Home Register Arcade Gallery Chatroom Members Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Log In
Go Back   Inside: SereneScreen Fan Forum > SereneScreen Products > Marine Aquarium 3 for Windows
Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 05-16-2010, 11:33 AM   #1
Dale
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: Western Missouri
Posts: 960
M, B, and P keys - suggested behavior

In looking at consistence of behavior for stuff in the "About" panel:

I suggest that the effect of the M, B, and P keys be temporary (per execution).

Those keys currently result in a permanent change being saved, for settings in the Program Settings panel. That's different from most other things in "About".

Footnote: label for "B" should be "Bubble Sound on/off"

Footnote 2: I apologize for multiple threads - but they are slightly different topics, and I'm doing "incremental discovery".

Footnoet 3: Yes, Jim, I do suspect that this would probably be a more complex change than it might appear to some folks.
Dale is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-16-2010, 11:57 AM   #2
Jim Sachs
Developer
 
Jim Sachs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
Posts: 9,768
The reason I made these permanent is that some people hate one or more of those items so much that they want to permanently disable them with one keystroke, then never have to deal with them again. Yet the features have to default to ON the first time the program is ever started, or many people wouldn't even know they were available.

Change made to bubble sound On/Off.
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium
Jim Sachs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-16-2010, 12:24 PM   #3
Dale
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: Western Missouri
Posts: 960
Originally posted by Jim Sachs:
The reason I made these permanent is that some people hate one or more of those items so much that they want to permanently disable them with one keystroke, then never have to deal with them again. Yet the features have to default to ON the first time the program is ever started, or many people wouldn't even know they were available.  
Jim, they can't be disabled with one keystroke. Here's what it takes:

0. Find out how to get to the settings screen - assume....
1. Press space
2. Click About - and read.
3. Click Cancel
4. Click OK
5. Press M, B, P

After step 1 above, it's easier and faster to satisfy hate by:

2. Click "Program Settings"
3. Uncheck 3 boxes (same effort as 5. above)
4. Click OK Twice.

Well, OK - it's the same number of "keystrokes". But my thinking was:

A. It's inconsistent. For instance, why wouldn't "W", "F", "S" work the same way? [Although I do see the "F2" seems to be "permanent"]

B. If it's a "permanent" change, then the legend needs tweaking. For instance: "Pause Automatic Scrolling" should be "Permanently Pause Automatic Scrolling" - or "Automatic Scrolling On/Off" or something.

C. Ideally, from a user interface perspective, a "permanent toggle" should have its current setting displayed. That would apply to the "About" screen, in this case. [The "Program Settings" screen of course displays that information]

The largest consideration, in my opinion, is that key behavior should be consistent. That's (in my opinion) particularly important because of (shortage of) documentation.

But - in the scheme of things like background colors, it's not a big deal. Let's see what other folks think.
Dale is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-16-2010, 01:13 PM   #4
Jim Sachs
Developer
 
Jim Sachs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
Posts: 9,768
Sure thay can be disabled with one keystroke:

Cliff starts the program for the first time.
Cliff hits M.
Cliff never has to listen to music again, as I promised him.
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium
Jim Sachs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-16-2010, 03:29 PM   #5
feldon34
Forum Administrator
 
feldon34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 10,937
Customers contact us by e-mail asking how to disable those items permanently. Being able to tell them one key to press (and never again) makes answering these e-mails quick.
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman
feldon34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-16-2010, 04:03 PM   #6
Dale
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: Western Missouri
Posts: 960
Originally posted by feldon34:
Customers contact us by e-mail asking how to disable those items permanently. Being able to tell them one key to press (and never again) makes answering these e-mails quick.  
I do appreciate that enabling customer service to give quick answers, is a big plus for those who are answering the e-mail.

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”

Originally posted by feldon34:
Most users aren't even aware of the keyboard shortcuts and just let the Aquarium run at default settings. Most users have never even seen the Settings panel..  
Does tech support (customer service) take the time to tell the users about any of that stuff, like how to get to the settings panel?
Dale is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-16-2010, 11:47 PM   #7
feldon34
Forum Administrator
 
feldon34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 10,937
It's in the Help file, but I don't think this information is imparted in the installation or order receipt e-mails that go out.
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman
feldon34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-17-2010, 07:18 AM   #8
JohnWho
Registered
 
JohnWho's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009

Location: Tampa Bay Area, Florida
Posts: 486
It is in the "readme.txt" file that I have.
JohnWho is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-17-2010, 08:39 AM   #9
Dale
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: Western Missouri
Posts: 960
Originally posted by feldon34:
It's in the Help file, but I don't think this information is imparted in the installation or order receipt e-mails that go out.  
Where do I find the Help file? (It's certainly not accessed by pressing F1)

Originally posted by JohnWho:
It is in the "readme.txt" file that I have.  
How would the normal user find the readme.txt file?
Dale is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-17-2010, 02:47 PM   #10
JohnWho
Registered
 
JohnWho's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009

Location: Tampa Bay Area, Florida
Posts: 486
I can't recall exactly, but isn't viewing the "readme" file an option at the end of the installation process?

If so, then the readme file is no more difficult to find on a system than any other program's readme file.
JohnWho is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-17-2010, 03:14 PM   #11
Dale
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: Western Missouri
Posts: 960
Originally posted by JohnWho:
I can't recall exactly,  
.
Dale is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-17-2010, 03:21 PM   #12
JohnWho
Registered
 
JohnWho's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009

Location: Tampa Bay Area, Florida
Posts: 486
Originally posted by Dale:
.  

Hey Dale -

are you having your "period"?

JohnWho is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-17-2010, 04:08 PM   #13
Dale
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: Western Missouri
Posts: 960
Originally posted by JohnWho:
Hey Dale -

are you having your "period"?

 
No, I've had a hystericallectomy. I was just glad you got my "point".
Dale is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2010, 05:30 AM   #14
Wizwad
Only me...
 
Wizwad's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003

Location: Essex, England
Posts: 2,584
You're all dotty.
Mark
-----------
Intel i7 12700K | Aorus Z690 Pro | Corsair DDR5 5600 32GB | Asus Dual RTX3060ti 6GB v2 Mini OC | Corsair RM850 Gold PSU | 1TB NVMe M.2 WD Black SN850 | 4TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD | Corsair Airflow 5000D Case | HP 32QHD 4K Monitor | Windows 11 x64 Professional
Wizwad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2010, 10:13 AM   #15
Dale
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: Western Missouri
Posts: 960
Apparent decision by Jim: no change to current behavior.
Dale is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2010, 10:31 AM   #16
cjmaddy
Registered
 
cjmaddy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Location: Lancashire, UK
Posts: 7,854
Good.
cjmaddy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2010, 02:54 PM   #17
Dale
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: Western Missouri
Posts: 960
Just for the record:

Originally posted by JohnWho:
I can't recall exactly, but isn't viewing the "readme" file an option at the end of the installation process?  
Apparently not.

I took a test system (W7-64 if it matters), uninstalled MA3, used Regedit to remove all mentions of SereneScreen from the registry.

Rebooted to make sure, verified that there was nothing in the Programs, or in my Appdata.

Downloaded a fresh copy of the .exe from SereneScreen.com, and installed it.

It did require me to enter my registration code (presumably demonstrating that it was a fresh install).

There was no display of the readme.txt file, and no question asking if I wanted to see it, nor any indication of where it might be found.
Dale is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2010, 03:16 PM   #18
JohnWho
Registered
 
JohnWho's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009

Location: Tampa Bay Area, Florida
Posts: 486
Ah, thanks for doing that. Many "installs" have that option to open/read the readme file.

Don't know if it is possible, but perhaps it should be suggested to Prolific that they add that feature to their installation procedure?
I know you think you understand what you thought I said,
but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant!
JohnWho is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2010, 06:21 PM   #19
Dale
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: Western Missouri
Posts: 960
Originally posted by JohnWho:
Ah, thanks for doing that.  
Glad to help.

Originally posted by feldon34:
Dale does not have a patent on testing ...  
As he said, anybody could have done it.
Dale is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply
Go Back   Inside: SereneScreen Fan Forum > SereneScreen Products > Marine Aquarium 3 for Windows



Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:23 AM.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.