Total Commander

Hi jb

"Motor memory" is the basis for all of our interactions with the physical world... from tying our shoes to pouring a glass of water to typing into a command line. A large body of research over the last three decades or so has shown it to be one of the basic factors behind effective GUI design, too.

The dysfunction of any toolbar that "wraps" based on window size is that such behavior can induce user hesitation because the buttons have moved. This is almost equivalent to an imagined circumstance where TC's hot-keys mappings changed in response to changing window size: Consider how the keyboardists would scream if the hot-keys for copy or paste changed when one maximized (or restored) the TC window!

I say "almost equivalent" because the TC buttons will remain visible, even if wrapped, and can be rediscovered visually after that initial confused hesitation, whereas if the hot-keys changed, how would the user know?. But that is only because of the intrinsic advantage held by GUI interfaces over typing (hotkey/commandline) interfaces.

A window/screen size change can not only lead to button wrapping but also to cutting buttons. They not just appear in the next line they are gone until you decrease the button size...
The only solution here is to abolish the 2 line limitation.

There are other actions which have the same effect. Inserting or deleting a button can also lead to line wrapping.

Hi JohnFredC

I admit the term "motor memory" is new to me, but I think that I roughly grasped the meaning from your context and I already accepted it. Also I accepted the request for multiple toolbars. Nevertheless IN ADDITION it would be useful to have an option to achieve a more logical wrapping in case that there is not enough room. See example in my previous post. Maybe I should have made clearer that I don't want to optimize my toolbar(s) for the worst case, that is, for the smallest monitor to be expected.

So now I don't exactly understand what you want to tell me in your response. It seems to me that you reduced my whole previous post to "motor memory", but in fact I mentioned multiple aspects. Regarding "motor memory" I tried to distinguish between two similar cases (remembering exact position vs. remembering approximate region).

jb wrote: it would be useful to have an option to achieve a more logical wrapping in case that there is not enough room. See example in my previous post. Maybe I should have made clearer that I don't want to optimize my toolbar(s) for the worst case, that is, for the smallest monitor to be expected.

You are right, I am forced to optimize the TC toolbar for the "smallest", "worst case" window size, so your idea might work for me, too (in lieu of a better solution).

jb wrote:So now I don't exactly understand what you want to tell me in your response.

Sorry jb... when solving any user interface design problem I tend to seek first principles, then extrapolate from them forward into a solution. In this case I was just generalizing about a point of contention sometimes discussed in these forums (keyboard vs. mouse)... one not specifically "on topic" (we're already "off topic").

JohnFredC wrote:Sorry jb...

Never mind. Now my Total Commander forum quota for 2006 is exhausted.
Happy new year!