No help available in the Overwrite dialog

Post by *white » 2007-05-16, 09:14 UTC

You can not get any help from the Overwrite dialog. I think this is wrong.

Sir_SiLvA · Post by *Sir_SiLvA » 2007-05-16, 10:50 UTC

a) One Thread would be enough!
http://ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?p=122422#122422

b) why you need an Help-Page for an Overwrite Dialog???
how dumb must one make himself to need one for that???

Flint · Post by *Flint » 2007-05-16, 11:43 UTC

Sir_SiLvA wrote:how dumb must one make himself to need one for that???

Why "dumb"? How can any (even non-dumb) user know about such hotkeys as [Ctrl+][Alt+][Shift+]F3? About right-click context menu by right-click on the thumbnail? Only from the help file.

Sir_SiLvA · Post by *Sir_SiLvA » 2007-05-16, 12:52 UTC

Flint wrote:Why "dumb"? How can any (even non-dumb) user know about such hotkeys as [Ctrl+][Alt+][Shift+]F3? About right-click context menu by right-click on the thumbnail? Only from the help file.

Which has to do with the overwriting Dialog what ???
Sorry but the mentioned Dialog really dont need a help site as all is selfexplaining as long as you use a good lng-file....

Flint · Post by *Flint » 2007-05-16, 13:12 UTC

Sir_SiLvA wrote:Which has to do with the overwriting Dialog what ???

Whom do you mean by the word "which"? Help file, of course, doesn't have to do anything with the Overwrite dialog. The user, to the contrary, would like to know more about this dialog, its possibilities. Why then all the new additions in this dialog in TC7, if the users do not know about them?

Sir_SiLvA wrote:Sorry but the mentioned Dialog really dont need a help site as all is selfexplaining as long as you use a good lng-file....

Illustrate please, how a good lng-file helps me to suddenly know that I can right-click on the thumbnail in the Overwrite dialog to get the context menu. Or that I can press F3 to view one of the files. I can't imagine such self-explaining Overwrite dialog...

Post by *white » 2007-05-16, 13:52 UTC

Sir_SiLvA wrote: a) One Thread would be enough!
http://ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?p=122422#122422

That is an entirely different issue. I have added some text now, to clarify it for you.

Sir_SiLvA wrote: b) why you need an Help-Page for an Overwrite Dialog???
how dumb must one make himself to need one for that???

I needed it. Thank you for calling me names.

Sir_SiLvA · Post by *Sir_SiLvA » 2007-05-16, 14:15 UTC

white wrote:I needed it. Thank you for calling me names.

A Pleasure if u put urself that shoe on

Perpaps you should starting to write more clearly what you mean
ie the helpfile is called with shift+f1 in that dialog...

Post by *white » 2007-05-16, 15:47 UTC

Sir_SiLvA wrote: Perpaps you should starting to write more clearly what you mean
ie the helpfile is called with shift+f1 in that dialog...

Is it? Not over here, it is not.

jb · Post by *jb » 2007-05-16, 22:50 UTC

Flint wrote:How can any (even non-dumb) user know about such hotkeys as [Ctrl+][Alt+][Shift+]F3? About right-click context menu by right-click on the thumbnail? Only from the help file.

... or from your post. Thanks for the interesting hints!

By experimenting I found out that Ctrl+Shift+F3 calls cm_IntCompareFilesByContent as in the "Synchronize directories" dialog. This is not (yet) documented in the help file.
Furthermore the x and checkmark icons of the overwrite dialog always provide the context menu, even when the thumbnails are disabled.

Documenting hidden features in the help file is only a minimal solution which may be upgraded somewhat by adding a Help button to complex dialogs. Generally I think it is more user-friendly to unhide hidden features by improving the GUI.

In case of the overwrite dialog I suggest to extend the "More Options >>" menu. It should include all commands that are invokable by predefined keyboard shortcuts. The caption of each command should be followed by its shortcut as in usual menus.
The same applies to the context menu of "Sychronize directories". See also http://ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?p=121666#121666.

StatusQuo · Post by *StatusQuo » 2007-05-17, 08:38 UTC

jb wrote:By experimenting I found out that Ctrl+Shift+F3 calls cm_IntCompareFilesByContent as in the "Synchronize directories" dialog.

Thanks for this hint, I didn't know this hotkey yet.

It would be nice to be noticed about such hotkeys through the names
in the menu ("More Options..."), as this is done in the normal menus, like:

Code: Select all

Compare [Ctrl-Shift-F3]

Also: These menus & buttons seem to be hardcoded/not user-changeable via *.LNG, aren't they?

For other hints about shortcuts as F3 / Shift-F3 a short help page would be useful, IMO.
As long as users have the idea of pressing F1 there.

jb · Post by *jb » 2007-05-17, 09:38 UTC

jb wrote:In case of the overwrite dialog I suggest to extend the "More Options >>" menu. It should include all commands that are invokable by predefined keyboard shortcuts. The caption of each command should be followed by its shortcut as in usual menus.

StatusQuo wrote:It would be nice to be noticed about such hotkeys through the names
in the menu ("More Options..."), as this is done in the normal menus, like:
Code: Select all
Compare [Ctrl-Shift-F3]

Where is the difference between the two suggestions?
Furthermore your example misses some important points. It should read as follows:

Code: Select all

...
Compare                       Ctrl+F3
Compare with internal tool    Ctrl+Shift+F3
...

If option [Configuration]Comparetool is empty then cm_CompareFilesByContent behaves like cm_IntCompareFilesByContent.
In this case "Compare with internal tool" could be omitted from the menu. On the other hand it gives the user a clue of the possibilties.

jb · Post by *jb » 2007-05-17, 09:39 UTC

StatusQuo wrote:For other hints about shortcuts as F3 / Shift-F3 a short help page would be useful, IMO.
As long as users have the idea of pressing F1 there.

"Short" is good, but in the first place the F1 help should be as context-sensitive as possible.
F1 help does not work at all in the overwrite dialog. Some related information is only found indirectly via the F1 help of the copy dialog.