IDE oddities (was Re: Error Messages Are Evil)

Peter Haworth pete at lcsql.com
Wed May 14 14:41:55 EDT 2014


One thing that confused the heck out of me at the start is how the menu bar
changes depending on whether a stack or the script editor is in front (this
is on OSX).

When in the script editor, the menu bar shows File, Edit, Debug, Handler,
Window, Help and the File menu has no entries to open a stack, etc.  When
on a stack, it shows File, Edit, Tools, Object Text, Development, View,
Window, Help.

So if I'm in the script editor and close all the open stacks, there is no
way to open another stack without opening either the application browser or
the Tools palette (and maybe other IDE stacks), neither of which I use.

I'm sure this is a result of Apple's HIG but I have to say things work much
better in this regard on Windows, where the script editor related menus are
in the script editor itself.

Pete
lcSQL Software <http://www.lcsql.com>
Home of lcStackBrowser <http://www.lcsql.com/lcstackbrowser.html> and
SQLiteAdmin <http://www.lcsql.com/sqliteadmin.html>


On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 11:04 AM, Devin Asay <devin_asay at byu.edu> wrote:

>
> On May 14, 2014, at 10:26 AM, Dar Scott <dsc at swcp.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > On May 14, 2014, at 10:00 AM, Devin Asay <devin_asay at byu.edu> wrote:
> >> Closely related: Why are lock size and lock location controlled by a
> single property?
> >
> > Good question.  The good news is that it is now possible to group a
> single object.
>
> Thanks for your reply, Dar. I'd like to keep the focus of this thread on
> things in the LiveCode IDE that are odd, inconsistent, or confusing to the
> new user. Later I'll make a compilation and share it with the list. As a
> reminder, I got to thinking about this topic after watching an excellent
> 2-part video on user interface design principles at
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYiiD-p2q80. This series was focused on
> Blender, an open source 3D rendering package, but you could substitute
> LiveCode for Blender in the narrative and have a useful think about how
> LC's interface comes across to newbies.
>
> In that spirit, here's another one:
>
> - Lack of reliable Undo functionality outside of the script editor. This
> is a major source of frustration to new users (and old, but we've learned
> to work around it.)
>
> (If you'd like to discuss the Undo issue, please start a new thread, so I
> can keep this one on topic.) :)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Devin
>
>
>
> Devin Asay
> Learn to code with LiveCode University
> http://university.livecode.com
>
>
>
>
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