Having more than one file open simultaneously

 From:  Michael Gibson
5342.11 In reply to 5342.9 
Hi Bill, are you maybe requesting that MoI should become a "multiple document interface" application where multiple documents are opened inside of a single parent frame window?

That's a kind of older application model that is not really all that common in newer programs. MoI is built around the "Single document interface" where you open up multiple instances of the program to edit multiple files. This tends to streamline the UI since you use the operating system's built in mechanisms for managing the windows rather than trying to replicate a mini version of window management into the application itself.

See here for more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_document_interface
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_document_interface

Also MoI already manages another type of sub-windows for the viewports, and has a view tab to control which view is active (Split/3D/Top/Front/Right). It would be kind of awkward to try and also embed an "active document" control into the same parent frame window at the same time. So because of that and since Multiple Document Interface is generally considered to be an outmoded interface style I do not plan on switching MoI to a Multiple Document Interface in the future.

This does not mean that MoI cannot edit multiple documents simultaneously - you just do it by opening up multiple instances of MoI. That provides full ability to edit 2 different files simultaneously already.

- Michael