"What is this?"
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So when you are faced with a dialog like this one (below), how do you find information about one of the fields? Pressing the '?' button just loads the home page for the help system. http://www.codeproject.com/script/profile/upload/1363/Options.jpg[^]
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milkThe options there seem self explanatory to me :wtf:. Now, if there were images instead of the actual text I would find myself in need of some extra information. Also in case of list items, you can always try and right-click them, see what that menu brings up (if any), or check if they have tooltips (this could be checked for all controls as well, since it's easier to have a tooltip than to have an extra button in your interface which would require extra mouse movment and clicks).
Asynchronously daydreaming...
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All release versions here, no betas.
Ricky Dean wrote:
Right clicking on a control in theory should give you a result or hitting F1 after a click or list highlight.
It always used to be that way, but sadly not any longer.
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milkThats just crazy! You'de think they would of at least made it similar to a web tooltip. (like leaving the arrow over the control/checkbox/radio button/list item etc and after a short amount of time the tool tip appears) cheers
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Why has Microsoft abandoned the incredibly useful 'What is this?' help that used to be found in almost every dialog? Previously you would click on the '?' button on a dialog's control bar then click on a control, and it would helpfully popup with a paragraph or two describing what that control did, what you need to enter there, etc. Now it just launches an entire help file, and you have dig through pages of links and information to find the help relevant to the control you want. Microsoft used to have both a '?' and a 'Help' button on all their dialogs. Now they seem to be killing off all the help buttons and raping the 'What is this?' help to take their place. X| If Microsoft are already doing it then context-sensitive help is all but dead now. It is a shame, and a real backwards step IMO. :( Is there any official justification given for this?
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milkWhy has Microsoft abandoned the incredibly useful 'What is this?' help that used to be found in almost every dialog? Haven't tooltips made it at least partially redundant? I say partially, because IMO tooltips should only have a few words to describe a given control, but if that turns out not to be enough, then I'd say the What's This thingamaflinger should still be there to display a more complete sentence or two. In other words, I'm in complete agreement with you. I hardly ever use it, but when I do need it, I appreciate that it's there--otherwise, as you pointed out, the typical help file is so massive it's useless.
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As you've said, all the Visual Studio stuff does this (including everything based on it such as SQL Server Management Studio), but so does Office, Internet Explorer, and all of their other flagship products. I can't find any 'What is this?' buttons in Vista as an OS.
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milkThey added voice recognition. You're supposed to scream at it. But I've heard it's hard of hearing so you have to scream really really loud.
Todd Smith
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ensger wrote:
I used Alt-F4 to close the actual window, but that is not the problem. It's one of many points.
What is the issue you have with ALT+F4? It is not clear from your messages. ALT+F4 will *always* close the entire application [window], whether it is IE, Firefox, or anything else. If you want to close only one window/tab then the shortcut is and always has been CTRL+F4.
ensger wrote:
want to have the Google-bar. I was asked to choose a search-engine while downloading, but google was not there!!
Do you mean the Google Toolbar, or having Google in the built-in IE7 toolbar? Because if it is the latter, then you just add it in from the menu. It takes all of five seconds and Google is your default search provider. :confused:
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milkYou can use Ctrl+W to close individual windows as well. Just a hint though: if you're using IE7 there was a bug with the Google Toolbar that stopped the "Open in new tab" feature working. I don't know if it's been fixed because I haven't downloaded the toolbar to try. Back to the original, I stopped using the "What is this?" feature quite a while back. I got sick and tired of getting "There is no help topic associated with this item." I figure if nobody's using it outside Redmond (or inside Redmond for that matter), why carry on supporting it?
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Why has Microsoft abandoned the incredibly useful 'What is this?' help that used to be found in almost every dialog? Previously you would click on the '?' button on a dialog's control bar then click on a control, and it would helpfully popup with a paragraph or two describing what that control did, what you need to enter there, etc. Now it just launches an entire help file, and you have dig through pages of links and information to find the help relevant to the control you want. Microsoft used to have both a '?' and a 'Help' button on all their dialogs. Now they seem to be killing off all the help buttons and raping the 'What is this?' help to take their place. X| If Microsoft are already doing it then context-sensitive help is all but dead now. It is a shame, and a real backwards step IMO. :( Is there any official justification given for this?
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milkOne of the most surprising things that's come from recent usability research is how infrequently users use help. They've also found a very strong direct relationship between experience and the use of help. As an extension to that, when users do resort to help, it's rarely to identify a specific UI element, but rather to solve a specific problem. In other words, most users don't end up in a dialog asking "what does this check box item do"? What users want to know is how to accomplish specific tasks; the help for Microsoft Office has gone in this direction and has gotten very good. Vista is taking this to the next step and in some cases will interactively walk you through the solution.
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke
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All release versions here, no betas.
Ricky Dean wrote:
Right clicking on a control in theory should give you a result or hitting F1 after a click or list highlight.
It always used to be that way, but sadly not any longer.
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milkHeres a sneak at what's gone (including your "Whats This?".) http://safari.oreilly.com/0596528272/windowsvistatmm-APP-C[^]
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Why has Microsoft abandoned the incredibly useful 'What is this?' help that used to be found in almost every dialog? Previously you would click on the '?' button on a dialog's control bar then click on a control, and it would helpfully popup with a paragraph or two describing what that control did, what you need to enter there, etc. Now it just launches an entire help file, and you have dig through pages of links and information to find the help relevant to the control you want. Microsoft used to have both a '?' and a 'Help' button on all their dialogs. Now they seem to be killing off all the help buttons and raping the 'What is this?' help to take their place. X| If Microsoft are already doing it then context-sensitive help is all but dead now. It is a shame, and a real backwards step IMO. :( Is there any official justification given for this?
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milkI've asked pretty much everyone here at the office. They all said the same thing. They used it occasionaly but rarely received the help they were looking for. To generic a responce ect.
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You can use Ctrl+W to close individual windows as well. Just a hint though: if you're using IE7 there was a bug with the Google Toolbar that stopped the "Open in new tab" feature working. I don't know if it's been fixed because I haven't downloaded the toolbar to try. Back to the original, I stopped using the "What is this?" feature quite a while back. I got sick and tired of getting "There is no help topic associated with this item." I figure if nobody's using it outside Redmond (or inside Redmond for that matter), why carry on supporting it?
D`argo wrote:
Just a hint though: if you're using IE7 there was a bug with the Google Toolbar that stopped the "Open in new tab" feature working. I don't know if it's been fixed because I haven't downloaded the toolbar to try.
Just install it again, at least that worked for me. I guess there is something wrong with the GT you get bundled with the IE7 package, just surf your way on over to Google and get it yourself and install it and you should be fine.
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They added voice recognition. You're supposed to scream at it. But I've heard it's hard of hearing so you have to scream really really loud.
Todd Smith
"They added voice recognition. You're supposed to scream at it. But I've heard it's hard of hearing so you have to scream really really loud." *Shrieks with excitement* (Thats right, a shriek, kinda like the noise that Stimpy made when he saw a fresh bag of cat litter) Microsoft now supports screaming!! My friends, the days of troubleshooting are a thing of the past.
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Alt-F4 has *ALWAYS* closed the entire application. If you want to close only one of the sub-windows (MDI children as they were called, or their new incarnation, tabs) use Ctrl-F4 instead... S.L.
Using IE7, go here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/searchguide/en-uk/default.mspx?dcsref=http://runonce.msn.com/runonce2.aspx Then click the Engine listed that you want to install. If you want to set it as the default search engine, tick that box when installing. I hope that helps. Cheers, Rob
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ensger wrote:
I used Alt-F4 to close the actual window, but that is not the problem. It's one of many points.
What is the issue you have with ALT+F4? It is not clear from your messages. ALT+F4 will *always* close the entire application [window], whether it is IE, Firefox, or anything else. If you want to close only one window/tab then the shortcut is and always has been CTRL+F4.
ensger wrote:
want to have the Google-bar. I was asked to choose a search-engine while downloading, but google was not there!!
Do you mean the Google Toolbar, or having Google in the built-in IE7 toolbar? Because if it is the latter, then you just add it in from the menu. It takes all of five seconds and Google is your default search provider. :confused:
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milkDavid Wulff wrote:
ensger wrote: I used Alt-F4 to close the actual window, but that is not the problem. It's one of many points. What is the issue you have with ALT+F4? It is not clear from your messages. ALT+F4 will *always* close the entire application [window], whether it is IE, Firefox, or anything else.
Does it matter if you configured IE to open as separate processes?
Ware Programmers are tools to convert caffiene to code.
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David Wulff wrote:
ensger wrote: I used Alt-F4 to close the actual window, but that is not the problem. It's one of many points. What is the issue you have with ALT+F4? It is not clear from your messages. ALT+F4 will *always* close the entire application [window], whether it is IE, Firefox, or anything else.
Does it matter if you configured IE to open as separate processes?
Ware Programmers are tools to convert caffiene to code.
Nope, if it is in the same window (multiple tabs) then it will close all of them.
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk -
Nope, if it is in the same window (multiple tabs) then it will close all of them.
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milkThe original comment was that after downloading IE7 (tabbed) that Alt-F4 changed from IE6 (windows). I was asking whether IE6 with that setting would only close one window when Alt-F4 was pressed as they are considered different processes. I agree that IE7 would close the app and thus all tabbed pages. But if the answer to my question in regards to IE6 is yes, then the use of IE7 would require a mindset / habit change. BTW, I just checked on one of my other machines as I know it was set there and Alt-F4 does only close one window in that instance.
Ware Programmers are tools to convert caffiene to code.
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The original comment was that after downloading IE7 (tabbed) that Alt-F4 changed from IE6 (windows). I was asking whether IE6 with that setting would only close one window when Alt-F4 was pressed as they are considered different processes. I agree that IE7 would close the app and thus all tabbed pages. But if the answer to my question in regards to IE6 is yes, then the use of IE7 would require a mindset / habit change. BTW, I just checked on one of my other machines as I know it was set there and Alt-F4 does only close one window in that instance.
Ware Programmers are tools to convert caffiene to code.
IE6 is an MTI application, so ALT+F4 will only close the active window regardless of whether they are loaded in individual processes or not.
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk
