Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!athena.mit.edu!cthulhu From: cthulhu@athena.mit.edu (Jim Reich) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Ban the Cloud! (plus sugg. for Workbench) Message-ID: <3624@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> Date: 10 Mar 88 17:55:10 GMT References: <318@jc3b21.UUCP> <1030@silver.bacs.indiana.edu> <43704@sun.uucp> <329@jc3b21.UUCP> Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU Reply-To: cthulhu@athena.mit.edu (Jim Reich) Lines: 77 Keywords: Workbench In article <329@jc3b21.UUCP> fgd3@jc3b21.UUCP (Fabbian G. Dufoe) writes: > >(1) Workbench doesn't show all the files on a disk. I think this is > Workbench's most serious defect. It's up there... >What would it take to fix this? Obviously we need some way to have >Workbench display something for files that don't have a .info file. We >could use a default image and build an icon or we could just use the >filename. Why not use a default image? It would take all of (at most) 1/2K of space-- and that's for a big icon -- and could be kept resident in memory. Perhaps the type of icon could be set based on tooltype. Seeing these icons should be a preferences-settable option. Another thought -- it would be nice to be able to see and run most of these applications from workbench, but some things just aren't appropriate for workbench and would merely be confusing. Perhaps all filenames prefixed by a . or a _ could be ignored by the workbench, much like the UNIX invisible .files... >If we provide default icons for the files in the C: directory we >automatically bring all the CLI commands to Workbench. Do we really WANT the SKIP command on the workbench? How about endcli?!?!? > We don't want Workbench to automatically open a console >window everytime we run a program, though. True, but then again we might want one for CLI commands... >It's not too hard to pass file names as parameters. Just drag them to the >program and drop them. Don't drag them, select them. The Mac allows you to force projects upon applications they weren't designed for by selecting both and then selecting OPEN from the file menu... seems like a good idea to me. >(4) Workbench doesn't have the CLI's provisions for I/O redirection. >How about two special icons on the Workbench screen: "<" and ">". >... Drop a file on one and I/O is redirected to or from that file. Bad bad bad. Each program should be allowed to have its own output or input redirected from/to different sources. It would be nice to have a sort of bin to dump a file into so that it would go to standard output or input though. Perhaps it would be used as standard input for the active window? Any ideas, anyone? How about pipes? Tricky. >If we adopt the menu Item solution described above for redirecting I/O we >can allow the user to specify a special sub-option "Console". If that >option is set Workbench will open a console window and execute the program >from there. The user has to know whether a program he wants to run requires >I/O. I don't think that's a problem, because we're talking about making >Workbench useful for experienced users. Yes it is. There SHOULD be a way to do this properly, so that it will work for new users as well. Even experienced users shouldn't have to memorize what needs a console. Moreover, what happens if our hypothetical experienced user screws up? Anyway, it would be a pain for everyone. >I don't think there is any way to handle wildcards with a graphic user >interface. Sure there is -- a wildcard would be used for extended selection -- you enter the wildcard, it selects all appropriate files... >(7) It isn't easy to run a program against a file in a different directory. Yes, something should be done to give the workbench a proper search path to find tools from their projects. >(8) Workbench takes longer to display the contents of a directory. Two simple answers. FFS and single icon files. Believe it or not, the Amiga has FAST drives. It's the file system which is the loss. To read icons the system currently has to read the better part of THE ENTIRE DISK! I'm sure you would be seriously surprised by the speedup (if it ever happens!) >(9) You can't terminate Workbench when you are through with it. You > have to reboot. Anyone made an icon for CLOSEWB? Improving the Workbench would be a worthwhile project. The Amiga Workbench is now pretty much the equal of the MacFinder, but with intuition under the surface and all that power under the hood, we should be able to blow the Finder away entirely... This has been a pep talk to C= brought to you by... -- Jim cthulhu@athena.mit.edu