Igor, Nicely said.
Bill Vlahos Sent from my iPhone On May 28, 2012, at 5:14 PM, Igor de Oliveira Couto <i...@superstudent.net> wrote: > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Understanding Old "Save + Save As..." x New "Autosave Versions + Duplicate" > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > When I first upgraded to Lion, I, too, became irritated and grumpy about the > lack of a "Save As..." command. After many years of using a certain workflow, > it becomes mechanical, intuitive, second-nature, part of you. I could not > seem to understand WHY oh WHY did Apple have to change one of the basic > methodologies for using documents in computers, which had over the years > become entrenched in our computer culture, and in our minds. > > As much as I tried, I could not get my head around this new way of working. > It seemed more cumbersome and clumsy than the old one. Until one day, quite > by accident, I found an article on the web explaining the rationale of it > all. I wanted to post a link to the article here, but try as I might, I can't > find it anymore - I seem to be running low on Google juice today... > > So, as a poor alternative, I'll try to post my own version of that > explanation, hoping that it may help others. > > THE PROBLEM > > The "Save" and "Save As..." commands always posed some workflow problems - > and these were specially noticeable in newbie computer users. Starting from > the fact that there are people that have been using the computer for decades, > and still don't know the difference between them, resorting to just "Save > As..." every single time. Kid you not. > > The main problem with "Save As...", however, is that it presupposes that if > you want to make a copy of a certain document, you will open it, then EDIT IT > first, then afterwards remember to "Save As...". We all know, that when you > first start using the computer, it takes several 'accidents' of saving over a > valuable old document, for you to remember to do the "Save As..." FIRST. > > And "Save" had a major problem, too: people simply forget to do it. Again, it > usually takes several events of losing the work you've been doing for the > last few hours, for a newbie to learn that they must SAVE ALL THE TIME as > they work. > > THE SOLUTION > > Apple's solution to the "Save As..." problem was simple: get rid of the "Save > As..." command, and replace it with a "Duplicate" command. The "Duplicate" > command forces the user to make a copy of the document FIRST. If you open a > document and start hacking at it before duplicating it, you always know that > you are hacking at your ORIGINAL. As hard a concept as this might be for us, > 'oldies', who were used to doing things the other way around, trust me when I > say, that new users find this *a lot* more intuitive. > > And the solution to the "Save" problem is also quite neat: after the user has > saved the document the first time, just AUTOSAVE the document as the user > works, all the time. Simple, and it avoids many, many hassles with data loss. > > -"But, wait there..." - you say. "When I work I like to 'try things out'! I > don't my work 'automagically' saved all the time, because not even *I* know > if I will want to keep it!" > > That's where VERSIONS come in. As you work, each automatic save to your > document is stored away as a 'version' of it. At any moment, you can 'roll > back' to any previous versions, if you don't like what you've done. > > Now, these 'versions' are automatically created as you work, and stored away > for you. So, if you have a long project, with a document on which you work > day after day, month after month, that document will end up with a *very > long* list of 'versions' in the system - which will take up *a lot* of > storage space. To avoid that. your 'versions' are also automatically > 'culled': it keeps lots of 'recent' versions - ie., for the last few > hours/days of change - and then it starts deleting the older ones. Once it > reaches the 2-month mark - if I remember correctly - it start erasing > everything, as it thinks it's too old and probably irrelevant. So, in short: > the system is deciding for you what it considers are the 'relevant' versions > it should keep... Can you see how this could become a problem, too? > > Of course, there will be times when you want to tell the system to KEEP a > certain 'version' of your document, and not throw it out. For instance, when > you reach a certain point in your work which you think is 'stable', or a > 'milestone', and before you start making any more changes. That is where the > "Save a Version" command fits in. It forces the system to save a version of > your document at that precise point in time, and tells it that it is relevant > for you, so not to throw it out later. > > CONCLUSION > > Once I understood the reasoning behind these changes, I was a bit more > emotionally prepared to give it a fair go. I must admit, although it took me > a while to get used to it, I actually have come no just to like it, but to > rely and depend on it. Recently, I was trying something out with LiveCode, > and after almost 5 hours of programming, I had a system freeze. Once I > restarted the computer, and then LiveCode, I had the sickening realisation > that, now used to Lion's autosave, I had - like a newbie - simply not saved > my work for all those hours... Had LiveCode supported autosave, my work would > not have been lost. > > I have also been caught doing progressive modifications to a stack, trying > things out, and then realising that because LiveCode does not support > versions, there was no 'easy way' for me to roll back those changes > incrementally. > > So, in my experience, although the change may be somewhat painful for those > who are fossilised into our old working habits, it is ultimately a good > thing, and something I hope that LiveCode will not only support in the future > in its own IDE, but also something it will help us provide to our users. > > > I hope this information helps others! :-) > > Kind regards to all, > > -- > Igor Couto > Sydney, Australia > > > _______________________________________________ > use-livecode mailing list > use-livecode@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
