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I am looking to build a web based app that needs a multi-screen interface.

To make that possible I'm looking for the following:

  1. Any front end libraries that make that possible -- for example jQuery plugins.
  2. Any design patterns I should look at.
  3. Any successful open source implementations of web based multi-screen interfaces.

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DreamTeK
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user1172468
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    does your app run on a browser or on a destop application which connects to a backend server? – manas Dec 17 '12 at 08:11
  • Hi @silent_warrior, The app will have a browser layer, a server layer and then a data layer (pretty traditional). I suspect a multi-screen interface will require special attention at the browser level on the architectural layer. – user1172468 Dec 17 '12 at 08:13
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    How much control do you have over the clients browsers? If none, then the user will need to drag the second window to their second screen and press `F11` for each window themselves. Otherwise look into creating a plug-in/add-on for your target browser. – RoToRa Dec 17 '12 at 11:05
  • Let's assume none -- so yes so forexample use Google Gears ? And ... does this mean that no one has attempted a solution to this? – user1172468 Dec 17 '12 at 11:15
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    Gears is out-of-date. Have a look at https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/index.html for Chrome and https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Extensions for Firefox extensions. – RoToRa Dec 19 '12 at 14:52

2 Answers2

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Have a look at https://golden-layout.com/ , it has build in support for popping-out components into new browser windows.

wolframhempel
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You should look into the Composite and Decorator patterns. In fact, the case study (the Lexi word processor) in the GoF book (Design Patters, Gamma et al) is highly relevant - building up a hierarchy of UI elements which may or may not hold a collection of widgets within them.

The case study gives a great jumping off point for this kind of UI design and covers many of the things you might not think to consider.

Dave B
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