Right-click drag; color oddity

[Ander]

Hi Nikos,

I've been enjoying testing the xplorer2 alpha. (I'd type the little exponential 2---but I couldn't find it in MS Word's tiny symbol-picker, and my third-party character-pad shows only 32-255 of any font. Anybody know the character code?) A couple of things:

(1) In 2xExplorer, you could make some selections in the first pane, then switch to the second pane (usually to switch to a different folder), then right-click and drag the selections from the first pane to the second pane to copy, move, or make shortcuts. You didn't have to actually switch back to the first pane before clicking and dragging.

When you try this in xplorer2, two things can happen (and I'm not sure what determines which):

(a) Nothing
(b) You get the normal right-click menu (New File, New Folder...)

Was this intentional? If not, how about changing it back?

(2) I tried the alpha on my HP Pavilion portable today and was suprised to see that the "active/inactive" backgrounds did not appear. In other words, there was no way to tell which pane was active; both remained white.

I did a screen capture to send to you. When I copied it to my desktop and viewed it there, I was suprised to find that the "inactive" background was visible! Obviously my portable has trouble displaying the particular "inactive" color you chose. That's odd, because:

(a) I use 32-bit color (at 1024x768).
(b) 2xExplorer's "active/inactive" title bars worked fine.
(c) I've never had trouble with colors in any other programs.

I just wonder if other users might run into this too. Let me know if you want more specs, tests run, etc.

Cheers, Andy

[nikos]

(1) checkout GIOPT_NOEATCLICKS in alpha.txt

(2) in the intermediate version i am working on there is a registry tweak to set the inactive color, so that's sorted


PS. did you know that this forum has a private message box for its users?

[fgagnon]

Ander,
re: your "exponential" question.
The raised 2 in x² is character 178 for standard fonts -- [Alt+0178]
But most folks don't bother because it takes extra keystrokes (narayan's bane ).

[narayan]

Yes, I even think of it as "x-two", rather than "x-squared"!

[kev]

well i have often wondered how people "think of" or pronounce x2, or xplorer2. and wot about 2xexplorer... i even started a post to ask people but only one person replied! that one sunk off the forum like a lead balloon

[fgagnon]

kev,
As opinionated as folks are on this forum, I'm sure that if anybody had a different "answer" from mimeryme's response, you would have seen it.
So I took the lone response as indicating unanimous agreement.

[Brig]

You know, when I first discovered 2xExplorer I was thinking of it as "two by" Explorer, as in "two by two," to signify the dual pane aspect. Then it became "two ex" Explorer in my head. And now, xplorer2 is just "x2" to me.

I was always curious about the "right" way to say 2xExplorer.

[kev]

aha fgagnon u see! i knew there had to be other opinions out there!

i doubt everyone was in unanimous agreement with mimeryme... he said "two explorer" but there is an x in there!! 2 x explorer.... that could be "x", "by" or even "times"

and as far as the full name for x2.... does everyone think "explorer two" even tho the 2 is really an exponent, as in "squared"...?

(plus i was kinda hopin for the word from the man himself!)

[nikos]

it's a math thing (blame it on my academic background)
2xExplorer = Explorer + Explorer (linear improvement)
xplorer² = Explorer * Explorer (quadratic improvement)

but in my mind it is just x2 like the rest of the guys!

[fgagnon]

So, extending the math analogy, would the next generation be an exponential improvement to exp(lorer) ?