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Jerry Krinock
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Re: GUI Feedback (ummmm)
Reply #5 - Jan 27th, 2010 at 8:47pm
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Leo of BORG wrote on Jan 27th, 2010 at 7:55pm:
when I set the bmshlf file's toolbar size/status, close  &re-open it, the toolbar setting is not retained and it returns (or is reset) to the default state of big and (to me) obnoxious.
What "setting" do you mean?  There's only setting that I know of, a single checkbox, which is in Preferences ▸ Appearance ▸ Show Icons in Bookmarkshelf.  It works fine for me.  When I uncheck the box, the toolbar on all open Bookmarkshelves disappears, and then after that if I close and one of them, or quit and relaunch, or create a New Bookmarkshelf, in all cases I get the icon-free toolbar.  The only way to make the icons re-appear is to re-check the box, or use the Quick Search.  In the latter case, they go away again if you click the ⓧ.  Please describe to me the steps where this doesn't work.  Or is there another control I'm not aware of? 

Leo of BORG wrote on Jan 27th, 2010 at 7:55pm:
The colors of the toolbar items, are a bit... how do I put this delicately? Obnoxious. That blue. That yellow... those bevels... sorry
Thank you.  Down on the to-do list is an preference for small/simple icons, but for the time being the choices is either big or none.
  

Jerry Krinock
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Leo of BORG
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Re: GUI Feedback (ummmm)
Reply #4 - Jan 27th, 2010 at 7:55pm
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Hi Jerry... Okay, I'm looking at .98 and the toolbar.. two things since I'm on Snow Leopard... please  don't take this the wrong way.

1/ I dig smaller icons with optional text. The problem is when I set the bmshlf file's toolbar size/status, close  &re-open it, the toolbar setting is not retained and it returns (or is reset) to the default state of big and (to me) obnoxious.

2/ The colors of the toolbar items, are a bit... how do I put this delicately? Obnoxious. That blue. That yellow... those bevels... sorry...

I'm probably abnormal but I like my desktop to be 'understated'. And while I don't mind the party going on in my dock, I'd rather have toolbar items like what I find in Mail.app, the Finder, or even Safari. I don't need buttons or pills like Mail.app, but more um.. understated icons in BookMacster would make it a/ look more professional, and b/ be easier on my eyes. That's right, at least for me, the bright colors, they burns us, my precious.  Cheesy

Finally, since I bothered to read your last post, thank you for the 'Show Icons in Bookmarkshelf' OFF setting.. and as far as the Search behavior that's fine.
  
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Jerry Krinock
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Re: GUI Feedback
Reply #3 - Jan 25th, 2010 at 3:18am
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I take back all the bad things I said about the toolbar in Mail.app.

It turns out that if you've checked off the menu item View ▸ Show Toolbar, and then you hit ⌘⎇F to do a Mailbox Search, the toolbar comes back so you can type into the search field, but the toolbar goes away if you click the Cancel button, which is the ⓧ at the right edge.  It's half-way logical.  Furthermore, this is the only sensible way I can think of to detect that the user is done with the toolbar.  So, for this reason and for the fact that there may be a half-dozen or so Mail.app power users out there who have guessed this action and consider it to be conventional, BookMacster 0.9.8 is going to work similarly.  If you've checked OFF the new Show Icons in Bookmarkshelf Toolbars preference, and do a Quick Search, the toolbar will hide again when you click the ⓧ.
  

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Re: GUI Feedback
Reply #2 - Jan 23rd, 2010 at 3:19pm
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One more comment on the toolbar.  To my great surprise, the more use the "Content", "Settings" and "Reports" buttons in the toolbar, the more I like this arrangement, and yesterday I realized the reason.  When these three buttons instead comprised an upper row of segmented controls, I was constantly hitting the wrong row.  For example, when I was viewing Settings ▸ Agents, and wanted to switch to Content, instead of clicking Content at the left of the upper control, I would quickly click Settings ▸ General at the left of the lower control.  And vice versa.  My mind was not able to function so quickly in two dimensions.  Now that the upper Content|Settings|Reports control has been absorbed into the toolbar, I never make that mistake.

By the way, the "Text only" toolbar preference did not make it into 0.9.7.  Maybe soon.
  

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Re: GUI Feedback
Reply #1 - Jan 13th, 2010 at 6:59pm
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F451 wrote on Jan 13th, 2010 at 7:07am:
I've just downloaded and started using v0.9.6. Jerry, the new toolbar simply isn't you
Well, that's the idea.  Let me put it this way: We don't want BookMacster to be me  Smiley.  Now I will admit that when I first read Conejo's suggestion that it needed a toolbar, I thought, "ugh".  I'm not much of a toolbar fan either.  But after thinking about it carefully, I realized that Conejo was correct, and the first time I launched the new version with the toolbar, I kind of liked it.  Maybe the yellow is a little too bright, but there is a real value to having a new user launch the app and say "Oh, I kind of know how this probably works".  Next time we get into the Preferences panel, we'll be adding a "Toolbar shows text only" preference for minimalists who consider icons to be an inefficient intrusion onto their screen real estate.  With that option, it actually takes up less space than the old segmented control did.

F451 wrote on Jan 13th, 2010 at 7:07am:
and the consistency of the app takes a hit.
Well, it's true that, to get into Settings and Reports, you click a toolbar item to get into the first level, and a segmented control to get into the second level, but I don't think that's hard to grasp.  The Content tab never had a second level anyhow, so even the old way was inconsistent.

F451 wrote on Jan 13th, 2010 at 7:07am:
This is not because of the graphics, but because the vocabulary you have established (since Bookdog) has been altered.
When you have a minute, please explain what you mean by vocabulary.  I don't think you mean the words (we haven't changed any of the words).

F451 wrote on Jan 13th, 2010 at 7:07am:
I know there have been requests for a more Apple-like GUI, but I think this is mistake for reasons of time and the necessity of having to work with someone who specializes in GUI and having them sync with you to develop a consenting vocabulary between the two of you—easier said than done.
Actually it was fun.  But then, anything is fun compared to fitting a shaggy dog icon with an alpha mask.

F451 wrote on Jan 13th, 2010 at 7:07am:
Since I value Bookdog and now BookMacster for their background operations as I do other must-haves on my Macs, I am less concerned with BookMacster's GUI than I am its performance.
We'll get back to working on performance soon.

F451 wrote on Jan 13th, 2010 at 7:07am:
My suggestion is a return to what you were comfortable with
I'm really comfortable with the toolbar now.  Actually, I've never been comfortable with the Tag Cloud.  The project for today is to replace the Tag Cloud with a simple table, and flip the split view so it's on the left instead of the top.  But we're still thinking differentLY, more logically.  If Apple were designing this app, they'd put the first level of bookmarks (Bookmarks Bar, Bookmarks Menu, etc.) in the left sidebar, like they do in Safari, Mail.app and iTunes.  (Apple calls that a source list.)  I think they're illogical and have had to educate many new Mac users on how they work.  We're not doing that.  But listing tags there makes alot of sense, since tags are, in a sense, another parallel view of bookmarks.

F451 wrote on Jan 13th, 2010 at 7:07am:
and provide something along the lines of what Mike has done with PithHelmet [Rule Exchange] ... supplying users with a means of setting up BookMacster along the similar tastes of others. You can also provide some initial rules sets such sharing between FireFox and Safari (essentially the staples with which most Mac users interact between their browsers.)
I think we still have a challenge to make the New Bookmarkshelf wizard good enough that people who don't have special requirements will keep their mitts out of the Clients, Structure and Agents tabs, at least until they know what they are doing.  I'll give it some more thought, but right now I can't think of any analogs to PithHelmet rules.  I see only two common use cases: "I want Safari bookmarks sorted" (which maybe should be a "lite" version but forking the product is a whole nother bag of headaches), and then "I want Safari and Firefox and/or Client Xxxxx to have the same bookmarks".  Maybe we need some Restore Defaults.

F451 wrote on Jan 13th, 2010 at 7:07am:
I submit the above with the utmost respect
Thanks for the kind words.  I very much appreciate your feedback.

F451 wrote on Jan 13th, 2010 at 7:07am:
as I do believe that you are true "think different" Mac developer versus the now masses who believe that Apple Mail is the proper GUI format (I've always dislikes Apple Mail GUI). What Bookdog and BookMacster have is true substance so as long as you keep developing BookMacster (and its succession software) I will keep licensing your products.
Thanks, but we need the masses too.  Regarding Mail.app, in the View menu, you should click "Hide Toolbar".  The only problem with that is that it also hides the Mailbox Search, which is the one useful thing in there which is not accessible elsewhere.  When you ⌘⎇F to do a mailbox search, the stupid toolbar comes back and stays.  Our "Text only toolbar" option will do better than that.

  

Jerry Krinock
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F451
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GUI Feedback
Jan 13th, 2010 at 7:07am
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I've just downloaded and started using v0.9.6. Jerry, the new toolbar simply isn't you, and the consistency of the app takes a hit. This is not because of the graphics, but because the vocabulary you have established (since Bookdog) has been altered. I know there have been requests for a more Apple-like GUI, but I think this is mistake for reasons of time and the necessity of having to work with someone who specializes in GUI and having them sync with you to develop a consenting vocabulary between the two of you—easier said than done. Since I value Bookdog and now BookMacster for their background operations as I do other must-haves on my Macs, I am less concerned with BookMacster's GUI than I am its performance.

My suggestion is a return to what you were comfortable with and what we have known Bookdog to be, and provide something along the lines of what Mike has done with PithHelmet regarding this:PithHelmet Rule Exchange. Thereby supplying users with a means of setting up BookMacster along the similar tastes of others. You can also provide some initial rules sets such sharing between FireFox and Safari (essentially the staples with which most Mac users interact between their browsers.) When BookMacster is launched you can also make good use of MacUpdate's poll features for develops and learn what users want. I'd enjoy a means of exporting and importing rule sets.

I submit the above with the utmost respect as I do believe that you are true "think different" Mac developer versus the now masses who believe that Apple Mail is the proper GUI format (I've always dislikes Apple Mail GUI). What Bookdog and BookMacster have is true substance so as long as you keep developing BookMacster (and its succession software) I will keep licensing your products.

Smiley
  
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