AW: App Browser versus Project Browser

[Tiemo Hollmann TB]

+1

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: use-livecode [mailto:use-livecode-bounces at lists.runrev.com] Im Auftrag
von J. Landman Gay
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 7. Oktober 2015 21:58
An: How to use LiveCode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com>
Betreff: Re: App Browser versus Project Browser

On 10/7/2015 1:22 PM, Mark Waddingham wrote:
> Far more useful would be constructive criticism of both the Project 
> Browser and the Application Browser. It does seem a little 'silly' to 
> maintain two things which serve essentially the same purpose - so 
> Ali's idea is perhaps the best way forward - what is it that is good 
> and bad about both and is it possible to design something which 
> everybody would be happy with?

The issues would probably become clear if you open, say, 10 large stacks,
each with 50 cards or more, containing dozens of controls per card. Since my
primary project for the last 2 years uses that setup, I haven't been able to
use the Project Browser because it isn't practical.

1. The hierarchical organization of the App Browser (AB) is indispensable
and is the main reason I stay with it. I can see at a glance how to drill
down to the single object I am looking for and how objects are organized on
each card by group and layer order. It is by far the fastest way to
understand how a set of stacks is internally structured. The long, scrolling
list in the Project Browser (PB) can't display the structure as clearly
because it is all linear. Multiple cards with many objects will run off the
top and bottom of the PB window and you can't see the overall organization.

2. It is difficult in the PB to quickly find a specific object. If you want
to know the name of an object on some other card, you have to collapse the
current card, scroll through 50 cards to find the one you're looking for
(and if you didn't collapse those already, the scrolling is interminable,)
expand it, scroll through the objects to find the one you want (note the
name because it's going to be a long trip to find it again,) collapse that
card, scroll (forever) again to find the card you started with, expand it,
find the original object again, and continue. In AB, I can just look at the
left-hand pane and see the name of the target card, click it, note the name
of the object, then click back where I was. If the AB is sized tall enough
to hold 50 lines of text, I don't have to do much scrolling at all. If I do
need to scroll, it's minimal because at least 25-30 cards are always visible
at once.

2. In the AB I can click on any header to view the organization in many
ways, and I have a choice of which columns I want to display. If I want to
work only with images, or fields, I can bunch them together in the list by
type and they are quickly accessible while still allowing me to see the
other objects on the card. I frequently require info on layering order, one
click and I have that. I use the ID column extensively. In PB I have to type
in a filter string to isolate by object type, and then I can no longer see
any other objects, so if I need some other info I have to remove the filter,
find what I want, then reinstate the original filter. PB does not offer a
way to identify an object ID at all, as far as I can see, and I need that
all the time. (But you could turn off those distracting ID tooltips for
sure.)

3. Visually, the PB is too cluttered to be quickly scanned. The checkmarks
in the AB are more useful. In the AB is very easy to see, for example, which
objects are invisible by simply looking for "gaps" in the checkmark column.
In the PB I have to examine each object individually because the visual
difference between the enabled and disabled "eye" 
image is not distinct enough, and even if it were, there's that scrolling
issue again to see all the objects. Also, there is no single column to scan
-- the lock icon is interspersed so you have to mentally learn to skip over
every other icon.

4. I have turned off thumbnails in the PB because with hundreds of objects
or more, the time required for it to constantly update is (or at least, was)
unacceptable. Even without thumbnails, it performs much slower than the AB.
There is also the issue of visual clutter (see
below) which is main reason I turned off thumbnails on day one. 
Thumbnails also double the amount of scrolling you have to do to find
things.

5. In the PB there is no clear delineation between cards and substacks. 
Both are left-aligned at the same visual depth. In the AB, all stacks are in
the left pane, with substacks indented under their mainstack. 
Also, in the PB, the stack you are inspecting scrolls off the top of the
window, so you are never sure which stack owns the cards that are currently
displayed. This is a big issue in my project, because all the stacks are
clones of each other and cards have the same names (usually just IDs.) In
the AB I can immediately see which stack owns the card because the card is
highlighted in the left-pane list under its easily-viewable owner. Even if I
have to scroll to see the stack name, the card I'm working with remains
selected and its objects remain visible.

6. The icons at the bottom of the PB are so tiny on my screen that they are
difficult to recognize (and my eyesight isn't great anyway.) I have to use
the tooltips. That takes too long, so I just open the property inspector or
use the menu items instead. I suppose with some use I'd memorize what each
icon does, but the other issues have prevented me from becoming familiar
enough with it.

That's just what I remember from the few days I tried to work with it. 
I'm not convinced that the current design can accomodate my work style
unless it can at least be revised to show a columnar view rather than a
linear one. What I would have preferred is an update for the few glitches in
the AB (mainly it doesn't always refresh automatically, and those blinking
tooltips are positively aggressive) and give it a new coat of paint if you
think it looks too dated. Its plain text layout with clear checkmarks is
much easier for me to work with. I do like how you can change layering order
by dragging in the PB, that would be a nice addition to the AB.

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com

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