I just downloaded the trial of the pro version. The inactive pane was indistinguishable from the active pane on my monitor. With the beta version, I went into the registry and manually changed the setting. I was shocked to see the same is true for the pro released version.
Highlighting either the active or inactive pane seems to me to be a pretty basic function. I really don't like manually tweaking registry entries because of the chance of the registry being corrupted. I would really be upset if I trashed my machine because I was setting a program to do something such as this.
Registry tweaking is only for the experienced and those not faint of heart. A piece of commercial software which is bought should never need to have its registry settings manually changed. In the case of xplorer2, it seems to me the active/inactive pane should be highlighted in a way that either the user can change through software settings or is such that all users can see the difference.
The default here was two panes that look exactly the same with no way of changing except registry tweaks. Maybe xplorer2 is not ready for prime time yet. It is a nice program but I don't think it is polished enough yet for public release.
Not ready for prime time?
Moderators: fgagnon, nikos, Site Mods
Well, I think it's just you, me, luther & jimspoon who have made any comments on the desirability of user-settable shading. And as this is primarily a user-preference issue (vs critical functionality); nikos has already indicated (in our prior discusson thread) he wouldn't address it until the next major release.
We should be neither surprised, nor particularly disappointed.
Although your/our suggestions will significantly enhance ease-of-use, I disagree that not having that control disqualifies the product from "prime time". There are many other more important issues that have been addressed; and I think this baby is overdue for prime time.
It is true that it is not 'finished' yet -- but few user app's ever are. And often the best features are not discovered until early versions are released to the public, and get used by a wider audience - who see things which the developers & small circle of early testers do not.
This is already happening -- and the ideas are so numerous that they cannot all be incorporated at once.
Nikos has decided to wait on your good idea.
Please don't take it personally.
Try to look at the big picture.
Our ideas are 'on the list'.
And we just might get our reward a bit later.
We should be neither surprised, nor particularly disappointed.
Although your/our suggestions will significantly enhance ease-of-use, I disagree that not having that control disqualifies the product from "prime time". There are many other more important issues that have been addressed; and I think this baby is overdue for prime time.
It is true that it is not 'finished' yet -- but few user app's ever are. And often the best features are not discovered until early versions are released to the public, and get used by a wider audience - who see things which the developers & small circle of early testers do not.
This is already happening -- and the ideas are so numerous that they cannot all be incorporated at once.
Nikos has decided to wait on your good idea.
Please don't take it personally.
Try to look at the big picture.
Our ideas are 'on the list'.
And we just might get our reward a bit later.
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Starsurfer
- Bronze Member
- Posts: 109
- Joined: 2002 Feb 23, 23:51
- Location: Atlantis
Not all user preferences, display brightness settings, ambient light conditions, or eyesight are the same for all users.
Hence the value of being able to set these pane preferences.
It makes usage easier: less errors due to improved clarity of what's what.
I would also like to see the active pane titlebar take its color settings from the active window titlebar (like on 2x); but nikos had declared as "too in-your-face" (or similar phrase) looks-wise at some point when he had too much else to do.
It may have offended his sense of the obvious, but with my display & lighting preferences & eyesight, my speed & accuracy sure would benefit from being able to increase the "contrast" between active & inactive panes.
Hence the value of being able to set these pane preferences.
It makes usage easier: less errors due to improved clarity of what's what.
I would also like to see the active pane titlebar take its color settings from the active window titlebar (like on 2x); but nikos had declared as "too in-your-face" (or similar phrase) looks-wise at some point when he had too much else to do.
It may have offended his sense of the obvious, but with my display & lighting preferences & eyesight, my speed & accuracy sure would benefit from being able to increase the "contrast" between active & inactive panes.
i couldn't have foreseen that such a small detail would have caused such problems. In all computers i tested on, including laptops, the distinction of active/inactive panes was clear cut
anyway, since we don't want to upset potential customers, i'll add this detail in the list for the first cumulative patch. As I said such updates are considered "bugfixes" (although the color one isn't a bug) and will be free for all existing customers
there's no point releasing patches every other day, but let's say i'll give it a month to get a few of them put together
anyway, since we don't want to upset potential customers, i'll add this detail in the list for the first cumulative patch. As I said such updates are considered "bugfixes" (although the color one isn't a bug) and will be free for all existing customers
there's no point releasing patches every other day, but let's say i'll give it a month to get a few of them put together
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loggedonnow
- New Member
- Posts: 6
- Joined: 2004 Apr 20, 11:54
Thats great! I really do like the product. I will be looking forward to it!BTW. I only tried it on my laptop and home computer. Both have lcd screens. My home computer though is a Viewsonic VP171b with an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and my laptop a Toshiba very low end model. Although the home setup is leaps and bounds better than the laptop, the difference in panes was easier to see on the laptop. On the home computer, I couldn't make out any difference at all.
The contrast between panes should be noticeable, unless your display/monitor ...
(a.) has its brightness close to maximum, or ...
(b.) is on its way to failing.
(a.) should not be 'normal' unless you must use it under high ambient light conditions; otherwise it usually results in better discrimination to set display brightness lower. Two benefits are less eyestrain and longer display life.
You might want to experiment with a lower display brightness setting and see if it improves things for you in general (not just with discriminating between x2 panes.
In my case, although I can make out the difference reasonably well on 3 of the 4 'screens' I work with, I want to make the difference more obvious to reduce mistakes. (The 4th display is not long for this world, & when it gives out, I'll probably deep-six the whole 'puter.)
(a.) has its brightness close to maximum, or ...
(b.) is on its way to failing.
(a.) should not be 'normal' unless you must use it under high ambient light conditions; otherwise it usually results in better discrimination to set display brightness lower. Two benefits are less eyestrain and longer display life.
You might want to experiment with a lower display brightness setting and see if it improves things for you in general (not just with discriminating between x2 panes.
In my case, although I can make out the difference reasonably well on 3 of the 4 'screens' I work with, I want to make the difference more obvious to reduce mistakes. (The 4th display is not long for this world, & when it gives out, I'll probably deep-six the whole 'puter.)