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From: jms@antares.UUCP (Joe Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: More 1.4 whishes
Summary: Icon position is not meaningful
Message-ID: <419@antares.UUCP>
Date: 13 Mar 89 03:25:04 GMT
References: <5442@abo.fi> <413@antares.UUCP> <5899@abo.fi> <2064@cps3xx.UUCP> <416@corpane.UUCP>
Reply-To: jms@antares.UUCP (Joe Smith)
Organization: Tymnet QSATS, San Jose CA
Lines: 45

In article <416@corpane.UUCP> sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) writes:
>> [talk about a startup drawer for workbench and methods of deciding ]
>> [ which task gets executec first]
>
>How about this: each icon info file has a part that tells it where to appear
>on the screen. Use this to determine which task gets executed first.

I thought of that, but rejected the idea.  What happens when the unsuspecting
user changes the size of the window and selects "Clean Up" from the Workbench
menu.  Or what about the naive user who rearranges the icons to make them more
aestheticly pleasing (all the mostly white icons to the left, the mostly black
ones on the right, roundish ones above the rectangular ones, etc.)  While it
is true that positioning icons is simpler than editing a startup script, it
may be too easy.

The desktop metaphor (Workbench) does not put any significance on the position
of an icon other than 1) it was under the pointer when clicked and 2) which
window/drawer/disk it was over when dragged.  Making one window sensitive to
position (while all others are not sensitive) is counter-intuitive (pun
indended) and is more likely create rather than eliminate problems in the
hands of the uninitiated.

I believe that a script file is necessary, but should be painless to update.
For example, a program like BindDrivers could be modified to read a file such
as s:binddrivers-sequence and compare the list of file names there with what's
currently in the Expansion drawer.  A name in the list but not in the drawer
implies that the user has removed the program; its name should be deleted from
the list automatically.  When a program is detected that is not in the list,
the "drivers" program could put up a requester asking whether the new program
should be put at the beginning of the list, at the end of the list, or other.
(The "other" choice could be implemented by allowing the user to pick up the
box that has the name of the new program with the mouse and dropping it on the
current list at the desired place.)  Note that the user would have to answer
the requester only once per set of additions, and only if the user has not
already updated the sequence file.

In general, we could use a program that allows the user to edit the
startup-sequence using the mouse only (no keyboard).  I have some thoughts
on this if anyone's interested.

-- 
Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | jms@antares.Tymnet.COM or jms@opus.Tymnet.COM
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