Changing display order of folder

[plugger]

Using 3.2.0.2 ULT [Unicode] x64 4/21/2016

I have a folder with subfolders, shortcuts, and files.
X2 displays the names gathered by type, thus:

AFolder
BFolder
CFolder
AShortcut
BShortcut
AFile
BFile

Is it possible to change the display to strictly alphabetic, thus?:

AFile
AFolder
AShortcut
BFile
BFolder
BShortcut
CFolder

[Kilmatead]

Tools -> Options -> Window (tab) -> Folders sorted: As Files

Or, if your display is sorting by "Groups", just disable grouping... View -> Arrange by -> Show in Groups (unchecked)

Or, View -> Arrange by -> Unsorted (in this mode, if you rename items they won't be automatically resorted by their new names, so may require a <Ctrl+R> refresh)

[plugger]

Thanks!

Also, in x2docs.pdf on page 367, which I found after reading your response.

[Kilmatead]

You probably meant page 67, not 367, as otherwise trying to affect sort order via the registry would be an interesting experiment in masochism, which wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

[plugger]

You probably meant page 67, not 367, as otherwise trying to affect sort order via the registry would be an interesting experiment in masochism, which wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

Actually, I meant page 387 in x2docs.pdf, which I mistyped as 367. Tsk.
I gather x2docs.pdf is languishing, but I like it.

[Kilmatead]

I gather x2docs.pdf is languishing, but I like it.

Yes, the user who produced it (narayan) has been missing-in-action for some time now, and the original PDF sources were purportedly lost to a hard-drive failure (there's irony for you). Contrary to appearances, it was never official/canonised documentation.

Considering it was just a project he took on for himself (and has created similar documents for other programmes), it's more of a general "how to" now rather than an exhaustive description of every feature/foible in x2. Help for any x2 features not covered by it is largely forum-based (or you can just spam Nikos' inbox if you're a particularly demanding (or easily amused) user.

* * *

As an obliquely related aside, recently I had to replace my computer hardware (custom build) after my 10-year-old system decided to die. Naturally, this required me to re-familiarise myself with the current state of the market. A decade ago this could only be properly done via the internet by spending many hours reading long tech-posts and/or perusing hardware magazines for reviews, etc, to see what was available, and to understand how products worked under their shiny-coating.

I was rather amused this time around to discover that due to the "younger generation's" (apparent) disinterest in reading, there has been a relative explosion of you-tube videos which serve as product reviews ("unboxingings"), and seems to have become the de facto method of information-gathering for that self-same younger-generation. Indeed, the tech-companies themselves seem to have embraced this trend whole-heartedly (as more cynical observers would expect).

To be sure, the dedicated tech-sites still fulfil their roles providing properly detailed information in the more traditional/detailed manner, but I found the paradigm shift to be rather telling... not only has the written-word declined in general with humans deciding that superficial means of obtaining information (video) to be preferable, but that it has largely become the dominant method of conveyance in even the most niche of markets.

Whether this is a good or bad thing I will leave to historians to intimate and pontificate; for myself, I can only take comfort in the apparent resurgence of vinyl - which tells you all you need to know about my world-view (maturation manifests hope more in lament than in rant, these days).

Since x2 (much to Nikos' probable chagrin, alongside the shrinking desktop paradigm itself) appeals to a more mature user-base, I suspect that the magnum-opus days of "proper" product documentation may be behind us - no matter how much we ourselves may lament it. That Nikos himself has spent more than a bit of time pursuing those indecipherably un-sufferable how-to flash videos suggests its own approach to how information is to be absorbed in this brave new world.

Anyway, that's my 'tuppence. Don't get me started on Brexit and what happens when you allow an ill-informed and fearful populace to make arbitrary and uninformed decisions about the destiny of nations.

[plugger]

You'll be glad to know that some weeks ago someone, the NY Times I think, reported an increase in patronage at libraries here in the USA. I read that on-line.

Narayan did a splendid job with x2docs, for which civilization is grateful. He can be forgiven for fleeing the project; documenting a moving target is an unreasonable burden. Documenting anything is an unreasonable burden.

(Perhaps you have seen reports that your ill-informed and fearful populace is somewhat less ill-informed, having searched diligently last week for "What does leave the EU mean" and "What is the EU".)

[Kilmatead]

You'll be glad to know that some weeks ago someone, the NY Times I think, reported an increase in patronage at libraries here in the USA. I read that on-line.

But did they sign up to read books, or just mooch off the internet access for torrenting the latest Game of Thrones without getting their own IP address pinged? Many years ago living in the city centre, I used to regularly spend most of the day in the library - largely because they actually had central heating, and all I had at home was a duvet and a leaky roof. (The true irony being that I actually had a better collection of books at home than they did - reports of Irish literacy rates in populated areas are greatly exaggerated.) Trust me, the romantic notion of "living in a garret in Paris" is rather quickly offset by the reality of medieval architecture vs. the joys of modern insulation.

Perhaps you have seen reports that your ill-informed and fearful populace is somewhat less ill-informed, having searched diligently last week for "What does leave the EU mean" and "What is the EU".

Much like how back in 2008 many Americans gained an unwilling understanding of how compound-interest really works, the irony here being that Brits only looked those things up after the vote, not before it! Most readily admit it was just meant to be a protest-vote (they have those all the time in referenda)... except they didn't actually expect to win anything this time. Oops.

[dunno]

I recently out of curiosity bought a PS4. I realised I needed information for the HUD/MAP symbology of the respective games if I was to get beyond being killed every 60 sec's due to focusing on understanding what the shyte on the screen means.
1st game; Tiny txt help file with basic simplistic explanations, NO HUD/MAP symbol description; spent hours googling for help, eventually found some basic 3rd party information.
2nd game, No help file at all, spent hours googling as above, only basic information acquired.

As has been noticed a "unboxing" video is the new manual, this long rambling "unboxing" with little tech content is the 'in thing', "look I'm opening the box, look the box is open, look at the nice wrapping, lovely texture, there's the charger nice and small, here's the item, it looks nice", ad nauseum.....

No 'unboxing' videos for either game though, only walk-through's which I watched on you tube to try and learn game essentials, it dawned on me that most of the players don't know what all the HUD/Map symbology means. Few know what the values attached to a weapon upgrade means either, (Fall Out 4). I eventually received a detailed reply to my weapon upgrade question from a 'Op' at the games official forum, and not from the developers. Could it be that the developers know that nobody reads text, and heaven forbid the help file, or could it be that the developers assume that the players are bright individuals who intuit the unknown in a flash ?.
I was so annoyed with the lack of documentation that I wrote a long letter/rant to both developers, only one bothered to send me a link to a third party site which I had already found. I enquired whether spending hours (days), searching for information is what they mean by game play.
My distant neighbours must wonder who the lunatic is that continuously shouts "WHY, FOR FVCK SAKE'S, WHY DOES THAT HAPPEN !!.

And so I stumble along in this new parallel universe, why, "because we eat spicy curry".

P.S.
To anyone who plays Sniper Elite 3 ?, could you please explain what the ghost thingy is that occasionally appears on the screen. Do I really have to relocate ?. If I don't relocate during a search and after the 'all clear', why does the yellow/red triangle remain until I've moved the designated distance?.

*sigh*, "unboxing" video my A$$.

[Kilmatead]

It's always fun when the gaming community itself agrees with you. What's even more fun is (at least on PC) the mods available to "fix" any such problems... usually designed by experienced players who always seem to gravitate towards the minimalist - where HUD info only appears when necessary (attacking conditions, etc), so you don't even get much of a chance to study the screen in the first place. Never mind that since they're modding it they usually take the opportunity to change all the icons anyway, "for clarity", while they're at it.

And never mind just games... have you ever tried to figure out the in-built menus for LCD monitors/telly's these days? Aside from needing rather nimble fingers which can bend in unnatural directions, you need a good memory as it takes about an hour to get it setup the way you like then you forget it all... only to have a power-cut 6 months later and you're staring at the blinking clock on the microwave again trying to work up the courage to attack, attack, attack.

It's actually a bit of a psychological conspiracy designed to make us grown ups feel like inexperienced 13-year-olds again, lest we forget that it's no longer good enough just to be a wiz-kid programming the VCR.

There's a lot to be said for driving games though. Not too much to screw up there... speedometer, tachometer, and gearing.

Many moons ago (before regular humans had in-home internet) I had to buy a physical strategy guide for an RPG because I had no idea what all the bleedin' numbers/stats-per-weapon/monster meant. It probably didn't help that most RPG's are still derived from old D&D cards which were nothing but symbols, numbers, and arcane stats.

I always sigh when I boot up Rome II and have to remind myself what all the nonsense that looks more like a OS/X desktop really is, and how good my hoplites are against the sarissaphoroi...



It was a lot easier when it was all just cowboys and indians... can't mess that up... white-hats. black-hats, and tomahawks.

[Kilmatead]

Oh yeah, and lest I forget - the modern age has screwed up the simple cigarette too... even e-cigarette thingies have OLED screens today, replete with voltage regulation. I don't think Brando counted by numbers... whatever happened to 'cool'...



I really did have to watch one one those silly unboxing things just to figure out how to put it together. My kingdom for a crumpled pack scrounged from an old jacket pocket...

[dunno]

A pack of real smokes over a e-smoker any day, batteries not required.

Ahh, the good old days, filterless camel, vinyl, vcr's, Japanese motor bikes that refused to leak oil onto the lounge carpet, 'Honda K-0' the first inline four, with a kick starter, thems for real men.

[Kilmatead]

'Honda K-0' the first inline four, with a kick starter, thems for real men.

Now we're flying - I "graduated" from an old beat-up and multi-re-built frankensteined Honda Trail Monkey to a neighbour's hand-me-down K-0 back before before cigarettes, whiskey, and girls were a "thing". Funny, I never had a manual for any of those things and I seemed to get by all right... maybe understanding how things work progresses in direct proportion to how long your legs are...

These e-smoke things aren't as terrible as I feared... not to be assembled/refilled/recoiled when drunk, to be sure, but a passable imitation of the real thing. Cheaper too.

[dunno]

Funny, I never had a manual for any of those things and I seemed to get by all right

I wish that they'd included a manual on the finer points of going fast around corners, how to counter steer the bitch, White lines (wet and dry), sand, diesel, front wheel braking in a straight line versus angled. Tank slapper - no problem, just pull out ?.

There was so much I din't know your honour, but thanks to the many roasties I now have a treasure trove of advise.

[Kilmatead]

Riding a bike is all about one's willingness to hurt oneself (in seeking the greater value within), white lines, physics, and rain included. Didn't you grow up reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance like the rest of us? Coincidentally, even the Wikipedia entry mentions this little nugget:

Pirsig stated that the book took him four years to write. During two of these years, Pirsig continued working at his job of writing computer manuals.

(As I have always said, there's no such thing as off-topic! )