2010/4/28 Chris Muller <asqueaker at gmail.com>:
> I care about the search bar.  If a newbie user does what you said
> (typing a very long stream), then the search-bar, IMO, is behaving in
> a very logical and "coherent" manner.  What would introduce
> "incoherence" would be for it to either truncate or for it to change
> the UI as user as is using it.
>
> I would support if someone wants to take the trouble to only make the
> text-morph itself expand, beyond the bounds of the menu bar.  However,
> I have been using a search bar like this for > 2 years, and I can tell
> you, sometimes you I want a one-liner, sometimes a two-liner,
> sometimes a cut-and-paste, sometimes a quick benchmark, sometimes a
> calculator, etc.

Hi Chris,

I respect your opinion. Mine is different and I'd like to elaborate a
bit more. Then you can tell me what you think.

Historically, I believe Smalltalk UI does not typically provide a menu
bar. Neither in Morphic, which was permanently adopted in Squeak few
years ago. Morphic is a considerably less rigid UI and there is a
learning curve for mainstream users. It has been decided at some point
that Squeak should have a menu bar. Not my particular cup of tea. It
does however introduce a familiar element to people who are unfamiliar
with Morphic, Squeak and Smalltalk.

What you are telling me is that there is nothing wrong with a menu bar
taking an entire screen and hiding everything below because one has
typed a lengthy expression; it does not make sense to me and it won't
make sense to mainstream users. Smalltalk is great because we can
evaluate/print/do anything and everything absolutely everywhere. It's
still called a search bar rather than an evaluation bar. Everybody are
free to use the bar as they see fit but a search bar should behave as
a search bar or otherwise coming off as inconsistent.

I understand that you have been using it this way for more than 2
years but there is something you have overlooked: it is now officially
included in a release and by default. It means others may not use it
the same way you do and others may not like it the way you do.

I don't know for other Squeakers but I always have at least one
workspace to evaluate expressions. So far I have used the search
bar... to search! :)

Ian.
-- 
http://mecenia.blogspot.com/