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ASRT 5/14/05 - EMAIL CLIENT

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Scott:
I normally hate "mouse hot tracking" too (the feature you mention where focus follows the mouse).  PocoMail lets you disable it, fortunately.

I hate the default orange colors.  I think it's a ridiculous choice as a default color--and in some cases (like the color of mailbox icons), you can't change it without using a resource editor (which I very hastily do after each PocoMail update).  That's nonsense.

Not sure what you mean about the buttons or the tooltips, and I'm too lazy and tired to look.  :)

mouser:
hot tracking is a horrible evil thing.
which makes me guess that microsoft invented it (or funded it , or rescued it from history's trash bin), like the wonderous ever-changing ever-hiding "smart" menus.

prove me wrong!

 :trout:

Scott:
Prove what wrong, that hot tracking is horrible and evil?  Well, PocoMail is really the only application I use it in, and I think it's the only application I have ever really used it in.  I tend to appreciate hot tracking more in PocoMail more than anywhere else.  Once you get used to it--if you are inclined to in the first place--it's convenient, since you just move the cursor, then can hit the Delete key, or whatever.

Here's why hot tracking is cool: Personally, I hate having to click in a frame to give it focus.  If you have something selected in the target frame, such as a particular email message, clicking in the wrong place will change your selection.  This is an especial pain in the ass when you have made multiple selections, and then lose them because you have to click to give focus.  I've had that happen after painstakingly making a wide range of selections using Ctrl, Shift, and Ctrl+Shift.  It makes me literally scream when it happens.

And it's not just selections...  If there are radio buttons, check boxes, or other controls in the target frame, then you can accidentally select those, too.

Hot tracking prevents both problems.

Though few are, applications can be designed to ignore the first mouse click, so that first click just gives focus, and nothing else.  But as far as I'm concerned, that just adds another pain in the ass, since you then have to keep track of what has focus, and then keep in mind that sometimes, the first click will do something, and other times it won't.

Yes, you can also (usually) use the Tab key to switch focus, but that drive me absolutely nuts.  Half the time, the stupid application has a Tab order that makes no sense whatsoever, and in most cases, you end up having to hit Tab 3,500 times to get where you want.  And if you're me, you accidentally skip right past the object you want to give focus to on the first 10 tries, so you have to try again and again, with your blood pressure rising each time.

It's just easier to (1) Move the cursor, and (2) Do whatever you want.  Once you get used to it, that is.

So there you have it.  8)

Then there is X-Mouse; now there's something that drives me bonkers!  I also just tried a little utility that made the cursor wrap around one edge of the screen to the other, rather than stopping at the borders...  Now that is something I just cannot get used to!

Jibz:
Oh, how I loathe smart menus .. it's the first thing I turn off when installing a Microsoft product :nono2:.

mouser:
well i have to admit, that you do make me realize that "hot tracking" in the widest sense of the word is sometimes good.
For example, i use the scroll wheel on mouse to scroll windows, and it is absolutely essential to efficient work that this scroll wheel work in the panel/window under the mouse without having to first tab into that panel/window to give it focues.

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