HUMAN INTERFACE GUIDELINES

Documents

A document is the basic entity that represents the user's data, organized by the user into a freestanding unit. This entity can contain one or more components. Documents are typically structured around metaphors, such as pages or forms. Documents provide an encapsulating scope that is useful for presentation, printing, mailing, and other user activities.

A document can be of any complexity. The user can create a document that contains multiple data types, such as text, graphics, and video, without having to open separate applications to create and edit each type. A document that contains more than one component is called a compound document.

Users can flexibly integrate and structure components using three different types of containment:

Absorption takes place when data is completely incorporated into other data at a primitive level. For example, when a text string is pasted into a text document, the new characters are completely absorbed into the existing text.
Embedding takes place when a component is incorporated into a document but remains distinct and available in its own context with its own behavior. Embedding typically occurs when the component's data is of a different type than the document to which it is being added. For example, spreadsheet cells pasted into a graphics document will result in an embedded, live spreadsheet inside the graphics document.
Enclosure takes place when an entire document (or another freestanding desktop object, such as an appliance) is contained inside another document. The document still exists as a separate object and retains its own characteristics, such as pagination and properties, even though it lives inside another document. Enclosure is typically used to package various documents together.

Users can customize their documents by attaching preferences for viewing, printing, collaboration, versioning, and other attributes.

[Contents] [Previous] [Next]

Click the icon to mail questions or corrections about this material to Taligent personnel.

Generated with WebMaker