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Topics - Nod5 [ switch to compact view ]

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51
Any alias shown in the FARR results list has a right click context menu action called "visit the source alias" which opens the options window with the right alias group file selected in the tree view. Is there a special search phrase for the same action i.e. opening help with myaliases.alias focused? The special search phrases in the help file doesn't list such a command. But I was thinking there was one anyway given that the context menu actionb can make that jump.

52
Find And Run Robot / possible regex search alias bug
« on: May 09, 2013, 09:05 AM »
Hi, I have a conflict with two aliases. To reproduce, make these two regex aliases:
^(.*)\s\s$

and
^aa((?: .*|))$
If I type "aa[space]" in FARR the first alias is mistakenly triggered. Is that a bug?

53
I'm trying to make an alias that continuously pipes the FARR alias regex match text to an autohotkey script, the script processes that input and outputs a html file that in turn is after save refreshed in FARR. But I've run into a freeze problem.

Here is an easy way to reproduce it:
1. make this alias:
1000>>>x>->dolaunch appcap C:\test.exe>+>^x(\d*)
2. compile this autohotkey code into C:\test.exe
test = 1
3. open FARR and type x and then quickly type a string of numbers (with multiple keypresses).
FARR will now maximize its CPU (for one core) and no new commands are possible. To break the freeze a shutdown from the task manager is needed.

I've tried a few other alias designs using alternative commands but didn't find one that did all the things in the first sentence above.

I tried the below alias command chain together with an autohotkey line that saves the command line input to C:\test.html but the html doesn't reliably refresh after each run. I want to avoid adding delay/sleep times if possible.
dolaunch showhtml . ;;; C:\test.exe "$$1" ;;; showfilehtml C:\test.html

Edit: Mouser has fixed it in Version 2.206.01  :Thmbsup:
[BugFix] AppCap function could hang FARR if it was repeatedly invoked many times per second.

54
General Software Discussion / Everything is back -- with 1.3 beta
« on: January 05, 2013, 09:06 AM »
The free and amazingly quick search tool Everything has a new beta out - the first new release in around 4 years I think.  :Thmbsup:
http://forum.voidtoo...c.php?f=9&t=1552

55
N.A.N.Y. 2013 / N.A.N.Y 2013 Submission - BookCrop
« on: December 08, 2012, 12:51 PM »
NANY 2013 Entry Information

Application Name BookCrop
Short Description BookCrop quickly batch crops many jpeg photos of book pages
Supported OSes tested in Win7
Web Page http://nod5.dcmembers.com/bookcrop.html
Download Link http://nod5.dcmember...wnloads/bookcrop.zip
Author nod5
Description1. Drag and drop a folder of jpeg or tif images.
2. BookCrop overlays them all into one preview.
3. Draw a rectangle and click "crop" to lossless crop all images.
(4. or Ctrl+draw another rectangle to the right of the first to crop split each image to two files)
Use BookCrop on folders with right and left pages before ScanTailor when book scanning.
BookCrop is like Briss but for jpeg files.
See the application web page for more details and usage tips.
Screenshotsbookcrop1.pngbookcrop2[1].pngbookcrop5.png
InstallationUnzip BookCrop.
Download and install the latest GraphicsMagick (Q8 version is faster) to any folder, BookCrop automatically finds it.
Download libjpeg-turbo-1.3.0-gcc.exe (for 64bit get gcc64.exe) or newer and unzip the exe (with 7-zip) and browse to the \bin subfolder and copy jpegtran.exe and libjpeg-62.dll and place next to BookCrop.exe
Run BookCrop.exe
UninstallationDelete the BookCrop application folder.
Help me out with this:
- test it in Win xp, Vista and Win7 32bit
- let me know if you find any bugs

added updates:
- preview height now adapts to screen height.
- new option: crop to subfolder (keep originals).

edit 2013-06-22: updated the instruction above to fit new files and features
edit 2014-11-14: updated version with split batch job (left right) and rotation

56
DC Member Programs and Projects / ScanTailor_multi_core
« on: July 25, 2012, 02:09 PM »
ScanTailor_multi_core
scantailor_multi_core.png

Processes step 6 in ScanTailor  two or four times faster via multiple instances on a dual/quad core CPU system.

Made in Autohotkey by nod5 as free software (GPL3).

More details and download

57
I've long used the following alias to quickly transfer a search phrase in FARR to an Everything window.
Regular expression pattern box:
^(.*)\s\s$
Results box:
dolaunch C:\Program files\Everything\Everything.exe -search "$$1"

Very handy as you can first search with FARR and, if what you're looking for isn't found in a second or two, just tap space space.  It works when UAC is disabled in Win 7. But with UAC on you get into a dilemma:
If FARR runs as non-admin then UAC prompts you for admin privileges on every Everything launch.
If FARR runs as admin then there's no prompt but instead other problems. E.g. if FARR run as admin launches notepad++ then you can't drop a textfile from Explorer (non-admin) into the notepad++ window (admin).

Here is a workaround that lets you launch Everything with a search parameter from FARR as non-admin with UAC and still get no prompt from UAC. It requires Autohotkey and the Win 7 Task Scheduler.

1. make authotkey scripts
Save as ev.ahk
Run %A_ProgramFiles%\Everything\Everything.exe -search "%clipboard%"
Save as ev2.ahk
Run schtasks.exe /run /TN "ev",,hide
Right click each script and compile. You get ev.exe and ev2.exe .
Choose a folder to keep ev.exe and ev2.exe in. For example C:\test\

2. Create a Task
Task Scheduler > Create Task
Set Name: ev
Check this box: Run with highest privileges
Goto Actions tab > New > C:\test\ev.exe  
(Note: change path to where you put ev.exe and ev2.exe )
Click OK

3. make a new FARR alias
Alias text: whatever you want
Regular expression pattern:
^(.*)\s\s$
Results:
dolaunch copyclip $$1 ;;; C:\test\ev2.exe
(Note: change path to where you put ev.exe and ev2.exe )

Done!  :) When you now search FARR for "beatles" and add two spaces ("beatles  ") the Everything window will pop up and do a search for "beatles".

References:
- Various posts discuss related issues - search for UAC in the FARR subform
- http://www.techrepub...t-the-uac-prompt/730

58
Minor issue. I often use FARR to pass searches to Everything through an alias like this:
^(.*)\s\s$
Everything Search: $$1 | dolaunch C:\Program Files\Everything\Everything.exe -search "$$1"
That most often works great. But sometimes I start a FARR search using another alias with a search folders parameter, like so:
^(?:te|tes|test) (.*)
test $$1 | dosearch +test_modifier $$1

When I first type "test NNNNN" the second alias runs. If I then double tab space ("test NNNNN  ") the first alias runs. But FARR doesn't pass "test NNNNN" to Everything. It passes "+test_modifier NNNNN". Can I tweak the aliases to in such a case pass the exact phrase in the inputbox?

59
I will finally move from XP to Windows 7. But I have some pretty old hardware devices e.g. external soundcard, tv card, remote control hardware and other stuff. I've read that finding Win7 x64 (64bit) drivers for old hardware may be tricky or in some cases impossible.

So why should I go for x64 Win7 and not just stick to Win7 32bit?  :tellme:

I feel that x64 is a better choice, clinging to x86 feels kind of backwards. But I'd like some solid arguments to back that up.

The big practical advantage I've read about is that x64 permits more than 4GB of RAM. But three things seem to diminish that advantage.
1. On Win XP 32bit the RAM above 3.25 GB can be utilized as a ramdisk. That likely works on Win7 32bit too (right?). So extra RAM can be used as diskspace and isn't just wasted.
2. I don't use any applications with extreme RAM-needs. At least I don't think so. What applications would benefit noticeably from 4+ GB of RAM?
3. With less system RAM the OS might use the pagefile more often. Pagefile access on a regular HDD can slow things down. But I'll use a SSD for the new install. That makes pagefile access a non-issue (or?).

Feedback on 1-3 is very welcome. I'd also like to hear other good reasons for choosing 64bit that I've likely omitted.

60
Background: Most of the time I have low CPU needs. But sometimes I need more CPU power. For example when I record TV programs with my DVB-T card converting the recorded .mpeg to a smaller .mkv with handbrake takes a lot of time (several hours). I could buy better hardware. I bet many others are in a similar situation: they normally have low CPU needs but occasionally need more. We could all buy better hardware. But I also bet that many of us often have a lot of spare bandwidth.

Idea: here cloud processing would make a lot of sense! Programs like Handbrake could have an option to upload segments of the input file to a cloud of powerful CPUs who process it quickly and send data back. That could make economic sense. Instead of each of us buying an expensive new CPU that is seldom fully used we'd pay a small metered amount for cloud processing only when we need it. That would also save time as the user can rent a lot of CPU power for short periods of time.

All this leads me to some questions:
1. don't you all want this too?  :)
2. are there already any programs for end users that have cloud processing like sketched above built in?
3. are there already any fairly easy and fairly inexpensive manual ways for users to temporarily set up something like cloud processing? For example, to at a low cost rent a box with ubuntu and popular CPU intensive programs like Handbrake installed and with a lot of CPU power? I'd use VPN to upload a file, quickly process it on the cloud box, then download the output and then terminate the cloud box.
4. if there's nothing like that for end users today are there any such projects on the horizon? I think some generic cloud processing service would be most useful. A standardized module of some sort that different applications could implement. The user would then only need one single cloud processing account and would only need to log in to it and allow the specific application to use up some of the "cloud processing credits" the user has previously payed for.

61
Hi. I wasn't sure where to post this; it is mostly a howto but includes a small autohotkey script.

A process for using an android phone as a remote control for five autohotkey actions of your choice. I exemplify with remote control of the audio player Xmplay. But the autohotkey commands can be changed to whatever you want to do.

1. install premotedroid on android phone
https://market.andro...e.remotedroid.client
2. install premote server on computer http://code.google.com/p/premotedroid

3. in premotedroid on phone, set up new wifi connection (enter your wifi details)

4. in xmplay > options > shortcuts, create some unusual keyboard combination shortcuts for 5 actions. For example:

(make the shortcuts global)
ctrl+alt+shift+y  -- current track - play pause
ctrl+alt+shift+u  -- change track - prev
ctrl+alt+shift+i  -- change track - next
ctrl+alt+shift+o  -- DSP - vol up
ctrl+alt+shift+p  -- DSP - vol down

5. install the scripting language autohotkey
http://www.autohotkey.com/

6. save the below code as premote.ahk (if you added other shortcuts keys in xmplay then first edit the sendinput code; see http://www.autohotke...cs/commands/Send.htm ). The script, when running, "reroutes" all mouse clicks/scrolls to instead send the xmplay shortcuts keyboard combinations.
LBUTTON:: sendinput !^+y ;PAUSE
MBUTTON:: sendinput !^+u ;PREV
RBUTTON:: sendinput !^+i ;NEXT
WheelDown:: sendinput !^+o ;VOL DOWN
WheelUp:: sendinput !^+p ;VOL UP
^escape:: exitapp ;control esc to exit
7. run xmplay, turn on wifi, run premotedroid server, run premote.ahk (doubleclick).

Now you can control xmplay with the mouse buttons + scrollbar in the premotedroid app on your phone (scrollbar = right edge of of the screen in premotedroid).

note: to exit script and restore standard mouse button functionality on the computer do ctrl+escape on the computer keyboard. Or ctrl+rightclick the scripts trayicon and ctrl+leftclick "exit".

edit:
For control of Xmplay you can skip step 4 (hotkey setup) by switching to the code below in step 6:
LBUTTON:: PostMessage 0x41a, 80, 0,, ahk_class XMPLAY-MAIN ;PAUSE
MBUTTON:: PostMessage 0x41a, 129, 0,, ahk_class XMPLAY-MAIN ;PREV
RBUTTON:: PostMessage 0x41a, 128, 0,, ahk_class XMPLAY-MAIN ;NEXT
WheelDown:: PostMessage 0x41a, 513, 0,, ahk_class XMPLAY-MAIN ;VOL DOWN
WheelUp:: PostMessage 0x41a, 512, 0,, ahk_class XMPLAY-MAIN ;VOL UP
^escape::exitapp ;control esc to exit
LBUTTON & WheelUp:: PostMessage 0x41a, 82, 0,, ahk_class XMPLAY-MAIN ;longpress lbutton then scroll up to fast forward in track
LBUTTON & WheelDown:: PostMessage 0x41a, 83, 0,, ahk_class XMPLAY-MAIN ;longpress lbutton then scroll down to rewind in track

62
Finished Programs / DONE: FFBookmarkUnpacker
« on: May 15, 2010, 12:00 PM »
FFBookmarkUnpacker

Unpacks Firefox bookmarks.html bookmarks as .url files and subfolders.

Download and more information available here
https://www.dcmember.../ffbookmarkunpacker/


Changelog:
180330
fix datestamp bug
fix encoding issue: now uses UTF-16 for ini read/write, UTF-8 for bookmarks.html read
faster unpack with less/better regex

180222
code cleanup
.url datestamp matches bookmark.html date strings

150904
bugfixes: nested subfolders, separator lines, bookmarks without subfolders

131117
fix special characters error
set profile in ini
cleans up old bookmarks before copying

120212
fix: special characters error
fix: profile issue bypassed by letting user set path manually

100515
first version

63
Anyone good at both perl and AHK? If so, care to help translate the format.pl code in the zip here http://nod5.dcmember...com/tiffdjvuocr.html ? I'm not getting it right.

64
Mini-Reviews by Members / Monkey Dash mini review
« on: April 05, 2010, 06:07 AM »
Monkey Dash mini review

App NameMonkey Dash (boardgame)
App URLhttp://monkeydash.co.uk/
Test System Specsthe brain of a moderate level board game player
Supported OSeshuman brains 8 yrs and up
Pricing Scheme20£ + shipping
Reviewer Donation LinkDonate to nod5, the Author
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product I won the game in a DC prize draw I entered after seeing the awesome Monkey Dash video


Intro:
MonkeyDash is a 2 player strategy board game. A match takes about 15 minutes. It is made by DC member Ampa, who also play tested the game here on DC: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=12523.0

I won't follow the minireview template and will only post my own impressions and scattered thoughts from playing the game. For game overview and game details, check out the video and these two resources:

Great video tutorial from the game site: http://monkeydash.co.uk/tutorial.html
Information and other reviews: http://www.boardgame...me/33605/monkey-dash



My impressions
(I've just posted the below text as a boardgamegeek review, pending approval)

I've so far played Monkey Dash around 30 times since last fall. I really enjoyed it from the get go and still do! :) Here are some of my impressions from the "phases of playing" I've gone through.

PHASE 1 -- beginner
For the first one or two matches I had a hard time grasping a working strategy. But so had my co-player - we fumbled around to equal degree. Still, I liked the game experience from the start. Simple moves and rules yet hard to calculate a multi turn strategy. Your opponent often comes up with surprising counters. After later playing against some people who are new to the game I think my experience here generalizes. You really need a few games to get to grips with the game. Good thing that the matches are short then!

PHASE 2 -- grasping strategies
Then I got a better feel for some effective strategies. I think the outcome of a match to a large degree hangs on doing the right things on the way to the monkey. Very often the one who first gets there and starts moving the monkey home will also win (but not always). Realizing this, our matches have gotten a bit longer from preventive manouvering in the middle to (with much joy!) mess up the opponents strategy. But the games have almost never come to a standstill in the middle, which I had thought they would. Pretty soon one player gets an opening, gets through to the monkey and the game focus shifts to the race back. The action cards very often break the tie here.

On maybe two occassions we've decided to implement a chess clock style "think time limit" of 10 seconds, just to loosen up a standstill-ish situation. That worked fine and was great fun in itself. I've also played two entire matches in such "turbo mode" - intense fun!

PHASE 3 -- thoughts on improvements
The rule book suggest that when playing with children (or new players) you can balance the game by different distribution of action cards. An alternative that also works is to give the child one more action point per turn. In fact, for small children it might be better to first leave out the action cards completely and focus on the basic gameplay.

I'd like a mode or version for more players. I can imagine a 4 player version using two copies of the game like this: place the two maps next to each other, monkey nest edge touching. Position crates from both games. Monkeys start in loading bays, supervisors in nests. The goal is then to move your monkey to the diagonal loading bay on the other map. (A worry is that 4 player games would be too unpredictable thereby lack the strategy element. But still I think it could be worth a try.)

I like the game box, it really stands out and fits the theme of the game well. That said, it is a bit bulky so when I bring the game somewhere I leave the box at home and use a plastic bag.

FINALLY...
The theme of the game is great and adds to the joy of playing! That's important when there are so many good games out there that compete for our time and have some similar game architecture. A quirky detail: partly influenced by the enthusiastic video tutorial on the game site we've found ourselves starting to shout "MONKEY DAAAAASH!" with the same great gusto whenever making that move! Everyone enjoys that. :D

Congrats on making a great game Ampa!

65
Bug replicated with these settings:

ALIAS:
^b (\w.*)[^\+]$
C:\aaa $$1 | dosearch +aaa $$1

SEARCH DIRECTORY:
path: C:\aaa
restrictions: -txt;url;jpg
modifier keyword: aaa

Given that then entering "b test" in FARR should match C:\aaa\test.png but not C:\aaa\test.txt . But if the user has previously launched C:\aaa\test.txt then FARR seems to ignore the set restriction and displays C:\aaa\phrase.txt among the alias matches. FARR does not include other matching .txt files (like  C:\aaa\test2.txt ) until such other files also have been launched by FARR once.

(background: the last part of the regex -- [^\+]$ -- is there to disable this alias by adding "+" to the end of the search phrase and then immediately let another alias -- ^b (\w.*)\+$  -- search the same folder but without the restrictions, using another search directory modifier. If I get this problem sorted out then that will be a very handy way to have an alias toggle between limited/full search within some folders)

66
Is there some way to switch to a more minimal/lite version of the DC forum for better viewing on mobile devices with slow bandwidth and small screen?
I though I'd seen something like that but can't find it now. I searched here for wap iphone android mobile before posting.

feature idea:
It would be useful if the page
https://www.donation...action=unreadreplies
could come in a very mobile device friendly version. Maybe even one that does not require login but instead a long url that the user can generate and keep private. Example:
https://www.donation...Kswe3Fhuh2r3ihfu3ih2
To reply to posts, goto account settings and so on would still require a login.

67
I just added icons to some om my aliases and thought of these tiny enhancements to the FARR options and helpfile. If any of them are very quick and easy to implement then they might be worth considering.

1. When dropping a file on the "Edit Group Alias" box FARR currently puts the file path on a new line.

Suggestion:
- instead put path at current cursor position
- if dropped files is .ico then instead autocopy the file to the FARR alias file directory and insert "/ICON=file.ico" at the current cursor position

2. Helpfile > Alias Launch Tricks reads: "/ICON=localfilename_from_aliasdir.ico (icon file must be in same dir as alias file)"
That is ambiguous -- it refers to FARR's alias directory but could also be interpreted as the directory of the file that a specific  alias will run when executed.

Suggestion: Add this to helpfile:
For example, in a default FARR install on english Windows XP the alias file dir is C:\Program files\FindAndRunRobot\AliasGroups\MyCustom

3. on the "Edit Group Alias" screen, make the term "help" into a link that runs:
hh.exe "%PROGRAMFILES%\FindAndRunRobot\FindAndRunRobot.chm::/alias_tricks.htm"

68
Both FARR and the Fscript javascript plugin system has come a long way. Many new commands and options have been added. It may be hard to get an overview of it all.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to run some sort of "FARR plugin school" or a tutorial that catches up and gives a systematic overview of the new features? Or maybe a wiki where such a tutorial can grow? I'm myself not very good at plugin making but I get the feeling that I could probably do some more and better stuff if I just had a better grasp of all the new cool features and how the various parts fit together so to speak.

69
I'm soon upgrading my XP 32bit system with two new 2GB sticks of RAM. Together with my two previous 1GB sticks I'll then have a total of 6GB.
But from what I've read XP can only make use of a bit above 3GB for regular RAM for some complex reasons.

So I'm looking into the possibilities of using the leftover memory as a RAM-disk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM_disk

I'd like to brainstorm a bit about that.  :) Things I'd like to get feedback on:

1. This RAM-disk program claims to use the memory XP can't use as regular memory for a RAM-disk:
"RamDisk Plus 9 has a most unique feature. Our patent pending technology can access memory beyond the limitation imposed by a Windows 32-bit operating system! In other words, RamDisk Plus 9 can use "unmanaged" Windows' memory e.g. above 4GB. It can also use the stubbornly inaccessable memory between 3.2GB and 4GB."
http://www.superspee.../desktop/ramdisk.php 

Has anyone tried that? Does it work well? Any drawbacks? (Note: even if there are great problems with that I'm still interested in the RAM-disk questions below -- 3GB is still a lot of memory for many cases so I could still test to devote a bit of that for a RAM-disk)

(The Ramdisk Plus software was brought up in this older thread that didn't catch on https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=10979.0 )

2. putting the XP page file on a RAM-disk: one (possible) benefit would be non-recoverability. Are there also noticeable speed benefits?

3. putting the cache of Firefox or other programs on a RAM-disk: speed benefits?

4. putting all of Firefox on a RAM-disk (via a script that copies Portable Firefox to the RAM-disk at each system start): would I get additional speed benefits, especially when starting Firefox?

5. Downloading: I sometimes use Flashget Classic to grab video streams. With many parallell streams Flashget easily freezes and seems to strain the harddrive. Would I avoid those problems by saving the downloads (and perhaps also Flashget cache or all of Flashget) to the RAM-disk and then only later, once all parts are save, move the saved file to a harddrive?

6. Are there any other good RAM-disk applications for XP 32bit (especially freeware/FOSS version that are actively developed)?

another partly related older thread:
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=10348.0

70
Finished Programs / FastShutdown
« on: April 26, 2009, 12:17 PM »
;-- Fast Shutdown -- by Nod5
;-- v090426
;-- does a onestep windows shutdown unless there are scheduled tasks later the same day
;-- default hotkeys: (middle click on Start button) OR (Right Shift + Escape)
fast.png
A quick script for Win XP that I needed myself. ahk & exe in attached zip. I'll package it nicer later.

b48b1bb31a479ac4a3467f5f9297c77f *FastShutdown.ahk
e388781005816e81f7e4d92086a9d2e6 *FastShutdown.exe

;-- Fast Shutdown -- by Nod5
;-- v090426
;-- does a onestep windows shutdown unless there are scheduled tasks later the same day
;-- default hotkeys: (middle click on Start button) OR (Right Shift + Escape)

#singleinstance, force
~Mbutton::

MouseGetPos,,,xxid, xxcontr
WinGetClass, xxstart, ahk_id %xxid%
if xxstart = Shell_TrayWnd ;-- if mouse over start button
 if xxcontr = Button1
   goto fastshutdown
return

RShift & Esc::
fastshutdown:
xout =
xvar =
x = %A_Temp%\%A_now%.txt
RunWait %comspec% /c "schtasks > "%x%"",,Hide
FileRead, xvar, %x%
FileDelete, %x%
Loop, Parse, xvar, `n, `r
{
if A_LoopField contains %A_YYYY%-%A_MM%-%A_DD%
 xout = %xout%`n%A_Loopfield%
}
if xout !=
{
MsgBox, 1, Fast Shutdown, %xout%`n`nReally shutdown?
IfMsgBox, OK
 Shutdown, 1
}
else
{
MsgBox, 1, Fast Shutdown, Shutdown in 5 seconds...,5
IfMsgBox, OK
 Shutdown, 1
IfMsgbox, Timeout
 Shutdown, 1
}
return

71
General Software Discussion / Against ellipsis ... (dot dot dot)
« on: April 04, 2009, 04:18 AM »
In graphical user interfaces (GUIs) an ellipsis is the three dots ( ... ) inserted when a filename, webpage title or other information item is too long to fit in a tab, windows title bar or other area of the screen. The ellipsis dots signals that there's more information available. That can be useful. But the ellipsis are almost always redundant. They're most often a bad waste of screen space. Remove them and make the world a better and more efficient place!  8)

The basic problem is that ellipsis are used where other objects already show users that long information is cut off. The ellipsis is redundant! Some examples:

Firefox 3:
ff.png
Each tab is separated by a few pixels with another color. So even without ellipsis users would still easily separate the tab texts and would still know when a tab title is cut off. "SourceForg" would be more helpful than "SourceF..."

Internet Explorer 7: the exact same problem as in Firefox
ie.png

Windows Explorer: the vertical line separating the columns and the difference in column background color (grey/white) already tells that information may be cut off.
expl.png

In these and other cases the ellipsis just hides three letters that could have displayed useful information without adding anything of value. That is bad GUI design! Since ellipsis remove valuable information they should be used ONLY when there's no better (less screen space wasting) way to tell the users that information cut offs may take place i.e. almost never.

Now let's zoom out. Browser tabs is probably one of the most read information area in the world. Every day billions of tabs are opened, read and clicked. Then it is EXTREMELY WASTEFUL to not optimize them by removing all screen space wasting parts. In single cases the problem might seem very small. Ok, now and then a tab ellipsis makes it hard for a users to see which tab is which. So what? The user just clicks the tab to check it. It only takes half a second! Sure. But now scale that up globally to 1 billion instances. That's 17361 8 hour work days wasted! So if my suspicion that the ellipsis wastes some time for most users is correct then the problem adds up to great global inefficiency.

Can we fix this? For end users the ellipsis are sometimes hard or impossible to disable. I have found no way to do it in IE or Windows Explorer. Here's a 2/3 solution for Firefox:

1. enter "about:config" in the Firefox adress field
2. then filter for "ellipsis"
3. doubleclick "intl.ellipsis", in the popup box remove "..." and enter " " (a space).
4. restart Firefox
about.png

But a complete and global fix can only come at the developer level. The Firefox devs should disable ellipsis by default.

The FF devs should also consider space optimizing the tabs and GUI in other ways too. In the meantime users can do that themselves.
1. Disable unused toolbars (remove unneeded buttons and combine them on a single toolbar).
2. use small icons
3. Install the add-on Stylish https://addons.mozil...S/firefox/addon/2108 and use the styles below (with slight tweaking) from http://userstyles.org/ to compact the toolbars, tabs and allows more information in each tab.

before & after:
bef_aft.png

I've combined all the used userstyles into one pack:
compact toolbars, buttons, tabs [multi style pack]
http://userstyles.org/styles/16643

List of included styles (all cred goes to the original scripters!):

by barbiegirl:
TABS: Reveal More Text When Click Icon
http://userstyles.org/styles/15433

Tabs: Move Text Closer To Icon and Closebutton X
http://userstyles.org/styles/16529

TABS: More Text Space - Move Icon to Far Left
http://userstyles.org/styles/14967

TABS: More Text Space - Move CloseButton X Right
http://userstyles.org/styles/14960
--------
by izzy:

FF3 Toolbar Resize
http://userstyles.org/styles/9220
--------
by ben:

Custom Tab Bar Height on Firefox 3
http://userstyles.org/styles/7869

Do you know of more ways to disable unneeded ellipses? Post a comment and I'll update this post with that info. To be continued...   :D

72
I request a GIMP script that will batch split and then rotate TIFF images.

I will make a bunch of scans as TIFF images (two booklet sized pages on each image) that I want transformed like this:
1. split in half, 2. rotated , 3. make one pdf of all the rotated, single page image files

I'm only looking for help with step 1 & 2 here.

I've briefly looked into learning GIMP scripting myself (might come in handy) but chances are someone here already knows scripting for GIMP and can kickstart me on this.   :tellme:

edit: I should add that I my input for this will be one TIFF containing multiple images (not multiple separate TIFF files with one image in each)

73
Find And Run Robot / #filecontents FILEPATH -- how does it work?
« on: March 02, 2009, 05:14 PM »
the new FARR 2.48.01 has added this:

#filecontents FILEPATH (can use %ALIASDIR%), to have the contents of the file dumped into the alias results when searching.

My first though that the FILEPATH should point to a textfile (e.g. C:\test\test.txt ) that includes paths to other files. Each such included path is then listed as a result in FARR when the alias runs. But that did not work when I tested it. So what exactly does it do?  :tellme: An example of an exported alias using this would be useful here.

74
Finished Programs / AudioBookSleep
« on: February 26, 2009, 03:57 PM »
Here is a small autohotkey program that I made because I needed it. I'll package it up more nicely some other time. Instead of a timer it would of course be cooler with some brain-sensor hardware device so that shutdown can occur right after you fall asleep  8). But this works pretty well too  :). Any suggestions on improving it? (Feel free to add code.)

;-- AudioBookSleep v090226
;-- by Nod5
;-- description: the program waits X minutes, then saves a screenshot of the VLC window to the desktop, then shuts down the computer
;-- The VLC screenshot shows the filename and time just before shutdown and makes it easier to next time continue from where you dozed off.
;--
;-- use case: you listen to audiobooks at night but often fall asleep.
;-- You then awake hours later (at 3:23 AM) from the laptop light and audiobook sound.
;-- You dislike having to go up and turn it off manually. And now you're unsure at what point in the book you fell asleep.
;-- Even worse, when you woke up you heard some part from latter chapters that gives away the plot!
;-- You wish for some automatic screenshot-then-shutdown timer.
;-- So you start to use AudioBookSleep
;--
;-- note: for screencaps you need minicap.exe by Mouser -- https://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/MiniCap/

InputBox, xvar, sleep timer, Set time in minutes until computer shutdown, ,350,150,,,,,30
if errorlevel = 1
 exitapp
if errorlevel = 2
 exitapp

ifexist %A_ProgramFiles%\minicap\minicap.exe
 xpath = %A_ProgramFiles%\minicap\minicap.exe
else ifexist %A_scriptdir%\minicap.exe
  xpath = %A_ProgramFiles%\minicap\minicap.exe

if xvar != test
{
if xvar is not integer
 exitapp
xvar := xvar * 60000
sleep, %xvar%
}

IfWinExist, ahk_class QWidget ;-- screencap VLC window
{
WinActivate, ahk_class QWidget
WinWaitActive, ahk_class QWidget
sleep 500
if xpath !=
 run %A_ProgramFiles%\minicap\minicap.exe -captureactivewin -save "%A_Desktop%\sleep.jpg" -exit
}
if xvar != test
 Shutdown, 9

edit: corrected the default time in the code to 30 minutes

75
Find And Run Robot / [idea] hotkey toggles alias "lock"
« on: February 07, 2009, 01:18 PM »
the idea: For some (but not most) searches it would be good if FARR could "lock" an alias and go into "don't hide after executing a match"-mode.

Example: I create the alias "mp3" to search only some music folders so that "mp3 artistname" returns matches from just those folders. After typing "mp3" I press a hotkey and FARR toggles to alias lock mode. Executing a match or pressing Esc in that mode only clears the text after "mp3 " from the input box and does not minimize FARR. After some more searches I press the hotkey to toggle back to standard mode.

That would be very useful when doing a number of consecutive searches using one and the same alias. For example, when using FARR to find different music tracks to add to a playlist, searching for different images to copy, and so on.

The lock mode could be indicated by changing input box background color. Or by changing the alias font color. Toggling back returns the colors to normal.

Typing "mp3" a few times extra is no big problem of course. But the suggested mode would speed things up even more. Does anyone else think this would be useful?

(extra idea: custom launch actions (i.e. custom action for FARR to do when pressing Enter or doubleclicking a match) has been discussed before. If we had that then it would be similarly useful if temporary custom launch actions could also be toggled like that. Example: when again search for tracks to add to a playlist, I somehow toggle to choose among some (preconfigured) actions ("add item to playlist in player X", "copy to external device F:\" and so on). Then just like the folder restricting alias this launch mode stays active until toggled off.)

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