Proximity of changing UI elements
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Actually, it's Chris' fault that we have ALL CAPS[^].
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I can't tell you how many times I've been bitten by this but it's driving me crazy. At the top of the Solution Explorer in VS10 there are icons. One of them is "refresh" which really seems like it should never be needed, given the capabilities of a directory watcher, and another icon is "nest related files". The issue is that "Refresh" is shown in some situations, but depending on what you do it disappears and is replaced by, in the exact same position, the "Nest Related Files" icon. This in-situ replacement usually happens when you click different files or elements, but can also occur when the focus changes - such as when you click the "refresh" icon. As soon as you click the icon it changes from Refresh to "nest related files" and you have to wait while VS spends 5 minutes working out who belongs to whom. ARGHHH! What ever happened to simply disabling an icon??
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
Yep. Nothing annoys me more about design than people's attempts to be fancy that just make things worse.
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I can't tell you how many times I've been bitten by this but it's driving me crazy. At the top of the Solution Explorer in VS10 there are icons. One of them is "refresh" which really seems like it should never be needed, given the capabilities of a directory watcher, and another icon is "nest related files". The issue is that "Refresh" is shown in some situations, but depending on what you do it disappears and is replaced by, in the exact same position, the "Nest Related Files" icon. This in-situ replacement usually happens when you click different files or elements, but can also occur when the focus changes - such as when you click the "refresh" icon. As soon as you click the icon it changes from Refresh to "nest related files" and you have to wait while VS spends 5 minutes working out who belongs to whom. ARGHHH! What ever happened to simply disabling an icon??
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
I have one thing to say "Solution Navigator"
MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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Chris Maunder wrote:
ARGHHH! What ever happened to simply disabling an icon??
Shhhhhhh! Keep your voice down... if you keep complaining we'll end up with a ribbon control. :sigh: Best Wishes, -David Delaune
Shhhhh! Don't even say the R word! ...Or maybe they should just skip ahead and make VS metro only, full screen or die. Big squared buttons with 5 lines of code and a tiny scrollbar FTW!
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Chris Maunder wrote:
ARGHHH! What ever happened to simply disabling an icon??
Shhhhhhh! Keep your voice down... if you keep complaining we'll end up with a ribbon control. :sigh: Best Wishes, -David Delaune
Unlikely. Given the mess that is the UI design of VS11 it's more likely to become a gray box* with the words PRESS ME in large letters in the middle. * adjacent to another grey box, with no border in between.
Anna :rose: Tech Blog | Visual Lint "Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
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The UI should not change (rearrange) based on context. It makes it impossible to develop muscle memory for competent users and the incompetent users still ask for help.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost
I'll bite, because I have an application that does change the toolbar icons based on context. This might not match their case, but what happens when you have lots of actions based on context. You have various different element types, and displaying all the icons (with most of them disabled) could take up more space than we have allocated on the taskbar. But if you change the icons based on context, the user can quickly see what actions are available, instead of having a sea of disabled icons that they have to mouse through. And keeping their relative actions close to the working area could be more ergonomic. I'm not sure if this matches the dynamics of the Solution Explorer. It may not have enough operations that warrant the change. But if it does, its one way to make better use of the available space.
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Chris Maunder wrote:
ARGHHH! What ever happened to simply disabling an icon??
Shhhhhhh! Keep your voice down... if you keep complaining we'll end up with a ribbon control. :sigh: Best Wishes, -David Delaune
Shhhhhhhhhhh! You should never say the name of you know what.
To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia
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I can't tell you how many times I've been bitten by this but it's driving me crazy. At the top of the Solution Explorer in VS10 there are icons. One of them is "refresh" which really seems like it should never be needed, given the capabilities of a directory watcher, and another icon is "nest related files". The issue is that "Refresh" is shown in some situations, but depending on what you do it disappears and is replaced by, in the exact same position, the "Nest Related Files" icon. This in-situ replacement usually happens when you click different files or elements, but can also occur when the focus changes - such as when you click the "refresh" icon. As soon as you click the icon it changes from Refresh to "nest related files" and you have to wait while VS spends 5 minutes working out who belongs to whom. ARGHHH! What ever happened to simply disabling an icon??
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
Not even close to be as confusing as the UI changes for the report builder of SSRS.
To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia
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I can't tell you how many times I've been bitten by this but it's driving me crazy. At the top of the Solution Explorer in VS10 there are icons. One of them is "refresh" which really seems like it should never be needed, given the capabilities of a directory watcher, and another icon is "nest related files". The issue is that "Refresh" is shown in some situations, but depending on what you do it disappears and is replaced by, in the exact same position, the "Nest Related Files" icon. This in-situ replacement usually happens when you click different files or elements, but can also occur when the focus changes - such as when you click the "refresh" icon. As soon as you click the icon it changes from Refresh to "nest related files" and you have to wait while VS spends 5 minutes working out who belongs to whom. ARGHHH! What ever happened to simply disabling an icon??
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
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"Microsoft -- Adding unnecessary complexity to your work since 1987!"
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Chris Maunder wrote:
ARGHHH! What ever happened to simply disabling an icon??
Shhhhhhh! Keep your voice down... if you keep complaining we'll end up with a ribbon control. :sigh: Best Wishes, -David Delaune
Actually, I think I'd like to see a VS version that uses a ribbon. ;)
