+50 That about "sums it up" Jacque. ;-)
Bob S > On Oct 7, 2015, at 12:58 , J. Landman Gay <jac...@hyperactivesw.com> wrote: > > On 10/7/2015 1:22 PM, Mark Waddingham wrote: >> Far more useful would be constructive criticism of both the Project >> Browser and the Application Browser. It does seem a little 'silly' to >> maintain two things which serve essentially the same purpose - so Ali's >> idea is perhaps the best way forward - what is it that is good and bad >> about both and is it possible to design something which everybody would >> be happy with? > > The issues would probably become clear if you open, say, 10 large stacks, > each with 50 cards or more, containing dozens of controls per card. Since my > primary project for the last 2 years uses that setup, I haven't been able to > use the Project Browser because it isn't practical. > > 1. The hierarchical organization of the App Browser (AB) is indispensable and > is the main reason I stay with it. I can see at a glance how to drill down to > the single object I am looking for and how objects are organized on each card > by group and layer order. It is by far the fastest way to understand how a > set of stacks is internally structured. The long, scrolling list in the > Project Browser (PB) can't display the structure as clearly because it is all > linear. Multiple cards with many objects will run off the top and bottom of > the PB window and you can't see the overall organization. > > 2. It is difficult in the PB to quickly find a specific object. If you want > to know the name of an object on some other card, you have to collapse the > current card, scroll through 50 cards to find the one you're looking for (and > if you didn't collapse those already, the scrolling is interminable,) expand > it, scroll through the objects to find the one you want (note the name > because it's going to be a long trip to find it again,) collapse that card, > scroll (forever) again to find the card you started with, expand it, find the > original object again, and continue. In AB, I can just look at the left-hand > pane and see the name of the target card, click it, note the name of the > object, then click back where I was. If the AB is sized tall enough to hold > 50 lines of text, I don't have to do much scrolling at all. If I do need to > scroll, it's minimal because at least 25-30 cards are always visible at once. > > 2. In the AB I can click on any header to view the organization in many ways, > and I have a choice of which columns I want to display. If I want to work > only with images, or fields, I can bunch them together in the list by type > and they are quickly accessible while still allowing me to see the other > objects on the card. I frequently require info on layering order, one click > and I have that. I use the ID column extensively. In PB I have to type in a > filter string to isolate by object type, and then I can no longer see any > other objects, so if I need some other info I have to remove the filter, find > what I want, then reinstate the original filter. PB does not offer a way to > identify an object ID at all, as far as I can see, and I need that all the > time. (But you could turn off those distracting ID tooltips for sure.) > > 3. Visually, the PB is too cluttered to be quickly scanned. The checkmarks in > the AB are more useful. In the AB is very easy to see, for example, which > objects are invisible by simply looking for "gaps" in the checkmark column. > In the PB I have to examine each object individually because the visual > difference between the enabled and disabled "eye" image is not distinct > enough, and even if it were, there's that scrolling issue again to see all > the objects. Also, there is no single column to scan -- the lock icon is > interspersed so you have to mentally learn to skip over every other icon. > > 4. I have turned off thumbnails in the PB because with hundreds of objects or > more, the time required for it to constantly update is (or at least, was) > unacceptable. Even without thumbnails, it performs much slower than the AB. > There is also the issue of visual clutter (see below) which is main reason I > turned off thumbnails on day one. Thumbnails also double the amount of > scrolling you have to do to find things. > > 5. In the PB there is no clear delineation between cards and substacks. Both > are left-aligned at the same visual depth. In the AB, all stacks are in the > left pane, with substacks indented under their mainstack. Also, in the PB, > the stack you are inspecting scrolls off the top of the window, so you are > never sure which stack owns the cards that are currently displayed. This is a > big issue in my project, because all the stacks are clones of each other and > cards have the same names (usually just IDs.) In the AB I can immediately see > which stack owns the card because the card is highlighted in the left-pane > list under its easily-viewable owner. Even if I have to scroll to see the > stack name, the card I'm working with remains selected and its objects remain > visible. > > 6. The icons at the bottom of the PB are so tiny on my screen that they are > difficult to recognize (and my eyesight isn't great anyway.) I have to use > the tooltips. That takes too long, so I just open the property inspector or > use the menu items instead. I suppose with some use I'd memorize what each > icon does, but the other issues have prevented me from becoming familiar > enough with it. > > That's just what I remember from the few days I tried to work with it. I'm > not convinced that the current design can accomodate my work style unless it > can at least be revised to show a columnar view rather than a linear one. > What I would have preferred is an update for the few glitches in the AB > (mainly it doesn't always refresh automatically, and those blinking tooltips > are positively aggressive) and give it a new coat of paint if you think it > looks too dated. Its plain text layout with clear checkmarks is much easier > for me to work with. I do like how you can change layering order by dragging > in the PB, that would be a nice addition to the AB. > > -- > Jacqueline Landman Gay | jac...@hyperactivesw.com > HyperActive Software | http://www.hyperactivesw.com > > _______________________________________________ > use-livecode mailing list > use-livecode@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
