Goals-Tasks-Actions

A users action independently from the goal always needs to take place in some kind of space. It really does not make so much difference if it is a virtual or a real space. The reason why somebody uses some things or act within a system is the presence of his/her goal. This goal gets divided into several tasks which then forms the goal. Thus a goal consists out of tasks.
Since the amount of time people are spending in front of their computers keeps on increasing it is obvious that more and more tasks are transferred into the computer to accomplish finally a goal. To fulfill a task the user needs to interact with applications. One application can fulfill more than one task.
Most of the time single applications are part in a chain of tasks. A chain is defined by having a connection between each chain link. In an interaction this means that every item in that chain has an input port and an output port to connect all task to one chain and thus goal.
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Tasks in software

In software these inputs and outputs are mostly realized through fileformats and import/export commands.
An application can take part in a chain of tasks more than one time. Taking a layout for example, parts of that might be graphics and the other part might be text. The graphics might be even split into vectors and pixels. So there are already three different application(text, vector, pixel) necessary to create a layout. Even though the task chain is pretty linear this does not mean that each application will be used only once. So there is a frequent interaction between the different applications and each input and output port will be used more than one time only. Switching between applications and transferring the content between these application are main interactions in the daily computer life.
The import and export between these different applications in the chain of tasks are always a break in the users workflow. The output of one task should be easily integrated into the input of the following task so that the user can focus on the outcome of a single task as well as keep an overview of the final goal. That means that if the distraction from switching between applications could be reduced, the efficiency in the chain of tasks could be increased.
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Problem

One reason why the switching of applications can cause quite a distraction is on the one hand the different behavior and look of applications but on the other hand the problem that each window can only belong to one file and one application. The user can not drag a window into other applications to continue his work. He/she needs to switch the window/workspace to complete the next task.
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Solution

Looking at the layer paradigm of the digital annotation system reveals a very promising solution. If a window could consist out of several layers then each layer could be associated with an application. This means that the user will still work within the same window but only on a different layer. Users are not switching between windows, they will switch between layers of one window. The windows title bar will become a clip for application layers. The user will not be distracted by moving content between applications. He/she will reside inside the same spatial environment while the computer takes care of the application switching.
This could decrease the distraction the application switching provides and thus increase the overall efficiency in the chain of tasks to accomplish the given goal.
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