Messages

3951

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: giant start menu

« on: May 03, 2005, 07:11 AM »

you've absolutely convinced me now frogblast, i'm going to spend the rest of the day trying to get my head around power pro. i hope to be a power pro guru by the end of the week...

3952

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: forced coffee/tea/cigarette break reminder

« on: May 02, 2005, 11:48 AM »

well, i'll certainly be grateful if anyone decides to modify it to prevent the breaks from being overridden.

if no one thinks it's worthwhile i'll understand - it would be better if i could make myself more disciplined instead (maybe i should learn to write code - it would be easier).

3953

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: forced coffee/tea/cigarette break reminder

« on: May 02, 2005, 07:42 AM »

downloaded and installed 'workrave'. 

looks like exactly the right kind of app for the job. nicely done all around.

(my problem is the lack of discipline to actually obey the break reminders though - i really do need something that can't be overridden.)

3954

General Software Discussion / Re: PngOut.dll + PngOut.exe

« on: May 02, 2005, 03:01 AM »

yeah, thanks for the info - the 'nice review' at http://www.twilightu...se.com/2003/09/ping/ is worth a read if you need convincing that png is better than gif.

i'm going to run a few tests myself i think.

3955

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: test your internal clock - SPITEFUL TIMER

« on: May 01, 2005, 03:24 PM »

oh, of course - i've not really got to grips with this power pro thing yet. think i'll have to dedicate a day to looking it over.

3956

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: forced coffee/tea/cigarette break reminder

« on: May 01, 2005, 03:14 PM »

yes, sorry. i didn't really look for anything before posting - i'll have a look later.

3957

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: test your internal clock - SPITEFUL TIMER

« on: May 01, 2005, 02:53 PM »

could someone please code the 'anti spiteful timer' that automatically clicked 'spiteful timer' at exactly the correct time - i could then leave it running on a dedicated machine just for this task and get to the top of the league table straight away.

3958

Unfinished Requests / IDEA: forced coffee/tea/cigarette break reminder

« on: May 01, 2005, 02:45 PM »

i once had a program that would remind you at set intervals to take a break from the computer - you know, for health reasons.

of course - i uninstalled it and continued to spend hours sat staring at my monitor all day instead. yep, i'm probably going to get deep vain thrombosis as a result of using my computer - great.

how about a little program that you set to blank the screen every couple of hours or less - maybe it bring ups a message (visual and audio) telling you in a polite way that it's time to go and make a drink or whatever, thereby forcing you to take a break.

yeah, i know you'd ignore it and just carry on working - the crucial part is the screen would remain blank for 5 minutes (with more messages or whatever displayed) and you would have no way of overriding it - any attempt to do so would hibernate the computer.

(i know, i know, i'd uninstall it and never use it - let me just dream for a while that i would do the right thing and obey it.)

3959

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: test your internal clock - SPITEFUL TIMER

« on: May 01, 2005, 02:26 PM »

you will be keeping a league table too, i'm sure.

3960

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Automatic Copy when highlighted

« on: May 01, 2005, 01:23 PM »

i'd use that. the delay before copy sounds reasonable.

this is slightly off topic but have you tried any of the mouse gesture type programs. they tend to do copy and paste, etc. and all you need to do is select the text then make a mouse gesture to copy it - do a different gesture and it pastes back. they work system wide so it's half way there to what you are after.

3961

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: giant start menu

« on: May 01, 2005, 01:18 PM »

i think i've seen a couple or so.

having a quick look at what i've used in the past (must have been on win98 or 95) i found 'start or switch (sos)' but it didn't work correctly when i installed it a few minutes ago so not much point going any further with that.

'perfect menu' http://www.pitrinec.com/pmeindex.htm offers quite a few options - one of which is a right click start menu.

i'm sure there was some super-duper menu util that did everything under the sun and claimed to be a complete replacement for the windows start menu - i think that did a right click anywhere menu thing. really can't remember the name of it though, sorry.

3962

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: change wallpaper at specific time - not timed intervals.

« on: May 01, 2005, 07:49 AM »

yep, thanks frogblast - i'm sure i wouldn't have found powepro by myself.

and i'm still looking forward to see what mouser comes up with - like you say, should be something easier to use.

3963

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: change wallpaper at specific time - not timed intervals.

« on: May 01, 2005, 06:18 AM »

that sounds very promising mouser - i'll eat my hat if anyone finds a util that does it already (i have a very small hat just in case).

if this wallpaper manager becomes a reality there is another feature i'd really love to see implemented if possible.

you might have seen/used a program called 'wallpaper drag' that allowed you to drag and resize your wallpaper around on the screen until you were satisfied with how it looked (before finally clicking apply to accept the position and scale of the wallpaper image).

unfortunately the program nolonger seems to be supported - the creators website has gone and there is no way of obtaining an official serial although you can still find the software available to download at http://www.winsite.c...in/Info?500000011102 (this is for version 2).

the other problem is that it doesn't appear to work very well with windows xp - i've had version 3 of the program but it never got on well with xp for some reason and i always had to uninstall it eventually.

if you ever used 'wallpaper drag' you'll understand how much better it was than all the other wallpaper managers - being able to drag the image around on your screen and resize at the same time was an fantastic feature - something i've still not seen implemented elsewhere. i've seen very clumsy methods of resizing and moving the image around on your desktop with other wallpaper managers but they were too annoying to use in my opinion.

as this 'drag and resize' feature doesn't appear to be used anywhere in current software that is available i'd be absolutely over the moon if it could be incorporated into the 'coding snacks wallpaper manager'.

i guess this could be a more ambitious project and beyond the scope of the few hours coding rules - i dearly hope not though. 

3964

Finished Programs / DONE - IDEA: change wallpaper at specific time - not timed intervals.

« on: May 01, 2005, 03:47 AM »

i've checked out quite a few wallpaper managers - most have the ability to change the wallpaper at timed intervals, say, once every hour or so.

how about having a wallpaper manager that changed what was on display at a specific time set by the user?

this way you could set up your morning desktop wallpaper that you like to be greeted with, this could then change at midday (or whatever time you specified) and it could then change again in the evening (and again after that towards dusk).

obviously i'm trying to describe something that mimics the changing pattern of daylight outside your window - you would just have something similar presented to you on your monitor. you know, sunrise, sunset, starry night, etc.

taking things further you could have wallpaper set with different times displayed on it - the wallpaper then changes on the hour every hour (or whatever interval you have set that corresponds to the time prints on you wallpaper set).

if this has already been done elsewhere, please let me know, i've hunted around and can't find this specific feature.

i'm no programmer but i would think this a simple thing to code 

3965

Coding Snack Guidelines / Re: Let's get some really tiny useless funny app requests plz

« on: April 30, 2005, 05:32 PM »

this is going to sound stupid but i'm genuinely curious...

... if you run win98 inside a virtual system like vmware's workstation - does it still crash like a true win98 system? 

3966

Coding Snack Guidelines / Re: Let's get some really tiny useless funny app requests plz

« on: April 30, 2005, 04:24 PM »

just like the good ol' days of win98 - ah, that lovely deep blue of the bsod.

3967

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Automatic Copy when highlighted

« on: April 30, 2005, 03:11 PM »

  sorry, i'm not paying much attention today it seems.

3968

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Titlebar Clock

« on: April 30, 2005, 03:08 PM »

ha, ha, excellent.

3969

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Automatic Copy when highlighted

« on: April 30, 2005, 02:07 PM »

it's not really what you are after but 'damn nfo viewer' does auto copy on selection - doesn't allow any editing though.

3970

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Titlebar Clock

« on: April 30, 2005, 02:06 PM »

ah, yes i see, titlebar not taskbar - sorry.

that does ring a bell though - i think there might have been something that did that as far back as windows 3.1 or at least win95.

i certainly remember being able to configure what was displayed in the titlebar - it must have been time and date as i can't really see what would be more obvious to display.

if i can find what it was i'll post back - it means searching through some very old cd lists though.

3971

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: virtual drive driver

« on: April 30, 2005, 06:27 AM »

i had a suspicion that directory opus might do something like that mouser - as it seems to do everything else under the sun.

i think i better head over there again and check it out.

3972

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: virtual drive driver

« on: April 30, 2005, 05:46 AM »

not 100% sure but i don't think the current crop of virtual drive mounting programs provide the function you are after - that being you want to include just the files found in folders on different drives to be bundled together under one single virtual drive letter (that's how i understood what you require).

sounds like a useful type app to me - i'd find a use for it but unfortunately i'm not a programmer so can't help.

acdsee (mainly an image browser) allows you to tag files to a particular label thereby allowing you to view images that all bare the same tag type as a grouped display - regardless of what folder the file is in.

extending this feature to work with any type of file or folder sounds like very useful function to me - maybe there is a file browser that already does it?

the ability to group disparate files/folders under one drive would have a similar benefit to the above so i'd be pleased to see either method implemented.

3973

Finished Programs / Re: Titlebar Clock

« on: April 30, 2005, 03:37 AM »

'TClock' must have every possibility covered for this kind of request?

have a look http://homepage1.nif...locklight/index.html

3974

Unfinished Requests / Re: A better scratch pad

« on: April 30, 2005, 03:34 AM »

it might be worth trying something like 'ATnotes' http://atnotes.fr.st/

you can copy and paste to and from a note, hide note, keep on top note, etc.

the main reason i mention 'ATnotes' is that you could set the font type and SIZE to whatever you wanted, well, to whatever you have already on your system. you could also change the background and text color to make it easy to read.

oh, and it's free of course.

(that said, it's better than the other desktop note programs you have to pay for.)

3975

Best Text Editor / Re: Pre-review discussion of "BEST TEXT EDITOR"

« on: April 23, 2005, 04:59 PM »

my brief opinions are:

metapad - everyday replacement for the windows notepad. it loads in quicker (does on my machine at least), has just the right amount of buttons for quick editing and the 'killer' feature is that you can launch two extra other programs straight from the toolbar - so if you do need a fancier editor for the file your working on, you can do so with one click.

notepad++ - use for script editing and collapsing large chunks of html <divs> and the like. great for using alongside another editor like dreamweaver (or better, integrated into dreamweaver).

can't really speak for the other editors - they all look very similar to ultraedit, which i would assume to be the best in it's field. i'm not a programmer so i don't really have need for the ultraedit styled programs therefore i can't appreciate their capabilities.