Death of the Application Browser

[Geoff Canyon]

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 2:41 PM, J. Landman Gay <jacque at hyperactivesw.com>
 wrote:

> re-expanding a navigator covers up the others


​Only if you set them up to cover other Navigators -- it expands back to
where it was.

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 2:41 PM, J. Landman Gay <jacque at hyperactivesw.com>
 wrote:

> I spent a little time yesterday seeing if I could simulate a list of
> stacks by lining up several navigators but it isn't very workable.


​I must still not be understanding this use case. Navigator has a list of
stacks in the stack menu. The trade-off of course is two clicks with the
menu in exchange for one click but having to give up screen real estate
constantly displaying the ​list. Is that it, or am I missing something
else? At this point I feel like I'm Steve Jobs telling you you're holding
the iPhone wrong ;-)

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 2:41 PM, J. Landman Gay <jacque at hyperactivesw.com>
 wrote:

> Try opening 10+ navigators to see what I mean. I think it would work well
> for just a few instances though.
>

​Heh, although Navigator now supports pretty much unlimited copies of
itself, I've never needed to use more than 3. ​See the above Steve Jobs
comment...

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 2:41 PM, J. Landman Gay <jacque at hyperactivesw.com>
 wrote:

> Okay, good to know. As Hermann mentioned, he had to learn its capabilities
> by reading our discussion. That's a problem I have with Navigator too. Its
> actions can be obscure to the uninitiated and the documentation is hard to
> use because it covers up what it's explaining. There are some other
> usability issues that could benefit from a rework to make Navigator easier
> for new users to understand.


​Yeah, apparently I could document better... That's a good point about the
placement of the documentation, and easily fixed. If you care to list any
other usability issues I'm all ears.​

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 2:41 PM, J. Landman Gay <jacque at hyperactivesw.com>
wrote:

> I may find a use for those some day, it sounds cool, though I don't
> generally work with the same set of controls repeatedly. When would you use
> those?
>
> I have two primary useage cases for the AB: seeing an overview of an
> unfamiliar stack and how its parts fit together (and navigating it,) and
> quickly accessing an object's Property Inspector or script (even when it
> isn't the selected object.) I use the AB in many other ways too, of course,
> but those are the two things I do the most. It's 3 clicks max to get to any
> object, and then a right-click to open the inspector or the script.
>

​Control sets are intended for use if you switch back and forth on separate
projects. They let you have a set of frequently-used controls for each
project, and switch between them as you choose.

For studying an unfamiliar stack, to my eye AB and Nav are equivalent, but
for the above-listed difference between the stack list in AB and the stack
menu in Nav. Steve Jobs disclaimer here.

Script editing and property palettes (either Navigator's or LC's) are a
right-click away in Navigator, but also a double-click away (edits script
by default) or command-click away. Both are configurable.

Getting to any control is two menu selections: stack, then card; then the
complete control list is in front of you. Or Navigator can do both of the
menu selections automatically and just show you the current card of the
current stack.