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No vote here   [Discuss]

By: Juergen Hestermann       
Date: May 27,2003 at 05:10
In Response to: No vote here (Kim Henkel)

> I've read repeatedly that a dialog would provide a larger input window - but
> nobody seems to admit that the only way this could be larger, is to be taller.

Of course.

> If anything, a dialog is going to be less wide than the current commend area
> because presumably the dialog is going to need borders. In several cases the
> space problem has been width , so there is no solution here at all.

If it's only the width then why did we need this efford with Alt+Info? The same reason for doing it there may apply in other cases too.

> As Liviu points out, there are issues in designing a dialog that combines what
> are now several dependent input steps.

If needed, they still can be done in the same way as now, even in a popup window. But in general popups can be handled more flexible than the 3 lines of the command menu. Width, height and position can be arranged as needed. And in cases where the file/tree display is realy important the popup can be placed similar to the Alt+Info window.

> Sorry but this looks to me like a (poor) solution in search of a problem.
> If for example there is a problem anticipating the input steps for Alt-Mirror,
> then perhaps the better approach is a message line that explains what the
> next step will be.

I am not sure what you mean here. Where should such a message line be placed?

> With all the drama we went through trying to keep Alt-I from being obtrusive,

Nevertheless, there was a reason to do that. A solution for Alt+I with the command menu only was not found because of the 3 line restriction. For now we all arranged with the dialog restriction of the command menu but maybe some could be improved if we had more lines (even if the width would be smaller then).

> I just can't beleive folks are saying an overlayed dialog is better than the
> current design %-)
> Kim

Well, the current command menu could also be seen as a permanently displayed popup window (without frame) which occupies space. If all dialogs would be realized with popups then experienced users could switch off the command menu to get 3 more lines for files and tree (all users with 25 line mode would see 15% more files). F1 in DW or FW could then first 'popup' the current token help (Ctrl and Alt could do the same) and the help file would be visible with a second F1 in this mode (just some thoughts).

I am not advocating to implement popups *now*, I think there are more important things. On the other hand I would not damn the thinking about possible changes in this direction.

But if you say that this is *definitely* out of scope and will never be implemented (I think it only makes sense if done consequently for *all* dialogs) then we don't need to talk about it anymore. ;-)

Jürgen.

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