Re: [Audacity-devel] Contrast Tool feedback

[David M. <be...@ma...>]

Here are my comments on the audio tool now that it has Non- modal. First
comment: "It is 10 times better now that it is non-modal. Way to go Martyn!"

Naturally, now that it's non-modal, there are a few thing that we should
change because previous problems of it being modal have been overcome and we
can make it easier to understand and use and more standard with the way
other audio plug-ins are used.

-- Let's not have the "Contrast tool Foreground" alert come up anymore for
any reason. Let's always have the shortcut Ctl+shft+T open the main
dialogue... Same for when the dialogue box is opened and closed and then
opened again... we can dump the alert boxes.

-- Related to the last item. I think that the main dialogue box should come
up right away when the tool is selected from the menu. The reason we didn't
do that before was that the dialogue box was modal and would not allow a
section  to be made with the mouse. But now that it's non-modal it would be
more intuitive to open the main dialogue when "contrast" is selected from
the menu, making it like all other plug ins. The dialogue box can be open
all the time when using the tols insead of opening and closing.

-- Currently when the tool is opened, it inputs the selected audio in the
foreground and background times. Let's not use the audio selection that has
been selected as the foreground and background. We can just leave the
selection of foreground and background blank. Once the dialogue box is open
the user can start using the tool and can select what they want rather than
defaulting to anything, because the defaults currently end up in the
foreground *and* background and that is confusing and they have to delete
one.  


Regarding Gale's design suggestions

-- As Gale suggests no problem from my perspective to position the dialogue
box lower on the x,y axis when it opens,.

-- Gale asks: "for measuring rms volume differences between two selections
of audio" not at the top because of screen readers babbling away? 

 It would be better at the top as you say. I think that information would be
useful for screen readers and it would not be annoying or too chatty. So I
like the suggestion.

-- Gale says: If the title bar or heading said "Contrast Analysis (WCAG 2
compliance)", the Help button could just say "WCAG 2 Help" and we might be
able to lose 60 px off the height of the dialogue.    

I'm fine with that. and just have the "WCAG 2 Help" button without the
surrounding "information" box too which would save a bit more space. Related
to that, in the bottom right there is an area that says "control" and it has
the button "close (keeping times)" in it. What if the button simply said
"close" . (it would be positioned on the same horizontal as the "help for
WCAG2 ..." button to the left of it.) Above it there could be a check box
with text beside it that says "keep data?" or "keep times?"  ... Checking
the box means yes.


Once we make all the adjustments I'll adjust the help file.

Cheers
David MacDonald

access empowers people...
        ...barriers disable them...
 
www.eramp.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: Gale Andrews [mailto:ga...@au...] 
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 5:50 PM
To: David MacDonald
Cc: aud...@li...
Subject: Re: [Audacity-devel] Contrast Tool feedback


| From "David MacDonald" <be...@ma...> 
| Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:54:10 -0400
| Subject: [Audacity-devel] Contrast Tool feedback
> Yeah weird
> 
> The processes show Audacity running
> 
> But the Applications tab doesn't don't, so it's not minimized, and not on
> the task bar.
> 
> I thought it might be fighting with the version I had installed before,
that
> I installed it over top of. But I cleared that out of my program folder
and
> started clean and got the same thing. I'll try on my other computer later
> today.

Are you running in Safe Mode? 1.3.8 does not support that, though
previous Betas do. It may well be a PortAudio problem, which 
makes it difficult to fix. If this is the problem, just boot into full 
Windows functionality. You need that for access to the sound device.



Gale 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gale Andrews [mailto:ga...@au...] 
> Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 12:15 AM
> To: aud...@li...
> Cc: be...@ma...
> Subject: Re: [Audacity-devel] Contrast Tool feedback
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Just Cc'ing this to David (please see below). I replied on Nabble before 
> 
> remembering I cannot Cc off that. 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Gale 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> | From "Gale (Audacity Team)" <ga...@au...> 
> 
> | Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:46:04 -0700 (PDT)
> 
> | Subject: [Audacity-devel] Contrast Tool feedback
> 
> |  > 
> 
> > David MacDonald-3 wrote:
> 
> > > I've tried to install from the installer 3 times, but no luck. 
> 
> > > It says it's running but when I open a list of all programs that are
> 
> > > running
> 
> > > I get nothing. 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  I tested it before I posted the link and have just done so again. Pops up
> 
>  straight away for me. Where does Audacity say it's running and what
> 
>  list are  you opening - Task Manager? 
> 
>  
> 
>  You may have run into the issue we have with Audacity starting minimised
> 
>  on Windows. Why it happens is not really understood (I've tried a cfg
file
> 
>  someone sent me where Audacity was doing this, but it opened maximised
> 
>  for me as the setting in the file indicated). 
> 
>  
> 
>  If Audacity has an icon in the Taskbar, you should be able to right-click
> 
>  the icon and click "Maximize" or "Restore" to make Audacity appear.  
> 
>  If problems persist with Audacity opening minimised, try resetting your
> 
>  Audacity Preferences by exiting Audacity, then opening the audacity.cfg
> 
>  settings file in a text editor and removing all the content except
> 
>  "NewPrefsInitialized=1". See:
> 
>  
>
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Audacity_Preferences#reset_beta
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  Gale 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> 
> > > From: Gale Andrews [mailto:ga...@au...] 
> 
> > > Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 4:07 PM
> 
> > > To: aud...@li...
> 
> > > Cc: be...@ma...
> 
> > > Subject: Re: [Audacity-devel] Contrast Tool feedback
> 
> > > 
> 
> > > 
> 
> > > | From "David MacDonald" <be...@ma...> 
> 
> > > | Mon, 8 Jun 2009 12:53:39 -0400
> 
> > > | Subject: [Audacity-devel] Contrast Tool feedback
> 
> > >> Please refresh my memory on how to install the daily builds.
> 
> > >> 
> 
> > >> I tried extracting all the DLL's and the EXE into the Audacity
> directory 
> 
> > >> 
> 
> > >> C:\Program Files\Audacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode)
> 
> > >> 
> 
> > >> and running the exe which I thought I did last time I was testing.
But
> 
> > >> that's not working this time. I have XP an I downloaded the Unicode.
> 
> > > 
> 
> > > You don't install them because they are just a zip file, not an
> 
> > > installer. Copying the entire contents of the zip into your 
> 
> > > current installation folder is easier - you will only overwrite 
> 
> > > existing files with the same name, so you won't lose for 
> 
> > > example any additional plug-ins you have in the Plug-Ins
> 
> > > folder.  
> 
> > > 
> 
> > > The Unicode zip is working fine - I just downloaded it and ran it. 
> 
> > > Many testers prefer to simply extract the zip file to a separate 
> 
> > > folder and run it as a standalone. 
> 
> > > 
> 
> > > Anyway I built an installer for you:
> 
> > > http://www.gaclrecords.org.uk/audacity-1.3.8-win-unicode.exe
> 
> > > 
> 
> > > This will install to C:\Program Files\Audacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode).
> 
> > > 
> 
> > > 
> 
> > > Gale 
> 
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