Re: Hi all

[Kevin Cullis <kevincu@orci.com>]

Liam Quin wrote:
> Actually an About screen in a commercial application serves
> several purposes.  A Free or free application might nt need all of these.
> 
> * It gives the reader something to look at while the app starts.
>   This is less important as computers are faster.
>   A tip of the day is a good thing to include.

Nice thought!

> 
> * It reminds the user of where the app came from.  The user might
>   well not be the person who installed the app, so they might not
>   know, and they might not care enough to use help->advert or help->about.
>   But the information is useful, e.g. when they move jobs and want the
>   same tools.

This could also be used to show that an app has been started and the
user could "QA" it to make sure they started the app they wanted.

> 
> * It increases the company's mindshare, the amount of time people are
>   thinking about the company - an ad for other products is effective here.
> 
> * it shows something plausible is happening
> 
> I am not advocating splash screens here, but trying to explain why
> they are used a little.
> 
> A possible alternative is to start a program with a window background
> that contains the same info, and that goes away when you first
> click in the window, use a menu, etc.  pening a default document
> isn't so good because people have to close it, and would be irritated
> after a while, and if it only happens the first time you use the
> program, you lose a lot of the effect.

Great idea!!  This solves two problems: knowing that a app is started
and indicating that and allowing someone to continue working while it's
still loading.  You could also take it a little further by "flashing"
the task bar until the app is fully loaded.  This would be less
distracting than the hour glass icon but still provide visual
indications of what's going on until it's ready to rock.

I'd also like to see at CNTL-TAB key which switches between pagers much
like the ALT-TAB switches app.  This feature is available in KDE and I
like two handed computing, even in a GUI.

-- 
Kevin
--
Success is never final, failure is never fatal, unless you quit on
others and yourself.
If you get married to your ideas, you'll go through the pangs of divorce
when you're proven wrong.
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