[PD] Pd OS X installer with Iemlib and Zexy

derek holzer derek at x-i.net
Thu Dec 9 14:34:02 CET 2004


Hi Martin,

martin pichlmair wrote:

>> speaking of this OSX installer, is it just me or are other people 
>> really annoyed with the new drop down "help" menu in this version. If 
>> you are looking for a specifc file in a folder, like in 5.reference, 
>> it takes forever and a day to scroll there!
> 
> 
> no it is not just you. on the other hand having a place to find all 
> installed objects (if each of them got a help patch) is quite a good 
> thing. especially for newbies. it is a sad thing that most help patches 
> do not feature a library name otherwise ordering them would be easy - 
> there is also no mechanism where it should be stored beside doing so in 
> the filename (or directory structure).
> 
> so: if you can think of a solution on how it works better you are sure 
> welcome to propose it. until then hcs did the best possible.

Yes, of course, it is inconvienient that there's no way of knowing which 
library the objects come from. This namespace debate is taking on 
relgious proportions in some circles. But, the main thing which I found 
a PITA was simply that the "help" menu didn't open up a normal 
file-browsing window anymore, but tried to make a scrollable dropdown of 
all the files there. In which case, I would simply suggest to return to 
the older model, which is *slightly* more usable [but not much ;-) ]

OTOH, if the help files were organized into folders [as Zexy, PDP, GEM 
and some others sometimes do, albeit inconsistantly in different cases], 
it would make the scrolling easier. But if the user doesn't know which 
Lib it comes from, it is just as unusable. The other problem is with 
paths, which have to be set no matter what installer is used. For new 
users, this really creates a lot of confusion!

Just thinking about this a bit after two workshops of 12-15 PD newbies, 
which are about 75% OSXers with their own laptops, and having to do new 
installs with all of them.

best,
d.

best,
d.

-- 
derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl
---Oblique Strategy # 36:
"Consult other sources
-promising
-unpromising"




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