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Best Text Editor / Re: Notepad++ has Help file; hex editor plugins

« Last post by cathie28 on May 25, 2013, 10:59 AM »

???

Other than a simple statement of preference, I didn't see any downside to that review. It reinforced the original post. Mayhap I missed something, but ...?
-barney (May 25, 2013, 12:23 AM)

"???" indeed. I've no idea what is confusing. Not talking about the review for Ultraedit. The reviews for some software are ~ 8 yrs old. Eight year old reviews on actively developed software are useless & a waste of good web pages. Like keeping 8 yr old reviews for computers.

We have no hesitation recommending UltraEdit as the Best Text Editor available today.

In which decade? It's also $60 U.S.

I'm sure many of the softwares barely mentioned are far more advanced now & probably deserve more than a few lines.
Some are probably as good as current Notepad++ in their own right. Those aren't reviews. They're bare bones info - like off a d/l site.

I'm sure info on other editors mentioned is also incorrect. Here are a few errors in the review on Notepad++:

Column mode: ~~No.~~ Yes
Hex mode: ~~No.~~ Yes
User Tools: n/a What user tools would those be? There are many plugin tools.
~~No help file available.~~ Excellent Help File & other documentation; Active Forum

If the site isn't getting some compensation (even for clicked links), then devoting 3 + pages to Ultraedit is... odd.
Compare to the 10 lines for Notepad++ (& others), making them sound like they're not in the same universe w/ Ultraedit. NPP, with quality plugins (pick what YOU need) is one of the most advanced & certainly most popular editors today. And it's FREE, open source. The review info for it & some others is now just plain wrong. Some possibly wrong at the time of review. Avg readers generally aren't going to come from that page to slog through comments here.

Best Text Editor / Re: Notepad++ has Help file; hex editor plugins

« Last post by cathie28 on May 24, 2013, 05:09 PM »

Holy antique reviews, Batman!

How long are you going to leave the old, outdated reviews for many of the text editor software up, before updating them? I'm sure Ultraedit is quite good & you probably make $ for promoting it - that's fine.

But you gloss over many of them, that have improved greatly since you reviewed them. Notepad++ is now one of the most widely respected editors. Especially if you consider all the plugins. You gloss over it (& some others) like they were slightly above Notepad.

If you're not going to be fair & up to date on the reviews, just take them down & only advertise Ultraedit .

Screenshot Captor / Re: What controls tool bar background color

« Last post by cathie28 on May 22, 2013, 02:22 PM »

that's obviously a difference between W-7 & Vista. If under Vista Basic theme, I change active title bar color & certain other ones, then switch to using Aero, it switches the colors I'd previously set (for some objects) back to Vista defaults - even though Aero isn't USING those colors. Huh? Regardless, I didn't find any color settings in Aero that affected the SC toolbars. Changing certain screen elements - yes, but not toolbars.

Yes, active title bar (sort of) changes color in Aero, depending on the "base color family" chosen for Aero. But in Vista, the color you select & actual color for active title bars of apps are at best only "distantly in the same color hue."

Screenshot Captor / Re: What controls tool bar background color

« Last post by cathie28 on May 22, 2013, 11:45 AM »

Thanks mouser. Maybe now I'll be able to keep some food down, while you're investigating.

cmpm - why is your toolbar background in W-7 the same as mine in Vista, but tomos' is different? Tomos - did you change something in Windows that caused your toolbar to be off white / light gray?

Please look back at my shot of entire toolbars - at the icons that are much closer to background color. Your shot contains many icons that have more contrast. Look at the screen below.

You may also be much younger and / or have better eyes. Even w/ corrective lenses, most people past 40 gradually start to lose ability to quickly focus when switching from near to far, or switching from one picture to another (main SC screen to toolbars; back & forth dozens & dozens of times).

If others aren't there yet or don't wear glasses, they'll understand one day. I think dark toolbars & dark icons (like browser themes) are mostly for younger users. The duller and / or gray icons could also use some color, like the others. It's not hard to recolor an icon w/ right tools - I could do it for mouser.

To me, when glancing from main work space over to toolbars, there's little contrast between some icons & background - like screen below. I often have to "look" for them.

Screenshot Captor / Re: What controls tool bar background color

« Last post by cathie28 on May 21, 2013, 12:17 PM »

Mouser - still waiting to hear where in Vista Basic or Aero themes, SC gets the dark blue - gray for tool bars background. Please tell me how to hack / skin it; make it selectable from prefs; change it to something that doesn't almost hide several icons. I can't eat or sleep. Spouse is threatening to leave if it's not changed.

tomos - There's no drama (light hearted sarcasm) here & cmpm just missed a detail in reading the posts, like we all have.

Again - AFAICT - there are no colors used or displayed, in my setup of Vista Basic theme (or Aero) that match the color used for SC tool bars background.
ONLY using Windows Classic OR - Windows Standard Themes (nothing to do w/ Vista styles) allows selecting EXACT colors used in Active / Inactive title bar. AND changing "3D Objects" color, that changes the SC tool bars color.

However, Windows Classic & Standard themes are VERY plain & old fashioned looking.

* Users shouldn't be forced to use very old style, plain themes under Vista, to change dark SC tool bars color.
* I've not seen ANY other apps use such dark toolbar color, in ANY theme under Vista. In Vista Basic or Aero themes, virtually all other apps' tool bars display a light gray or MUCH lighter blue gray (sometimes a gradient) - if not customizable.

* Some free, open source some apps' UI (toolbar etc.) use Vista Basic or Aero colors; Keepass Password Safe uses the color set for 3D Objects for its menu. So it's possible to use other colors set in Vista Appearance & Settings for UI objects.

Testing of changing themes & overall theme color in Aero (orange, red, default, etc) AND Vista BASIC does NOT change SC's tool bars color (see screen shot).

Example: BleachBit toolbar is about as dark as any apps get (besides SC):

Screenshot Captor / Re: What controls tool bar background color

« Last post by cathie28 on May 20, 2013, 07:40 PM »

Calling Dr. Mouser - where does SSC get the color for the Top & side tool bar background, in Vista (blue gray, shown in my screen shot)? Can it be changed?

tomos - Thanks. Don't make me come over there.

Was just stating there's a difference in systems; thanks for suggestion, but the color for "window" or "window color" don't seem to do the same thing in Vista & W-7.
There's a setting FOR "window" in Vista, that affects some apps & most Windows backgrounds, but doesn't affect the tool bar in any app, that I can see.

I don't see the color SSC uses for toolbars, anywhere else in Windows (that I can tell). AFAIK, no Vista native apps or 3rd party apps use that dark of a blue - gray for tool bars. Even Notepad, Wordpad, etc., use much lighter colors for tool bars & menu bars - w/ my current settings.

Screenshot Captor / Re: Request: Selected Region and Fixed Region Outline Line Style

« Last post by cathie28 on May 20, 2013, 02:51 PM »

Gotcha. They could be a bit darker / more visible, for my taste. I imagine they're red, not black because of so many dark backgrounds on web pages, etc., vs almost no red backgrounds. I think mouser should drop everything & program the capture image outline color to automatically change to the color opposite (or a strong contrast) to the predominant image color being captured.

Screenshot Captor / Re: What controls tool bar background color

« Last post by cathie28 on May 20, 2013, 02:41 PM »

Thanks. You have Windows 7 - not Vista.

In Vista, there is a style of theme called Aero (as you mentioned), another called Vista Basic - which may impose that blue gray on toolbars of apps that use Windows colors.
Switching to Windows Classic theme (which appears to be what mouser used, in another post), causes SSC toolbars to turn brown. But using Aero vs Vista Basic doesn't change SSC toolbar colors. Mouser probably knows where it gets the top & side toolbar color, depending on Windows version.

That doesn't explain what all those other color selections in SSC prefs >"More Interface Options" are (many that don't seem to do anything, except possibly SHOW you what's used), but don't have options to change colors.

The dark blue - gray is too close to several icons. Before I get some Vista power tweaking toy (only to find I can't change toolbar color in SSC), I'd kinda like to know where it gets its colors. Internally, or from Vista. If Vista, which color for which object does it use for the toolbars, or if it can / can not be tweaked w/ some Vista UI / theme tweaking utility.

Screenshot Captor / Re: Request: Selected Region and Fixed Region Outline Line Style

« Last post by cathie28 on May 20, 2013, 01:48 PM »

Somehow our colors of selection outline are different. (Unless they automatically change color to contrast w/ the image's colors). Mine is black, dashed - fairly visible & I'm not a youngster.
I'm guessing most drawing apps used dashed lines to make it obvious against backgrounds / images. (though a couple have choices for selection line style)

Screenshot Captor / Re: SSC 4.30_Few UI questions

« Last post by cathie28 on May 20, 2013, 01:38 PM »

Mixed metaphors.

"Let me chew on this," or "Let me think this over." Or, as the Beverly Hillbillies would say, "Let me ponder this a spell."

Screenshot Captor / What controls tool bar background color

« Last post by cathie28 on May 20, 2013, 01:24 PM »

In the attached screen of SSC 4.3 in Vista using a Vista Basic Theme w/ modified colors, SSC's tool bars are pretty dark blue gray, making it fairly hard to see some icons that are similar color. What controls the color of the top & side tool bar background color? There aren't any editable choices in SSC for this color, that I see. There aren't any USER SET colors in Vista's Appearance & Settings, close to this color, it it's getting the color from Windows.

In Preferences >More Interface Options, the 1st box (on left) is for canvas background. Selecting colors from that drop list (though many of the colors have names for other objects attached to them) changes SSC's main background to the color selected
.
There's a 2nd box to R of it that doesn't say what it's for & I can't see it has an effect on anything. in the 2nd box's list, there are objects like clMenu & clMenuBar w/ colors assigned to them, but I see no way to change colors for those items. Also a "Custom" option in the 2nd box's drop list. I see no effect from changes there, either.

Screenshot Captor / Re: SSC 4.30_Few UI questions

« Last post by cathie28 on May 20, 2013, 11:55 AM »

No suggestions on changing the font used to display total image size & selected size larger or darker?

Is that controlled by a user setting in Windows (Vista), by SSC or controlled by Vista but not editable by users? My SSC numerals don't look the same as mouser's screen.
My SSC image size numerals don't look the same as other screen capture apps'.

The 1st screen in Reply 4 show the image size numerals are very thin & not easy to read.
Perhaps those other apps specify their own fonts & SSC uses fonts set somewhere ? in Vista's Appearance & Settings?

Screenshot Captor / Re: Preferences UI accept / apply button naming & function

« Last post by cathie28 on May 20, 2013, 10:52 AM »

EDIT: Note that in working tools, like resize canvas, you make changes & there's a Preview button & an OK button to make changes permanent (which is also called Apply in many apps). That probably sums up the inconsistency in SSC button names, depending on which screen or menu you're in. I didn't realize that this topic would be controversial in the least or have much debate about unconventional button naming in Preferences.
End of Edit.

cmpm - you're correct, in that "previews" of changes shouldn't be "final" or gray out buttons. It's a moot point, as mouser doesn't want to change it. That's OK - it's his time involved to make changes & maintain it.

Strictly talking points, my OP was about the button naming vs function - compared to most professional apps' convention. For most apps w/ such buttons, Apply means the final step in saving changes. Often, they can be undone / reverted, by hitting Cancel - before you leave the screen.

In this context, Apply & Accept generally mean the same thing to the avg person, but I can't recall seeing Accept used to save all changes vs Apply or Save.

If buttons just show what the changes look like (I have no idea what all options do that in SSC), that's usually named Preview or View Changes, not Apply.

Some high lighting or pop up (even momentarily), could easily be added to the final Accept / Apply button - or not, once clicked to show it'd actually been clicked.
That wouldn't require tracking events in prefs. But clarity of buttons' function (naming) is more important.

Screenshot Captor / Re: Preferences UI accept / apply button naming & function

« Last post by cathie28 on May 18, 2013, 05:48 PM »

Still, after applying changes in most apps, convention is to gray them after applying changes.

>>yes, that would be better -- i just don't track changes well enough to do that for the SC options.

I don't understand what that means. "I don't track changes well enough..." Does that mean you don't think you'd change the apply button to gray out after clicking?
If it means that SSC doesn't track changes, any change made in prefs would light up "Apply" & clicking it would gray it out. Maybe you're saying SSC has no way to check if changes have been made?

As far as HOW to do it, there'd be 1000's of examples, because that's the way it's almost always done. It's not a big issue, though.

I didn't know it would show you a "preview" of some changes. In apps w/ that ability, they name that the Preview button. Then have another called Save (settings), or Apply. There may / may not be another button - OK (which closes the screen) or just Close.

Apps that deviate much from standard convention of controlling UIs are confusing to me. I've seen apps / addons that have NO buttons to save, apply, close, OK - nothing. Just make changes, exit & hope for the best.

Screenshot Captor / Re: Preferences UI accept / apply button naming & function

« Last post by cathie28 on May 17, 2013, 07:30 PM »

OK - thanks. Still, after applying changes in most apps, convention is to gray them after applying changes.

Not a big fan of making / naming things differently than everyone else, just to be different.

Mouser - you march to the beat of a different drummer, which is often needed for innovation. I can identify.

Screenshot Captor / Re: Can Vista app crash pop ups be scrolling captured correctly?

« Last post by cathie28 on May 17, 2013, 01:31 PM »

OK, the right steps proved to be the simplest & best results.

On this particular type screen to scroll capture, I only needed to select it (red outline, then R control).
Then click Test Window & Guess Settings.
Then Begin Scrolling / Capture
After it did its thing, then click Guess Margins & then Guess Overlaps Given Margins (should probably be a comma after, "Guess Overlaps, Given Margins." Or a dash).

After its initial capture but before clicking any guessing buttons, it showed many repeated pages, that had duplicate info (just for those not familiar w/ it). Clicking Guess Margins & then Guess Overlap took care of it.

SSC changes some options in scrolling capture UI, that it thinks appropriate, based on the guessing run. Some weren't default - which is better (if it works) than me trying to guess which settings will work best.

Screenshot Captor / Re: Can Vista app crash pop ups be scrolling captured correctly?

« Last post by cathie28 on May 17, 2013, 12:59 PM »

Thanks - I figured that much. If there's no quick answer - "for that type screen, here's the options you need to select," then I'll have to study some tutorials more.

I was able to get it to piece together only 2 screen by selecting "user will scroll manually." BUT... using that method results in a LOT of repeated screens: "scroll up / down 1 page / line, then click OK."

I'd scroll up to top of the very short screen (or it was already at the top), click OK, but the same message popped up repeatedly. I got that method to work ONCE, but on several other tries, the SSC msgs to scroll up / down & click OK kept popping up. It has a "Tip" that says, "If you can't scroll that much, just hit OK at end." End of what?

When I clicked OK on those msg screens after scrolling the window down, it just popped up another. Often w/ same instructions, but sometimes different. Seemed like a loop. By the manual scrolling method, the numerous & persistent pop ups make it impossible to get consistent results. For such a short window, that has no horizontal scrolling, seems like it should only ask once to scroll down once, then click OK - & that'd be the end of it. Not the case, at all.

Tried several other methods - different options in scrolling capture. All resulted in same extreme # of repeated duplicate messages about scrolling, but following the prompts had very poor results. Seemed the prgm couldn't sense that I'd (or it, depending on selections) already scrolled to the bottom & had clicked OK. Process was complicated - because of multiple pop up screens, to capture a screen that would take up < 1/3 of an 8.5 x 11 sheet if printed. Results for this particular screen capture were poor for everything I tried. Even if I got it to work once using specific options, couldn't repeat the results, because on next attempt, using same options, the "scroll nnn & hit OK" screens just wouldn't stop coming.

Screenshot Captor / Preferences UI accept / apply button naming & function

« Last post by cathie28 on May 17, 2013, 11:50 AM »

Question & slight issue w/ function of the preferences UI accept & apply buttons.
1st, aren't apply & accept synonyms? I believe so. Confusing. Shouldn't they be Apply (the changes) & OK (to close the UI)?

Also, when make a change & click Apply, the Apply button is still focused & isn't grayed out after applying (it should be grayed out). Can't tell for sure if you correctly hit the Apply button or if it accepted changes.
Almost any app grays out the Apply button once clicked & then immediately moves the focus to the OK button, so can close the screen by just hitting Enter - if wish to exit right away. Otherwise, can continue making other changes.

Screenshot Captor / Can Vista app crash pop ups be scrolling captured correctly?

« Last post by cathie28 on May 17, 2013, 11:35 AM »

I've used several SSC versions & now latest 4.03 portable, to try & capture the windows app crash pop ups. I may not have discovered the right choices in SSC's scrolling capture UI, but SSC doesn't capture these Windows pop ups the same as other windows.

It does capture all of the window (scrolls vertically & horiz.), but the best I've gotten is a stack of about 5 capture windows, where each window repeats a good bit of info from the previous one.

I end up using "Splice out strip defined by selection" to cut several screens from the middle & splicing the top & bottom. Which isn't that bad - I'm just asking if there are options to choose in the scrolling capture window so it correctly captures THIS type of window.
Thanks.

Screenshot Captor / Re: SSC 4.30 portable Preferences UI locking up_viewing or making changes

« Last post by cathie28 on May 17, 2013, 11:17 AM »

After initial problems w/ the edit preferences process being very slow to apply / accept changes, then close the UI, I couldn't repeat the problem the next day or since. Either another app (perhaps another screen shot capture prgm) was conflicting or Windows - Vista - just needed rebooting.

Since I'm using portable version, don't understand why Windows would need rebooting (if that was a factor), but .... SSC prefs changes seem to work fine & quickly now. Was no reason to run the debugging version, since it wasn't repeating the problem.

Screenshot Captor / Re: SSC 4.30_Few UI questions

« Last post by cathie28 on May 09, 2013, 02:23 PM »

I understand what you mean in reply #2. But for starters, the values shown in your screen for dimension, file size, selected dimension - look a WHOLE lot better than on my HD 1920 x 1080 monitor. Don't know why, but if it's not a function of SSC settings, choice of fonts, etc., maybe someone can help me figure it out (see attached screens).

Even on your screen, dimension font is a bit small for me (think of looking at it near very bottom of a 22 in. or > screen). Also, eyes > 40 yrs old.

Yes, it shows those values at the very bottom (in quite small font - for me). But when I'm selecting a specific part of object or selecting an exact size rectangle w/in a rectangle, I can't look at the screen / cross hairs AND the screen bottom (at values in small fonts) at the same time. I'm guessing most can't look in 2 places at once. That's probably why many apps - screen capture, PDF readers, word processors & others - offer optional rulers. It's easier to see for some tasks - especially when an "extension" of the cross hair (or cursor) clearly displays on the rulers (contrasting color, w/ a line width appropriate for the scale being used).

Whether you want to include rulers is up to you, of course. I doubt so many other apps would include them, if no one used them. I've used many apps - w/ & w/o rulers. For some things, rulers are easier.

Screens showing how the SSC dimensions look on my monitor, plus some shots of how other apps look / what they include. (Images on hosting site were resized to (max) 17 in. monitor).

Screenshot Captor / Re: Screenshot Captor - Post your SC Clipart Requests Here

« Last post by cathie28 on May 06, 2013, 10:25 AM »

Thanks for link to open clipart!

Screenshot Captor / SSC 4.30_Few UI questions

« Last post by cathie28 on May 05, 2013, 10:52 PM »

1) Are there no rulers or any kind in SSC? Lot of fancy features, but missing one of the most basic?
Be nice if position of cross hairs (or any drawing / selection tool), clearly showed on H & V scale. Already has the cross hairs - could have the current x, y coordinates / measurements displayed at top / bottom of screen (like 32 px, 25 px), and / or SELECTED size (1920 x 1080 px) - as you're dragging / selecting AND after selecting an area.

The size of selected area would continued to display & separately, the new values of x & y cross hair positions as it's moved.

Assuming it has options to display rulers in px, cm / mm, in. Pretty basic drawing, selecting, cutting tool.

2) Are sizes & weight of fonts for the object size (or selected area), displayed at the bottom, R of screen controlled by SSC or Windows? The font is VERY lightweight & the the "toolbar" it's in is very short in height. It's pretty hard to read the values on a 1920 x 1080 screen. If it's not controlled by Windows, is there any way I can change it or hack a file?

3) Is the clipart from previous versions 3.x (that didn't make it into 4.x) available in a separate d/l to add to v4.3, or do we need to copy them into the new version from the old?

Thanks.

Screenshot Captor / Re: SSC 4.30 portable Preferences UI locking up_viewing or making changes

« Last post by cathie28 on May 05, 2013, 10:43 PM »

Alright. How do you want to get it to me? I'm assuming it's not that big, so you could send it to my registered email address - if you're able to see it.

Preference screens continue to be very slow to respond - like running out of RAM (not the case) or serious cypherin' problems.

Screenshot Captor / Re: SSC 4.30 portable Preferences UI locking up_viewing or making changes

« Last post by cathie28 on May 05, 2013, 08:16 PM »

If you mean configdir_default.ini...
then this is what is in that file:

PORTABLE=TRUE
CONFIGDIR = .
// CONFIGDIR = %MYDOCUMENTS%

Course, last line is a comment. But, the locations of configdir is blank. I assume because it's portable. But that's also how previous versions of configdir_default.ini looked.

That file is located in the root folder of the prgm files.
There's also a ScreenshotCaptor.ini & a ScreenshotCaptor.ini.new - both in the root folder of the program files. The changes I've made look like they're being stored in both.
No, there's no problem w/ SSC writing to that partition.

Do you need to manually edit the config file to tell it where to save custom settings, even though the file is already in the root folder?

I'd have assumed (like most portables), it either saves the config file to the same folder / drive, etc., that the prgm files are on, as it appears to be doing here. I've never had to manually enter where to save config settings in a portable app - unless I wanted to change it from default location.

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