Thank you ... yes, I am learning.

g.CoderCat

Pete, Thank you for your feedback. Sorry, did not mean to put you in the WTFer catagory. Yes, it was a long post, kind of blogish. But as such, it had no more words than a small article in a daily newspaper or any one of the CodeProject articles. The example code took up a good part of the post ... probably should have left that out. But: When is it the responsibilty of the writer to spoon-feed the reader? IE: engage the reader, keep it short and simple, place icons appropriately. And when is it the reader's responsibily to pick up and use their own spoon? IE willingness be challanged and to explore the unreviewed and uncatagorized, deciding on their own what they get out of it? That was, in fact, the point of the article. Engage the brain and read the code. Suffer through the blogish like code and articles (guilty). Force yourself to scroll down. It may bring rewards. Is this really ArticlesProject.com?

g.CoderCat

Pete, If you miss the clues, fine, you need icons. It may be the case that others do not need icons (or laugh tracks) to get some fun or ideas out of it. Why put down something and possibly ruin it for others? Do you speak for everyone? So now this "topic of discussion" is flagged WTF. Nobody would want to even try to discuss the topic, because they too might be branded WTF. And this side thread seals the deal ... noone will ever want to discuss or investigate something I genuinely thought would be fun and interesting to discuss. There will be no more discussion here. The judges have spoken WTF (sound of gong in background). Over and out.

g.CoderCat

Wow ... do you need icons to tell you when to laugh? The world is going to hell in a laugh-track basket.

g.CoderCat

Paul, Sorry you missed the clues. I was hoping for at least a chuckle if not a LOL ... but not a WTF. Ok. My bad. But I still think there is room for discussion. "And I remember a long time ago, when we threw 0s and 1s at the computer ... we constantly ran out of 1s."

g.CoderCat

The Elcitra Method (“el-SEE-tra”) For Programmers The web is filled with a wonderful array of programming articles ... from MSDN, WikipediA, all the Universities, CodeProject and many more. You can Google, Live-Search or hit F1 in Visual Studio and find a beautifully written article from any point of the globe. I’ve sure benefited from (and am thankful for) all the articles I’ve read. Unfortunately, as wonderful and plentiful as The Article Method (AM) of learning is, programmers will probably spend most of their life learning by The Elcitra Method (EM). Let me contrast the two methods: AM - The programming objectives are clearly and concisely stated right up front ... often in the form of an “abstract”. EM - Yea right! AM - From the abstract, you can choose to become involved with the learning process or not. EM - You have to earn a living. AM - Presented by persons of known or accepted authority, assuring you that your time reading the article and exploring the code is well spent. EM - I don't need no stink'n authority. AM - Has a peer review and rating system to further assure you of the importance and excellence of the material presented. EM - Would be happy if someone even glanced at it before it was released. AM - There are usually references to sources and additional articles if needed. EM - What? AM - Code, when finally presented, comes well structured with clear and correct comments. EM - Code just comes. AM - Code often comes with additional code to debug or showcase the topic code. EM - You're kidding! AM - Exercises your insight and imagination. EM - Tortures your brain. AM - Found in the realms of education and discovery. EM - Occurs mostly in the realm of delivery. AM - You learn the art of programming ... outside in. EM - You learn the reality of programming inside out. AM - Teaches you how to write code. EM - Forces you to read code. The Elcitra Method sometimes occurs (without the torture) in the realms of education and discovery. You know, like when the professor comes into class … scribbles something on the board … turns and says “So let’s discuss this. Henry, what does it mean”? And a rich discussion ensues, driven by the students with guidance from the facilitator. Sometimes the event is captured to video for those students yet to be born. Ok, you got me. Yes, the Elcitra Method of learning programming is really maintenance programming … where the code comes first, and you write the rest of the article. An elcitra i

RE: File/Edit/Help - yes ... that's a bit of an issue ... however, the "finger/tactile menus" are quite similar. I can do my usual automatic Alt-F-Alt-S or Alt-E-Alt-E etcetera ... and most of the time get the 90% of what I want to do. The big 2007 Word and Excel deals for me: 1) Alt-F "Start" (kind of like the Start button on the desktop) menu which to me would seem to be really helpful for beginners to Word/Excel. But I love it too since it is far more than a “simple menu” click. It has a far more sophisticated selection mechanism and acts as much like a dialog box as a menu. 2) "Quick Access tool bar", that ,when customized to your 90% functions, allows you to minimize the ribbon and concentrate on the document and nothing but the document. 3) Ability to “pin” a document to “recent documents”. I no longer have to manage shortcuts on my desktop. I simply call up Excel or Word … and click on my most used “pinned” document. RE: inconsistency of UI between products: - Regarding Outlook and its role in the business culture … exchange server etc … well I’m pretty sure the MSO design team had very little latitude to change its look and feel. Besides, Outlook is such a bundle of about three or four APPS and more often than not sits on a 2nd monitor as a kind of communication / appointment dashboard. I’m not sure about Power-Point / VISIO (don’t use them) … but again that is a fairly specialized audience with long history of “how it is” and the “way it should be” … similar to the many graphics software packages. I’m not sure it’s true these days that all APPS from a company should have a similar look and feel. In fact, that was the intention of the old interface … toolbars that one could turn on/off or arrange inside or outside the content window as one wanted. IE: a single “toolbar” metaphor that would fit all applications. Boy I spent a lot of time managing my toolbars … and often forgetting where I put something anyway. For some APPS that metaphor is appropriate. I never found it really worked for me in Word or Excel … too much hunting for the right tool bar or menu. The ribbon allows me to simply click a category (all listed), and then the appropriate subsection. The ribbon is also very sophisticated in shrinking and/or expanding it's presentation of commands. The one thing that should be fairly consistent though, is the keystroke command interface. And for 2007 Excel and Word and Outlook … my fingers find it much the same as before.

g.CoderCat

I absolutely love the new 2007 Excel and Word interfaces. And I know I'm the only one in the world that does ... but ... oh well. The only thing I want now is a true SDI Excel. But after decades of hacking through Word and Excel tool bars ... after I took just a little time to learn where stuff is ... well ... I love the new 2007 Office interface. Sorry I can't rant with you guys on this.

g.CoderCat