The menus in Notepad++ are the same API that x2 uses, so I'm unsure of that reference. Besides, the modal-window style (WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW) used in Notepad++ (such as for the search-window) is enough to put anyone off their lunch, so glass-houses and all that.
Interestingly enough, I have a sneaky suspicion that some people might like the x2 ribbon (in its final form, not the simplistic example in the current beta) despite themselves. I personally wanted to hate it, but the most recent (unreleased) version is surprisingly (and begrudgingly) quite nice. Reserve judgement. (Nikos' organisational skills are woeful, and the font-size is unusable, but there's something about it that makes it hard to hate. And trust me, it would normally take a space-alien-anal-probing session to make me say something like that. )
I wouldn't have thought that the API made much difference to what features are in what menu's and in what order they're in et al, which is what I meant by "decrepit and old". Surely that's a design decision, or it was when I was running Windows NT and OS/2 development projects 10-20 years ago, maybe it's changed since.
I don't object to the semi transparent Notepad++ S&R interface - is it perfect? no, but its good enough for me. I'm sure there is something better out there - IYO
If X2's Ribbon is too far off being confluent with the Office Ribbons then I probably wont use it. These days I spend a lot more time in Office than I do in X2, in fact I could probably be satisfied with using X2-LIte. I upgraded from Lite to Pro to do something that I no longer do - but I can't remember which features of Pro I needed.
:offtopic: can it be that MS is reverting to having a developer focus, I'm thinking of the open sourcing of some .NET components and VS2013 Community edition. I always thought it lost its developer focus (and hence support thereof) when Ballmer was CEO.
RP
Windows 10 Pro (64 bit) version 1809 - Xplorer2 version: Pro 2.5.0.4 [Unicode] x64 2014-06-21
Last year I got Word 2013 and let me tell you how I use and like the Ribbon. I hate them and avoid them like the plague. They take up too much space and it is far, far harder for me to find a command that I want by scanning for it left to right in the Ribbon, rather than scan up and down in a menu where all the text for the commands line up neatly to the left. And for some confusing reason some commands in the Ribbon have bigger icons than others and then some commands use smaller ones and stack up to the right of the larger icons and your eye has to work to search through all the little groupings.
So here is how I use the Ribbon and I hope the next xplorer² will too. I only use the Ribbon in very rare occasions. I have my Ribbon in Word 2013 set to auto hide and I keep all my frequent commands in what Microsoft calls the Quick Access toolbar, which is just a smaller version of the toolbar I had in Word 2002. My Ribbons are row of tabs above the Quick Access toolbar that almost look like menus, which is how I basically treat them. As harder to search horizontal menus.
And for god’s sake I hope you don’t make all the labels for the Ribbon ALL CAPS.
Other than the Ribbon, what else is new in the next version (other than better rename)? I'm dying for a check box for a predefined saved filter that adds it to the Autofilter drop down list.
This from the man whose forum software still shows the codes for italics, bold, etc? Methinks WYSIWYG has not moved on much from 1776. Much like croutons that purportedly stay crunchy after you pour hot water on a cup-o-soup thingy. Seriously over-rated chemical mix. I was always endeared to the SPRINT word-processor which looked much the same. Did what it was supposed to, and didn't dirty the carpet. Apple has a lot to answer for. EOLN.
nikos wrote: you could press some button and get to the printed view mode. Good riddance!
You can still do that in WordPerfect X7.
And the code reveal is still in place.
By the way: Kilmatead likes WYSIWYG - a technique which disallows digging deep holes into what you want to write? I thought he'd come up with some LaTeX proposal instead.
Tux. ; tuxproject.de registered xplorer² pro user since Oct 2009, ultimated in Mar 2012
Kilmatead does not like WYSIWYG, Kilmatead much prefers to stub his toes on every every bracketed coffee-table leg he can possibly crash into when the lights are off. It's how he continues to realise he's still alive (pain will do that), rather than relying upon his "wearables" to tell him his heart has continued to beat "these last few decases" [sic] (whatever they may be... )
Spellcheck is for sissies. - Indeed, wearables are an anachronism, resembling the gadgets everyone had before they were replaced by "smart" portable phone cells which now are accompanied by things which look like grandpa's watch. Tempora mutantur et mutamur in illis.
Tux. ; tuxproject.de registered xplorer² pro user since Oct 2009, ultimated in Mar 2012
Tuxman wrote:Tempora mutantur et mutamur in illis.
Yes, but just wait until the smart-watches have little nano-wires inserted into the veins on our wrists for more accurate results. The question becomes "What are we changing into?" Apple and Google want your children as test subjects.
The Ribbon in x2 is only the beginning!
Last edited by Kilmatead on 2014 Dec 07, 16:05, edited 1 time in total.
pschroeter wrote:Last year I got Word 2013 and let me tell you how I use and like the Ribbon. I hate them and avoid them like the plague.
Why don't you use WordPerfect then?
The real question is why don't I switch back to Word 2002. After a year of mucking around with Word 2013 with macros and several registry hacks I I have made it tolerable and just given up fighting it. I am absolute horrified that I can no longer do simple things I had been doing since the nineties like customize right-click menus or use custom icons for buttons. I can no longer simply backup my configuration with a Save My Settings wizard and now have to hunt all over the computer for little files to copy. Microsoft removes features and calls it progress.
I looked into other word processors like LibreOffice Writer. I just absolute have to have smart cut and paste where Word adjusts the spaces between text and punctuation when I move text.
nikos wrote:since this update is "just" a ribbon and that rename, i'll see if I can squeeze in that little autofilter too
If I get my autofilter request I will believe in Santa Claus.
I hope my post didn’t come off to much like a rant. I appreciate the work you are doing and the amount of effort it must take to adopt a new interface paradigm. Last year I went from Word 2002 to Word 2013 and from Windows XP to Windows 8. Everything was completely moved around, missing, or just plain hidden. I really don’t understand the interface changes that are getting made the past few years, but I have a feeling I can blame the growing popularity of tablet computers. I’m not against change. I’m against change for change’s sake and to save the jobs of computer interface designers.
Besides, the modal-window style (WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW) used in Notepad++ (such as for the search-window) is enough to put anyone off their lunch, so glass-houses and all that. 
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