On 24 May 2004 at 14:46, Christopher BJ Smith wrote: > At 2:31 PM -0400 5/24/04, David W. Fenton wrote: > >On 23 May 2004 at 15:30, Darcy James Argue wrote: > > > >> Next, transparency *is* actually useful, at least to me, and also > >> for anyone with a laptop or a small monitor. Ironically, probably > >> the best use of transparency I've seen is in a Microsoft product > >> (albeit the Microsoft Mac Business Unit). In Office 2004 Mac, you > >> have the option of having the Formatting Palette automatically > >> fade -- to as much as 90% transparency -- if it's not being used. > >> . . . > > > >How is this less useful than a windowshade UI? > > Oo, I'll take this one! If I can SEE a tool, and be able to click on > it easily, while seeing the score underneath it, this saves mondo > clicking to un-shade and re-shade the tool palette. If it takes one > click to roll down the window shade, then I have to move the mouse to > the tool, then move the mouse to re-shade again, that's three clicks > and some index movement that I would be able to replace with one click > and little or no mouse movement.
OK, I can see that, but what about getting to the background window? Isn't that less of an issue in a window-shaded pallette than in a transparent one? > > > . . . This means that > >> people with 1024x768 screens can use *all* of their limited screen > >> real estate for the document they are working on. The Formatting > >> Palette becomes opaque when you mouse over it, and fades again > >> when it's no longer needed. This system actually works > >> exceptionally well, and I'd like to see other apps -- like Finale! > >> -- adopt fading palettes. > > > >OK, you've come up with *one* UI component where transparency is > >useful. Why, then, should it be implemented system-wide? > > Not system wide. Just in Finale. The pallettes CAN get kind of big, > and eat up a lot of real estate. It could be turned off, too, if it > bugs people. Well, that's fine, but I don't really have a problem giving up two rows of toolbars for the pallettes at the top of the screen. It's how every application I use implementes toolbars and because of the aspect ratio of scroll view (which is where I do most of my work), it's not really a problem to lose the space. Of course, I use the small icons, since the large ones are too big and distracting (and butt ugly, to boot). > > > To give you another Finale-specific example, I've been bugging > > > Tobias > >> for a while to add the option to control the transparency of > >> TGTools dialogs, especially the Staff List Manager. The big > >> problem with the Staff List Manager is that it's, well, so *big* > >> -- the dialog box is huge (unnecessarily huge, IMO, with lots of > >> wasted space) and it tends to cover up the music that you are > >> trying to adjust. Of course, you can move the dialog around the > >> screen, revealing bits of it at a time, but whole point of using > >> the Staff List Manager is that you want to be able to see the > >> entire page (or, at least, an entire system) at a glance. So > >> yeah, transparency here would be an enormous help. > > > >On Windows, Tobias has implemented his plugins with a windowshade > >like roll-up when the plugin window doesn't have the focus. This > >means the dialog not only leaves more of the Finale window visible, > >but it also actually takes up less space. Isn't taking up less space > >more desirable, since it reveals more of the windows behind it while > >also making those visible areas fully accessible, which, so far as I > >can tell, a transparent pallette would not? > > Hey! Keep BOTH! Roll up the dialogue box window when not used, AND > have it be transparent when open! Whoo-hoo! > > Christopher (who is always ready to volunteer OTHER people's time to > make his life easier.) ;-) Heh. I can see your point. But it's not a reason to implement transparency as the default dialog behavior OS-wide, which is how this subject came up. -- David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton David Fenton Associates http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
