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- Date: Fri, 10 Jun 1994 08:24:48 -0400 (EDT)
- From: Rick Flashman <rflashma@mhc.mtholyoke.edu>
- Subject: Gribnif Software
- To: Atari GEM Mailing List <gem-list@world.std.com>
- Message-Id: <Pine.3.89.9406100856.C1638-0100000@mhc.mtholyoke.edu>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Precedence: bulk
-
- Hello all,
-
- Figured I would introduce myself. My name is Rick Flashman and I am
- President of Gribnif Software. Out of the numerous titles we produce, our
- most popular ones are Geneva, NeoDesk, and STalker/STeno.
-
- Since I just got on the list, I haven't seen anything before this. Please
- keep that in mind.
-
- Some initial thoughts:
-
- 1. I'm concerned about attempting to "re-invent the wheel". Not only are
- a large number of applications no longer supported, but forcing a global
- standard might not necessarily make sense. CONTROL-U might be real
- popular in Germany to close a window, but I doubt many British & American
- users can make some sense out of it. I would advocate that there might BE
- an interest in maintaining different standards for each country/language.
- Also, just because an application is still being supported still doesn't
- mean the developer is ready to change all their keyboard equivalents.
- Users get used to their keyboard equivalents. If we went and released
- minor released to our programs that changed all the keyboard equivalents
- (because it makes more sense), we would have a substancial revolt among
- our users (you should hear how many complaints our beta testers gave us
- as we tried to change our close window from the original NeoDesk
- CONTROL-W to the more accepted Alt-Esc).
-
- 2. We, at Gribnif, have been trying to move our software towards "user
- customization". In Geneva, for example, you can remap all the keyboard
- equivalents used for controlling windows (in all applications) to
- anything you desire. For example, we ship "close window" as being
- Alt-Esc. But that can be easily remapped to anything else (like CTRL-U).
- This can be done by the user himself, and also at the distributor level
- (by the distributor promoting the product in his country). In NeoDesk 4
- (RSN), if you use a resource editor, you can change ALL the keyboard
- equivalents to anything you want (NeoDesk 4 reads its keyboard
- equivalents by reading the menus and seeing what is in there). This makes
- it very easy for our distributors to modify the keyboard equivalents to
- meet their country's specific needs (Germany, France, UK, US, Spain, etc.)
-
- 3. Be careful on TOO many keyboard equivalents. If they are not listed in
- the drop-down menu, most people don't use them. Rather than doing what I
- tend to call "YAC" (Yet Another Command), developers might be better
- suited to look at the entire problem and see if there isn't a better way
- to solve the problem without having to add YAC. (BTW, a common side
- effect of YAC is YAB "Yet Another Button", another nightmare that drives
- me crazy).
-
- Rick Flashman,
- Gribnif Software
-
- P.S. Put my vote also as one who wishes to keep volume down on GEM-LIST.
- I would advocate that we may consider moving towards a moderated digest
- mailing list, with a single daily/weekly message.
-
-