
what they can view at once, or precisely where the major components
(at least: editor, terminal, help, workspace, history) are displayed,
or even whether they are displayed.

jwe