On 2022-09-27 18:40, Lex Trotman wrote:
Hmmmm, I see the paradigm as different, "menus" are selections from a set of commands, "dialogs" are small GUI windows for setting of values. Maybe you have the terminology wrong, see philosophical waffle at the end :-)
Could be that as I start foaming at the mouth I get sloppy with the language.
There is no "General" menu item in Geany, do you mean the "General" tab in the preferences dialog, in which case you are using the wrong terminology and confusing things.
Preferences > General. This is a menu, no? Ok, it's a tab, but the tab gives a menu, no?
Menus are the "File" "Edit" "Search" etc along the top of the main window,
I have no issue calling those menus, but I'd call the former menus too. Mind, it's up to me to get my language straight.
If the "Startup" and "Miscellaneous" pages were combined the resulting page would be tall enough that we are back in scrolling hell.
Scrolling heaven! I hate forgetting which ... sub-menu ... ok, wrong language, but you get me ... something might be hidden in, just show me the whole show for 'General' and maybe I have to hit the down arrow but it's all there.
Yes its not good for those of us with a poor short term, ummm, ahh, what do you call it, ahh memory!
That's the truth. I can recite reams of poetry, but the short term clicky, clicky, look, look, shit, not there, try somewhere else, clicky clicky, not there either, go back, start again, clicky clicky, oops I was just there, try again, clicky clicky, opps the whole menu collapsed, try again .... I *hate* that.
I'm not sure anything has changed, there is no good solution to fitting too much information on a finite sized screen, I remember years (ok decades) ago an emacs settings system that effectively was a specialist editor for config files, so it was an enormous categorised list (just like your request), and nothing was findable without prior knowledge.
But one has to keep one's shirt on. I'm not opposed to a hierarchy, just so long as it doesn't get too confusing. Tabs, buttons, vertical tabs, ... too much pretty. Also, there's no reason not to have a button that jumps to some index in a bigger page. One can jump *but* also scroll up and down.
You have complained several times about levels of nesting, could it be that by "dialogs" you actually mean having hierarchical interactions compared to a flat user interface?
That sounds about right, it's the number of levels and the multiplicity of ways of going 'down'. Again, I don't desire 'flat' just a tree that's 'broader' and less 'high'. Fewer clicks.
Of course thats a broad generalisation and everybody's ability to remember, understand and interact with hierarchies varies, but in general humans are good at it. So it makes a natural computer interface paradigm for the majority of people, and is not likely to change soon, notwithstanding you as an outlier.
There must be organization, but it can be ... again, the keybindings gets it perfect ... 'headings' or index points, *but* one does not have to wonder which sub sub sub screen to click too, it's all there. And scrolling up and down, you get the 'overall' plan of the thing, you get 'geography'.
[end philosophy]
Or to put it another way, as you admitted you are "pushing **it uphill with a fork", or "paddling a canoe upstream with a barbed wire paddle" and such similar memes.
I'm not expecting to throw off Microsoft's yoke, but it's sure nice to think about it. Geany does better than some. Take Firefox. Where might my detailed profile info be found? Help > More Troubleshooting Information > about:profile. No, I'm not looking for help, I'm looking for configuration information. And I might not be troubleshooting. Give me a 'Configuration' menu please lads.