Beam: bring one window from another Mac to your desk
Beam is a tool for using app windows across Macs. It lets people working with two computers bring an editor, terminal or document from the other Mac onto the desktop in front of them and keep interacting with it.
Form your own approach first, then explore the reasoning to check trade-offs and validation you may have missed. There is no single right answer.
01
DESIGN QUESTIONIntermediate
Make a remote window’s source clear
You are designing a window-sharing tool. A user has windows titled “Project log” open on two computers, and one is running an important task. This is an author-designed exercise, not Beam’s current interface.
- Sketch four moments: selecting a window for the first time, normal input, a lost connection and selecting again. Show where the computer name, window name and interaction status appear.
- The user moves computer A’s window beside computer B’s same-title window and prepares to type a stop command. Design a path that helps confirm the target without confirming every keystroke. Compare at least two approaches to the source cue.
- If the source window closes and a new same-title window opens, explain how the old cue ends and the new window enters. Do not imply that the task has resumed automatically.
- Deliver status copy, tradeoffs and an observation task. Record behavior around mistaken computer identity, noticing disconnection and selecting again; satisfaction alone is not enough.
Explore the reasoning
- Map computer, app and window relationships first. Separate human-readable names from system object identity, and identify actions that affect the source computer.
- Compare a persistent source cue with a cue shown when entering input. Consider space, discoverability and interruptions. Include the high-risk scenario in the observation task rather than assuming an approach works.
- Distinguish connection loss, source-window closure and a new same-title window. For each state, say what is possible, what is unavailable and where to go next.
- Ask participants to explain the target before acting in the two-window scenario, and observe decisions and mistakes. Until the trial is run, report only the validation plan.