B
B
Big Steel
You're not a programmer for one thing. And the OP obviously missed the
signal/notification that something needed his or her attaention and it
was flat-out missed.
You are driving a brand new car. It slapped you upside the head to tell
you it was running out of gas. You didn't recognize the slap, and the
gas gauge is on empty when you finally looked. It's the car's fault.
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Boscoe
Just pointing it out to the pig thick.
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Big Steel
On 4/6/2011 2:00 PM, ray wrote:
<snipped>
I am working in debug mode on VB program, and I have setg breakpoints in
the code. I was writing a response to you with Thunderbird on the XP
machine. The program hit a breakpoint, the foucs was taken away from TB
and set to the VS IDE and to the breakpoint in the code, while I was
typing in TB. Needless to say, some of the sentence I was writing wound
up in the VB code, as the VS IDE snatched focus from TB. I don't like
another program running on the machine to just snatch the focus away
like that.
And if Vista or Win 7 can stop this snatching of the focus from another
running program, then more power to them.
<snipped>
I am working in debug mode on VB program, and I have setg breakpoints in
the code. I was writing a response to you with Thunderbird on the XP
machine. The program hit a breakpoint, the foucs was taken away from TB
and set to the VS IDE and to the breakpoint in the code, while I was
typing in TB. Needless to say, some of the sentence I was writing wound
up in the VB code, as the VS IDE snatched focus from TB. I don't like
another program running on the machine to just snatch the focus away
like that.
And if Vista or Win 7 can stop this snatching of the focus from another
running program, then more power to them.
G
Gene E. Bloch
It's not the OS, it's the program. And I agree with you and a few of
the others in this thread that it is very bad ergonomics, even crazy
ergonomics, IMO.
Aside from the fact that an extra icon on the task bar is likely to be
out of one's focus of attention, how does that kind of indication
appear to a user who normally has his task bar hidden? I ask because I
don't know, but if as I suspect the new icon is also hidden, that poor
user will have less of an indication than the rest of us (i.e.,
none)...
R
ray
Actually, I did scientific software support and development for 30 years.
And you've just made my point - something like that should not be able to
be missed.
Most cars I've driven recently ring a bell - many do it incessently -You are driving a brand new car. It slapped you upside the head to tell
you it was running out of gas. You didn't recognize the slap, and the
gas gauge is on empty when you finally looked. It's the car's fault.
when it's running low on gas. Pretty damned hard to ignore it! Exactly my
point.
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Big Steel
For all you know, the OP may have been else where when it notified, but
still, the Task Bar had the task highlighted on the bar -- a sign of a
pending notification. The OP missed it, it's the OP's fault - flat-out,
and the OP's whole situation is moot.
G
Gene E. Bloch
I'll be sure to hire you for the user interface design for my next
project.
H
H-Man
It's what people expect. Generally speaking, computer users prefer to not
have to learn new things. When Office 2010 came out a lot of users
complained about the differences from earlier versions. It's just the way
users are. In the programs I write, mostly industrial in nature, I work
hard to make sure new features get added without disturbing the familiarity
of the product.
Very true, and generally the users need to adapt. That's why I feel that
limiting change also limits innovation.
Yup, well said.
H
H-Man
The fact is that whether or not there's a bell, the gas gage has been and
acted pretty much the same since automobiles became mainstream. Changing
the behavior of a confirmation dialog box or rather it's layering by the OS
will inevitably throw most new users for a loop. It's a fact of life with
most computer users. Logically it should be on top of the parent, IMO, but
it shouldn't be that big a deal either way.
H
H-Man
Okay, but I think the point is that one should not have to move aside the
parent window to get to the dialog box. The dialog should be on top of the
parent, yet with some updates I've done, that is not the case.
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BillW50
I don't mind change. But what I do mind is idiot proofing. You know what
they say, make it idiot proof and only an idiot would want to use it.
Probably why I still like XP better. ;-)
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BillW50
How long does it take? As I have been running Windows 7 since the RC
version was released. And all of this time it still feels like a step
backwards. All of this idiot proofing is a big turn off for me.
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Big Steel
A parent window? An running application is going to have a parent window
that can have child windows.I don't want a dialog box from another
application to take focus away from the application window I am looking
at on the screen.
That's snatching focus from the program that has focus. I know that one
is being notified that a dialog box is there. It happens all the time,
just minimize the application's screen, placing it on the Task Bar so
you can see screens of other programs.
I know I wouldn't change the behavior. I don't view it as a big deal,
and a user must be aware of the signals and what is happening on his or
her machine and not need to be slapped in the face by another running
program's window taking/snatching focus.
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Big Steel
Windows Vista and Win 7 far outclass XP. I dumped XP for my personal
usage 3 years ago, and I have not looked back.
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BillW50
By outclass you mean eye candy? As eye candy doesn't mean a whole lot to
me. What I am more interested in is for an OS to run the software I want
to run.
Back in the late 70's, there was a saying. That was to pick the
applications you want to run, then pick the OS that will run them. And
this is still so true today. And Windows 7 can't run all of my
applications. While XP still can.
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BillW50
Bitch about what Alias? I am asking how long it takes?
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Big Steel
This tells me that you have not even bothered looking under the hood to
even know what the differences are between XP and Vista or Win 7. It's
not about the eye candy, which only a home user would reduce it down to
that in the comparison.
That's not my problem. And it's not problem for long as MS kills off XP,
just like it did the rest of the previous versions.
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BillW50
Oh I looked under the hood alright. I always do. And I am not crazy
about what I see. I see it built for idiots.
You think Microsoft has the ability to kill off XP? Nope, they do not.
They been trying to since Vista has been released. Last I heard was more
Windows users are using XP more than any other Windows version. Why do
you think that is?
B
BillW50
Why do you think I am here? To get Windows 7 to work like it is suppose
to work like. Pretty sad that XP was replaced about 4 years ago and yet
it is still the most popular. Microsoft should be taking notes if they
want to continue.