On 2010 Dec 13, at 5:30, David McQueen wrote: > ... even though we talk of a paperless society, business is paper driven, > specifically letter and legal size, portrait orientation. That makes some > screen real estate for FileMaker usage more valuable than other parts of the > screen. The, depending on paper size where you are, 8.5" swath down the > screen with maximum depth to minimize scrolling is the real estate used for > WSIWYG forms. In some applications divorcing the data entry from the final > form is fine. In others, seeing the actual form on screen with a minimum of > scrolling is very important. This is The Prime FileMaker application screen > real estate. Unfortunately, this is also, at the top of the screen, where > the tool bar resides.
Thanks, David, this is a much better articulated version of my rather incoherent lament about horizontality. I continue to begrudge every cm^2 of screen real estate that I can't "own" or control for myself, but some of those square centimetres are more valuable than others. Normally I wouldn't waste everyone's time with a simple "Me too!" or "Well said!", but I wanted to add something to the conversational mix, namely that I really, really like the concept of floating toolbar palettes. I can shove them out of the way if I want, or I can drag them right up next to where I'm working if I want. There was a period (I'm thinking Versions 8-9, but I'm too lazy to check) when the design tools (pointer, text, etc.) had their own floating toolbar, but now they're back in a fixed location. This seems to me to be a step backwards. 8^( I'd rather have FMI load as much as possible into 1 or more inspectors (which is what the floating palettes are now called) and not have to put up with a top-mounted toolbar at all. Also, if FMI wants to provide a standard set of end-user tools (like the Rolodex paging interface or the "new record" icon), wouldn't it be great if we could place them wherever WE wanted on a layout, the way we do with buttons or portals or tabbed interfaces? That is, I'd really love to be able to grab a "Rolodex" tool, drag it onto my layout, and drop it where I wanted it. Heck, maybe I'd have 1 in the upper right and a 2nd in the lower left to minimize cursor travel time. Why not?
