In Elastic Windows, a space-filling tiled layout approach is taken similar to treemaps [12] for the organization of windows. A space-filling approach has the advantage that it eliminates any unused screen space. Tiled approaches avoid disturbing overlaps of windows, thus maximizing visibility. However, in the course of this research alternative layout approaches such as overlapping windows and non-space-filling non-overlapping windows approaches are also examined. Such approaches do benefit from hierarchical window organization and multi-window operations in different task situations.
Elastic Windows uses the elastic-sheet metaphor for layout dynamics.
Elastic dynamics facilitates orienting reorganization of windows while
preserving the spatial cues in the organization. Alternatives such as
block, plow and bubble dynamics have also been explored
(Figure 
).