[UI] More feel observations

[Bill Schwab]

Gary,

My v-key complaints are mostly limited to the numeric keypad, but I
_think_ it is a little broader than that.  Indeed, the Windows VM does a
better job, even getting stuff like control-shift-arrow to work
properly, at least as far as I use them.  Just so I do not sound like a
walking shortcut table, some of the weird sequences get exercised in
proportion to the editing task.  I re-learn them in a hurry, when
appropriate.  Home and end are staples.

Vistary: I have been doing most of my Squeak hacking on a 1.8 GHz P4 w/
512MB, or so it claims.  It is an older machine, and is becoming my bit
bucket, which Gnome finds a little taxing.  A preference for
translucency might be nice.  The truth is, even when the hardware is up
to it, I find the translucency a little distracting, especially on
walkbacks. 


> (PluggableListMorph used to release
> the keyboard focus regardless!). 

Thanks for fixing that, and more.  I will take another look at the
preferences.  Maybe I have too much of a good thing in use??

Bill




Wilhelm K. Schwab, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Department of Anesthesiology
PO Box 100254
Gainesville, FL 32610-0254

Email: bschwab at anest.ufl.edu
Tel: (352) 846-1285
FAX: (352) 392-7029


>>> gazzaguru2 at btinternet.com 12/5/2007 6:09:51 AM >>>
Thanks for feedback, I'll make some comments...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ui-bounces at lists.squeakfoundation.org 
> [mailto:ui-bounces at lists.squeakfoundation.org]On Behalf Of Bill
Schwab
> Sent: 05 December 2007 2:11 AM
> To: ui at lists.squeakfoundation.org 
> Subject: [UI] More feel observations
>
>
> Gary,
>
> I did some more "real" programming today (working on a port of my
> home-grown file backup system), and am starting to find that one of
my
> larger complaints (which I consider to be a sign of progress) is the
> apparent lack of support for virtual keys - the home and end in
> particular - in the unix VM.  My searching so far has not turned up
> anything specifically useful, so I will probably submit a question
to
> Squeak-dev soon.

Yes, virtual keys... my main gripe is lack of support for function
keys.
As for home/end what's the problem with those? Or do you mean just on
the
numeric keypad? (only just noticed now you mention it... ok in Windows
though :-) ).

>
> Vistary, at least on my hardware, is slow enough that I can easily
type
> faster than it can keep up.  Soft squeak is much harder to outrun on
the
> same hardware.  Note that I still cannot fully clobber it due to the
> virtual key hassles.  Part of my input speed comes from
> home/tab/past/space/etc/end, sometimes with shift depressed to make
> selections. Some of this stuff is so engrained I don't even realize I
do
> it until it doesn't work.

Been a while since I noticed any keyboard lag from Squeak...
SoftSqueak is certainly the most responsive theme, more than
StandardSqueak.
Vistary, due to translucency, is only expected to work well on modern
hardware (is fine on my 1.73 GHz Centrino laptop). What's your
hardware?

>
> One thing that is in our general area is mouse interaction.  It will
be
> difficult to catch this in the act, but there is pretty clearly
> something to it.  Have some code in plain sight; now try to
drag-select
> it, quickly.  I get unpredictable results; sometimes it selects what
I
> want, usually it does not.  When I have had similar problems in
other
> systems, it suggests that the code is picking up current mouse
> coordinates when it should be using event coordinates.

Not noticed any problems like this... of course, a slower system might
highlight such issues.

> Re #mouseClickForKeyboardFocus, it appears to be selectively
necessary.
> AFAICT, with other changes you have made, it is somewhat redundant. 
The
> message name browser is horribly broken without it.  A few times, I
have
> found that when adding methods, I get into a situation where the
input
> focus is undefined, or not where I want it anyway, making it
necessary
> to click in the code pane of the system browser.  The weird thing is
> that in that situation, the cursor needs to be in the code pane for
it
> to get focus.  I have #mouseClickForKeyboardFocus set to true.

Best to set #mouseOverForKeyboardFocus to false when
#mouseClickForKeyboardFocus is enabled (see
PluggableTextMorph>>mouseLeave:). I'll probably rework that method
since it
is now the only sender of #mouseOverForKeyboardFocus
(PluggableListMorph
used to release the keyboard focus regardless!). Or, possibly, make
changes
to properly honour the #mouseOverForKeyboardFocus pref in the usual
morphs
(lists, text etc.).

>
> Sorry for the incomplete observations and guesswork, but it is
hopefully
> better to write down what I can remember.
>
> Bill

_______________________________________________
UI mailing list
UI at lists.squeakfoundation.org 
http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ui