Recently, Jacqueline Landman Gay wrote:
> In the interests of useability: I had read the reference in the Read Me
> file about blendlevel and it meant absolutely nothing to me, so I didn't
> realize what it was for and promptly forgot about it. "Blendlevel" is a
> geeky term. Everyone knows what "transparency" means, many programs use
> it, and I'm baffled at why MetaCard doesn't use it too.
I'd guess that the use of the term is based on the corresponding ink effect
"blend". Folks that have worked with ink effects before (Director,
SuperCard, mTropolis and others) know this term quite well. It's possible
that new users may not find it immediately intuitive, but since they also
need to learn about ink effects which are extremely unintuitive, perhaps
this is not asking too much in terms of the existing language/features.
> I'd like to see
> it changed. Why use something obscure when a common term would be more
> understandable and require less tech support? Or, if "blendlevel" is set
> in stone, then at least use the word "transparency" in the docs so that
> people can make the association. Meaningful terminology is an easy way
> to avoid some of the useability criticism that MetaCard often gets, and
> "blendlevel" isn't self-explanatory or memorable.
You make a valid point. But one important thing to keep in mind is that the
blendLevel affects *translucency* not transparency. Transparency is all or
nothing: visible or not visible; translucency refers to the degree of
opacity. If you really wanted to be accurate, maybe one should be able to
set the "opacityLevel" or just "opacity" of a control but perhaps this gets
confusing with the existing term.
IMO, the imageData, maskData, and alphaData properties are much more "geeky"
(I believe you and I are still waiting for some more detailed instructions
for their use), and since "blendLevel" is apparently based on the existing
ink effect, I would suggest this term is not out of character with what it
actually affects.
Regards,
Scott
_____________________________________________________________________
Scott Rossi Tactile Media - Multimedia & Design
Creative Director Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: www.tactilemedia.com
Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm
Please send bug reports to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, not this list.
