[Mak-newversion] Mak 1.11

[Jared R. <ja...@wo...>]

[Citation date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 03:30:05 +0100]

>>>>> wildatheartx == wildatheartx  <wil...@gm...>

    wildatheartx> Documentation is improved (+Installation
    wildatheartx> documentation)

    wildatheartx> Please test this version intensively...

Fantastic; I untarred it into a directory (on Windows), doubleclicked
each *.bat, and each started flawlessly.  This is the first I've seen
the app running in a long time and it looks very nice; colorful, good
icons, 

Some initial thoughts (all purely IMHO).

  - When I add a new node (click on canvas, select 'text'), it'd be
    nice to be able to immediately start typing the text.  It appears
    that editing is only possible when the node has focus, and
    immediately after the add, the cursor ends up off of the node, so
    you can't edit.

  - The order of items that comes up when you click on the canvas
    (image, dictionary, text, vocab, etc) seems a little odd.  My
    initial usage was primarily 'text' nodes, and I'd guess that most
    people use text nodes more than any other.  My conclusion is that
    'text' should be the first option, so I don't have to scroll down
    every time.

  - The roll-over text for the 'move' function should read 'click and
    drag to move the node'.  First time, I went ahead and 'clicked'
    and nothing happened.  I tried a couple of different options
    before I held the click, so it's not immediately obvious.

  - When I add a Vocabulary node, just to play around, it's narrow
    enough that the header widgets (delete, move, etc) don't all
    render above the node.  It appears to be trying to center the
    toolbar, but that means that I can't reach the leftmost 'delete'
    widget and I can't figure out another way to delete this test
    node!  I'd suggest that the toolbar might be better rendered
    flush-left, but with no right-hand limit; if the toolbar is wider
    than the node, it should still all render when you roll over it.

    Ah, I just found the 'see/hide the full node' widget, which
    actually expands the node in question so the 'delete node' icon is
    visible.

  - Once I bring up the 'add node' box ("image, dictionary, text,
    ..."), I can't really get rid of it, it seems.  The usual
    convention is that you click once on a canvas to bring something
    like this up, but if you then click elsewhere on the canvas
    without selecting an item, it goes away.  Yours renders again in
    the new place.  It'd probably be straightforward to change the
    semantics of a click on the canvas to mean "toggle pop up".

  - The leftmost two rollover icons say "click first on this button,
    and then the corresponding button on the target node".  To do
    what?  The "bubble" text should probably mention the function.

  - In the "layout properties" menu, decrease is spelled "decrease".
    Is "ancle" supposed to be "angle"?

  - I'd love to have more keyboard equivalents.

  - Where's the documentation for the file format?  I have some old
    mindmap files I'd like to try to convert to mak format.

  - Using the arrows on the scrollbars (instead of sliding the bar
    itself) moves the canvas incredibly slowly (one pixel at a
    time?).  Maybe it should jump 10 or 20 pixels at a time instead.

  - The package directory structure is a little weird.  Initially, a
    user wants to look in 'docs' for documentation.  All that they
    find there is another directory with developer docs.  They might
    think to try 'html' or 'public' next, but they might not.  It's
    also not clear what the difference in 'html' docs versus 'public'
    docs are.  I know 'html' is the web site, but why isn't
    features.txt there instead?

    Specifically related to documentation structure, you mention that
    there is installation documentation with this version, but I
    haven't found it yet!

    I know you're working with some people on the documentation and
    website and I support that.  But thought I'd mention my current
    'new user' mindset to help you sort that out.  My recommendation?
    Use only the single 'docs' subdirectory, include a README (with
    install docs) at the root level, and include everything else worth
    mentioning on the website (which should also be the user manual).

  - I'd suggest using consistent lowercase capitalization among your
    non-code files.  In the public directory, for instance, some stuff
    is lowercase, some uppercase, and some mixed.  I think they'd all
    work fine as lowercase, even the images, except for key
    highlighted files such as README (no .txt on that, but it should
    be one level up from here anyway).

BTW, I have all this "I recommend" and "I suggest" language.  I hope I
don't come off as "high and mighty".  I have a huge amount of respect
for the effort required to actively develop a piece of software like
this.  It's fantastic and I recognize that the vast majority of what
I've said thus far are very minor "nitpicky" things at best.  I
suspect you can interpret them for what they are and will pick and
choose which minor things are worth hassling about.  I hope that as I
use the program more, I can offer more substantive comments and maybe
eventually contribute to the codebase.

We originally hooked up because you solicited me as a freemind user.
I think I can that you've got freemind beat.  More active development,
nicer looking rendering, more flexible data structure, more flexible
layout, and better plug-in architecture.  Congrats.

-- ja...@wo...

"We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our
 illusions.  We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put
 in place of reality." - Daniel J. Boorstin