Anduin is a window manager based on the Enchantment Interface for wearable computing that was designed by Ed Keyes. Given that this window manager is designed for a wearable computer, specifically the MIThril system, it has a different set of goals and constraints than a desktop window manager. On a typical desktop system, interacting with the computer is the user's primary task and screen real estate is plentiful. When an individual is wearing the computer, the user is dealing with a multitude of other activities throughout their day and the computer should assist them in this endevour, not distract them. Because of this, the set of current applications should be easy to access and just as easy to be ignored. In many situations, the user may need to glance at the screen to remind themselves of the current state of the system and then look away to deal with other tasks, while still having the ability to control the system. This requirement makes a serious departure from the majority of modern window managers, namely controling the window manager through use of a mouse. When using a pointing device, the user must watch the cursor to verify its position every time the pointing device is used to send a command. If the user is engaged in other activities while the command is being sent, the user's attention is divided in an unacceptable manner. Anduin is designed to take all command input without the need for a pointing device. Initially all anduin commands will come from a key entry device such as a one handed chordal keyboard, but it is desgned in such a way that other input methods can be added, such as contextual information, gestures or audio. The second main constraint is screen real estate. For the near future, most wearables with display capabilities will probably have a fairly small screen that is up close to the user's eye. Based on this assumption, there is not enough screen real estate for multiple applications to be visible at the same time. This is another major departure from standard window manager behavior. Many of the current modern window managers are design to provide the user with a series of overlapping windows containing multiple applications. One window manager that departs from this model is the PalmOS window manager that swaps between applications in a single display space, allowing the user to focus on one application at any given time. It seems reasonable to believe that the PalmOS made this decision due to a similar screen real estate contraint. Anduin straddles these two models and provides a single main application that is displayed at any given time, but a series of small informational applications that allow the user to access more information than just the current main application. These informational applications are output only, so that a full set of keystrokes can be devoted to the main application and control of the window manager.
Anduin divides the screen into a set of regions.
| Main Application Title | Applets |
| Main Application | |
| Task List | |
| Ticker | |
The majority of the screen is devoted to the main application. Multiple main applications can be running at any given time, but only one is visible. When a new main application is displayed, the previously active one is hidden. Above the main application is the title of the currently selected application. This is updated as the selected application changes. Below the main application section is the task list. This area shows a textual list of all of the currently running main applications. As the applications are swapped, the the ordering of the task list is updated. The task list always shows the list of applications in the order of most recently active to least recently active. To the left of the main application section is the applets window. The applets window contains all of the currrently running informational programs. Main applications can be moved to the applet window as smaller windows and applets can be moved into the main application window. Applications running in the applet window are output only and listed in order first based on applet priority and the sub-sorted based on the last applet to be added to the window. Below the main application window and applets window is the ticker window. The ticker is a place for non-critical text messages to be displayed. Any application may send a message to the ticker and the text will show up on the the last line of the ticker window. As new messages come in, earlier lines are scrolled to the top and eventually discarded.