Bench

The DNE is designed to keep the information you use always on hand. The bench (the long piece of driftwood that extends across the entire DNE), and the bench clock that sits in the middle of the bench just above the search engine, are designed to let you keep all the NEs and tiles you are currently working on in one, conveniently accessible place.

The bench has two main components. First, there is the bench proper, which is used as a temporary holding area for NEs and tiles that you believe you will be using in the near future. Second, there is the bench clock, which has a variety of functions.

The bench proper: NEs and tiles that you want to have at your fingertips, regardless of which NE is active, or that you want to be able to access in a variety of different rooms can be dragged and dropped to and from the bench. The purpose of the bench is to make sure that you don't misplace items that you need, therefore, benched objects are always accessible from the bench until you decide to take them off the bench. This means that if you put something on the bench for safekeeping it will remain there no matter how many other operations you conduct, no matter how many time you leave and reenter the DNE, and no matter how many other NEs you activate or tiles you play in the meantime. You can place any number of NEs or tiles on the bench.

In addition to quick access, the bench can be used to make NEs and tiles easy to access from different rooms. Working in multiple different rooms can facilitate multitasking and streamline workflow, but if you are working with the same information in several different rooms, then you will need that information accessible from anywhere. While there are separate benches for each room (multiple benches facilitate multitasking and workflow the same way multiple rooms do), every bench is accessible from any room. When you place NEs and tiles on the bench, you create easy access to the information you need.

The bench clock: As well, a wide variety of general functions are controlled from the bench. DNE, room and room element configurations are saved from the bench, and the DNE explorer is accessed from the bench.