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.
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.
What is your app trying to do that it doesn't want a second file (app) open?
Graham
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Graham Samuel / The Living Fossil Co. / UK & France
_______________________________________________
use-revolution mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
