PeterTBCarp2 wrote:Thanks for contributing Balderstrom. It looks a comprehensive menu system.
I'm wondering what your intentions might be for TC itself, whether you are offering it for general use or whether you're treating it as an experiment or hobby.
I didn't expect there to be enough interest for it to be offered for general use. I gave it as an example of an updated Menu system. Which is noted in the TC7.5 thread link in the first post here by PeterMad.
If you're thinking the former then I must say that the idiosyncrasies you've introduced are likely to be badly regarded by users at large: those 'odd' characters you've used for Shift and minus, for instance. (Why ¬ [rotated L] rather than -??
]
I see these as far too personal for general use.
The ¬ could be easily replaced with – or − (short-em, long-em).
However, my broadest comment would be that you would need to build upon the base. Bill Gates found this out many years ago with his software and while his insistence on Windows having to support many 'legacy' elements has caused much heartache with respect to compatibility and performance it has nevertheless allowed Windows to conquer the world.
Similarly I feel that any menu development would have to follow the current WCMD_ENG.MNU structure almost exactly - and add to it. As the saying goes (more or less): 'If it works, don't break it'.
I don't believe TC's WCMD_ENG.MNU does work. To a Windows User it's awkward and incomplete. It doesn't abide by the general design paradigms that most editors and applications in general have followed to allow for consistency between different applications.
Go try using NortonCommander now or MidnightCommander - they are horrible DOS interfaces that we have forgotten just how bad it was. TC may have it's roots in NortonCommander, but a comparison of them is like night and day. And TC going into the new age shouldn't do something just because Norton did it.
The fact that it uses "F2" for refresh instead of FileRenameInPlace is bad, it could easily be an install option. Every single application I use that has "file access" uses F2 for rename.
The fact that it uses "F8" for Delete as a default is solely indicative of past-history. (Any other Windows program use F8 to delete?). That F8 shortcut is one of the claimed reasons we can't get rid of the [delete-pop-up-dialog], as we might hit F8 instead of F7...
Is there any chance that in your notes you have a side-by-side plain text list of the menu command structure in WCMD_ENG.MNU and in My_eng_7.mnu ? (A little self-referential..
)
I'm not sure what you mean here. What advantage would a text copy of My menu and WCMD_ENG which only shows the Text Displayed by the menu be? When I used to work on it significantly in the beginning I used screenShots of TC's Menu's then worked on mine.
(If it develops would you consider giving the file version numbers?)
I have file versions:
Code: Select all
My_eng-v1.03.mnu 8 k 09/13/2004 06:10 -a--
My_eng-v1.05.00.mnu 12 k 05/05/2005 18:32 -a--
My_eng-v1.05.50.mnu 11 k 10/13/2005 12:29 -a--
My_eng-v1.05.59.mnu 11 k 10/31/2005 04:36 -a--
My_eng-v1.07.00.mnu 11 k 07/08/2007 03:03 -a--
My_eng-v1.07.03.mnu 11 k 07/14/2007 20:43 -a--
My_eng-v1.08.65.mnu 14 k 04/25/2008 06:41 -a--
My_eng-v1.09.01.mnu 14 k 07/09/2009 22:41 -a--
This one was something I tried, which put all the menu's I had on both sides
LEFT: File/Edit/View/Go/Tools/Options/Start [HelpBreakEmptySpace]
RIGHT: File/Edit/View/Go/Tools/Options Shortcuts Help
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My_eng-v2.08.00.mnu 21 k 01/23/2008 10:24 -a--
I found I just didn't use the menu's on the right, and left it as an interesting experiment.
If there was interest, Then sure I could fix a few idiosyncracies. But I would want the Author Mr.Ghisler to fix them as well. It has been over 5 years now that I know of that certain keyboard shortcuts are only available as keyboard shortcuts and cannot be called by an internal cm_command.
Shift+F3 :: View Last Selected
ALT+F3 :: Alternate File View
Shift+F4 :: Edit NEW File
TAB :: Switch Window Focus
CTRL+I :: Switch Window Focus
Space :: Select Item
INS :: Select Next Item
Shift+Enter :: Execute Prog + '/c' {noClose}
Shift+Enter :: Also does: Open Archive if item is not an .exe
Alt+F5+Shift+Ctrl :: Pack Files (delete afterwards)
F10 :: Activate Left Menu (Same as pressing "ALT")
I believe there is another keyboard only shortcut for Pack too, that causes it to pack in the source window instead of Target. I can't recall atm.
For completionist sake, should probably be a "Select Prev Item" cm_ too.
I want my menu's to be aesthetic and useful. I would find it difficult to locate a command among 27+ others in a list.
A big design goal for myself was to make sure the
menu's were keyboard browsable and didn't duplicate keys. From a quick perusal it looks like Peter's menus solved that by not giving every item a keyboard shortcut; they don't appear to duplicate keys, but not every item in the menus can be accessed via a single &Letter and you have to pick it out with the mouse instead.
If I am using a command frequently enough that I have to go to a FileMenu for them over and over again, then I will add it to my IconBar. I use my FileMenu for reference or commands that I only need periodically.
I'll likely use Peter's for some ideas for mine. Just like everything in life, nothing is soley unique it builds upon the ideas of others. If PeterMad finds some use in my Menus then making it available has had a purpose beyond just general deconstruction of TC's design paradigms.
