Hello Anne, On 24 Feb 2004 at 23:06:57 +0000 GMT [00:06 CET] you wrote:
C>> I STILL think, given the number of questions asked here by people who C>> are enthusiasts and beta testing the app, it is obvious that View Modes C>> usage is FAR from intuitive, and someone coming to TB as a new user will C>> have serious problems with them. A> Agree wholeheartedly Chris... I think their complexity will scare A> off some new TB! users. As I said, I was ready to give up and go A> back a version to be able to see things the way I want to. A A> rethink of some of the options (there seems to be far too many A> ways to invoke them!) might be a sensible idea? I disagree. The intuitiveness of the bat's view mode implentation has increased a good deal since the feature turned up the first time in a beta. I don't think that's the problem. I don't think the various places where you can apply them is the problem either. You can set them from within preferences, folder properties, the message list, and folder and view menus. all of these places are logical. All of them make sense. Somebody wants to apply a view mode so (s)he goes to any of these places and does it. (S)he doesn't need to woryy about the other places. Think the opposite: Somewhere you can't set it where you would expect it. You would need to search elsewhere desperately trying to find it. The implementation is not the problem. It's inuitive in my opinion. Changes have been made since 2.02 but now it should stay that way. It'd certainly confuses people if view modes changed with every new version just because people still have problemes with it. Most of the time when somebody has problems with view modes somebody on the lists explains the concept to her/him, especially the difference betrween folder and global view modes. Normaly the person is then able to solve the problems. So the interface is not the difficult thing but the underlying concept. There needs to be a chapter in the help file which extensively explains viewmodes, how to apply them, how to spread them across folders and the differences folder versus global. Complex features are nothing new to the bat users. The reason the bat is so powerful is because of it's complex features. The downside of this is that some things just need explaination. How many users have posted on tbudl that they learn so much just from reading the list. That they learn new things even after a quite long usage of the program. View modes is one of these features that at first may be a bit difficult to master but as soon as you do all their power is at your disposal. -- Cheers, Andre "If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing." ________________________________________________________ Current beta is (none) | 'Using TBBETA' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html IMPORTANT: To register as a Beta tester, use this link first - http://www.ritlabs.com/en/partners/testers/
