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3201

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 09:45 AM »

i probably just need to try using the current version for a bit longer - then it probably won't have the side effects i mention.

i can drag the window when it's not over the title bar if i let the window auto resize/move and i don't release the left mouse button - so, really, the window is jumping to fit the grid zone but my mouse cursor is remaining in the same place on screen - if i keep the left mouse button down it gives the appearance that i'm dragging the window without using the title bar. it's not a problem.

the two button thing isn't worth the hassle nor is the moving windows without clicking on the titlebar.

the auto size to zone is all i wanted to i'm happy with how things are - i just need to use it a while longer to see if any other problems pop up.

thanks for the work so far.

3202

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 09:20 AM »

oh, and thanks for the link, kimmchii.

i think 'gridmove' is the better program, though.

3203

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 09:11 AM »

i like the way the latest version is going but there still is the problem of accidental clicks...

the scenario is like this: you move the window within a trigger zone, then you decide to move it a little bit but 'gridmove' thinks you want to auto resize the window (again).

can we have a more intelligent mechanism for detecting the 'trigger' click - maybe a longer duration that the left mouse button has to be held down or something like that without it moving at the same time.

i've also noticed a side effect where the window can be dragged even when the cursor is not over the title bar - this has been done in other programs several times before but maybe it would be nice to incorporate it into gridmove - only if it's a simple thing to do and it didn't create further problems - maybe it could work if both mouse buttons were held down at the same time?

3204

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 08:54 AM »

i don't seem to be able to download the new 'alfa2' version????

3205

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 08:19 AM »

my initial thoughts on 'gridmove' are that it work very well - the 'click again' to resize the window is a clever idea and it is simple enough for it to be 'painless' to do.

i wouldn't really go for the 'hit space bar' to resize as was trying to stay away from using the keyboard completely - maybe i'm the only person like this but sometimes i really find moving my left arm a real chore just to press one key for something.

but, of course, it would be great to offer keyboard functions within the program that could be enabled or disabled by the user.

the only problem i see at the moment with the 'click again' to resize function is that an accidental 'click again' would be easy to do. i did it a couple of times whilst testing so maybe it would be nice to offer the user how they would like the 'trigger' to work, i.e. they could have a 'second left click' or a 'single right click' or a 'hit space bar' or whatever to initiate the auto resize process.

great work so far, jgpaiva - i think you are heading in the right direction with the 'click again' feature - or something equally unobtrusive.

more on the 'click again' feature:
i've just tried it a few more times and it appears to me that the problem with all the solutions that have been offered so far all suffer from the same problem, i.e ZONES.

because the trigger zones are so large it's easy to trigger them off even though you may only be moving a window to a different location on the screen without wanting it to auto resize. gridvista, zonesize and now gridmove have all resized a window when i didn't really want it to.

maybe the 'right click' method would help resolve this with gridmove but i'm wondering would things become confused if you were to move a window then right click to open the context menu and then the auto resize would be triggered by accident - all because the window falls within one of the large trigger zones.

3206

Living Room / Re: What's your significant other's favorite key on the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 05:27 AM »

i like 'alt gr' because no one uses it.

3207

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is so much software cracked?

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 04:35 AM »

The trouble is there really isn't an open source equivalent of Photoshop. The Gimp can do some of it but it isn't really in the same league at all and not really aimed at photographic processing. I suppose the cheaper solution for students is to get Photoshop Elements which does most of what Photoshop does these days (unless they need to learn about prepress, CMYK etc).

-Carol Haynes (May 30, 2006, 04:17 AM)

i didn't realise the gimp was that bad - or do you just mean it's okay, say, it's like an older version of photoshop from years ago or does it really suck when photo editing.

i would have thought anything with layers/alpha transparency and levels/curves and a few colour adjustments would be pretty good. isn't it just a case of if you use the gimp it might take a bit longer than to acheive the same result within photoshop?

3208

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 04:28 AM »

i'm happy to go with your right click method, jgpaiva.

all i really wanted was a quick way of resizing a window to fit either on the left half or the right half of the screen without having to use keyboard shortcuts or several mouse clicks - the drag to screen edge seemed like a simple 'flowing' method of creating a trigger.

if you could create the zones and the 'right click' to trigger window resize/position script, without any annoying slow window refreshing that gridvista and zonesize appear to suffer from, then i think it will be a great job.

3209

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 03:28 AM »

to clarify things a bit further, here are the 'typical' zone layout that the windows would auto resize to after the 'trigger' has been activated...

3210

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 02:41 AM »

skrommel's 'zonesize' is a great improvement upon 'gridvista' - you can define you own zone with it.

BUT, it's still not what i was hoping for - sorry to be a pain.

i've included a screen grab to try and clarify what i meant.

the 'trigger zones' are at the edge of the screen - nothing happens unless the mouse cursor and a window title bar are within one of the 'trigger zones' (this would also mean that the left mouse button is being held down on the title bar - because it has just been dragged to the side of the screen).

the 'trigger zones' would only have to be 1 pixel wide down the edge of the screen and would hopefully be definable so that various 'trigger zones' could be set up around the edges of the screen.

this edge based 'trigger zone' method appears to be more of a powerful idea to me as you would only 'trigger' the auto size function to work when all the criteria of was met, i.e you wouldn't accidentally trigger an auto size window function unless you really wanted it - this is unlike the gridvista/zonesize methods that assume you want a window to auto resize as soon as it is dragged within a large zone area somewhere on your screen - which you most often will not want if you are simply moving windows around the place.

(the edge trigger zone method could of course be extended to 'trigger' off macros as already seen in other programs.)

would it be 'simple' to modify the 'zonesize' script?

i wouldn't know where to start but if either you, skrommel, or jgpaiva could do it i'd be very grateful.

3211

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 01:13 AM »

that looks great, thank you very much skrommel.

will download and try now.

3212

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is so much software cracked?

« Last post by nudone on May 30, 2006, 01:09 AM »

My perspective on this is coloured by being a teacher. At the school I'm at, we use ms office, photoshop, snagit etc etc - all our software is fairly expensive (it is all licensed and legit). So, all our students use it and hence want it themselves at home, either for compatibility reasons or because it might be "top of the line" software. So what are they to do - they are almost all 18-24, migrant, and poor as in living on their own, maybe with a child and on govt support. A big temptation to resist and I'd say its the school's fault.
My suggestion is for schools to use open source/freeware alternatives to help students avoid the lure of pirated software. If "industry standard" software is needed for a vocational course, so be it, else don't use it and students would then have compatabilty as an incentive to use open source / freeware at home, as well as having their consciousness raised on this issue.
I'm sure this is the same in schools everywhere in principal.

I'm not the network manager and so haven't any responsibility for it at my school - Carol might have a different perspective to me.

-tsaint (May 29, 2006, 09:30 PM)

i think that is a very good point.

outside of your situation, it's kind of sad that those who go for the pirated software do so without even considering the free open source alternatives - probably because they don't know they exist (and maybe because of the snobbery of not wanting to use something that was genuinely free).

just think of the paradigm shift if every pirated version of photoshop was replaced by the gimp and every pirated version of ms office was replaced by open office - and, what the heck, every dodgy copy of windows xp was replaced by something like ubuntu.

what a beautiful world it would be...

3213

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is so much software cracked?

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 10:07 AM »

yes, you are right about cubase taking more than a few months to crack - i had forgotten.

we also have to include that the software companies know full well that their product is cracked and available to download and they choose not to put extra protection into the next release of the software. microsoft, after all, hasn't shut down all the illegal copies of windows xp - you can simply opt out of it nagging you to buy a valid copy with the new genuine advantage thingy that now pops up.

so it seems there's a very fine balancing act going on and there doesn't appear to be any science about setting the price for software. set it high and get the money from the legit users that can afford it but accept that there will be thousands of cracked versions floating around or set the price low and hope that almost everyone user will pay up.

maybe it's only competition with other software companies that make a similar product that can change the prices. i can't remember the reason now but there were some massive (like thousands of dollars) price drops with maya and 3d max a while ago when they were competing on price (i might have it mixed up with who was involved but it was 3d design software anyway).

the most appealing pricing structure to me would be - if you use the software within a business/commercial/whatever environment or for earning money yourself then it's only fair to pay up for the full (expensive) cost of the software. a domestic 'home' version ought to be available at a reduced price.

i'm not really contributing to this thread with the stuff i'm saying so i'll try and offer something of worth...

look at the DonationCoder pricing model.

maybe if the companies that produce expensive software offered a donation type payment scheme then maybe the people that use cracked/pirated software would feel a little more generous and send some money their way. the commercial sector could still pay the licensing fees or higher prices and then everyone else could choose to pay what they thought the software was worth.

would it work, is that how naive i am? isn't this all a bit more to do with how people respond to the way they are treated? i'm about to go off on a tangent and start saying things like 'the world is full of thieving scumbags that only need to be shown they can be trusted and everyone will live happily ever after' - so, i'll shut up.

3214

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is so much software cracked?

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 09:13 AM »

thanks for that, f0dder, looks like a good introduction - downloading the torrents now.

i'm not sure what i think about cracking and copy protection and the price of software. it all seems a bit messed up to me.

eg. steinberg went to great lengths to create an uncrackable version of cubase sx - using a usb dongle - did it stop the program being cracked? no, it just made it more of a challenge - and a few months after release cubase was cracked.

did steinberg sell more copies of cubase during the period that no one had cracked it - i'm guessing it probably made little difference.

so, the people that make software know their product will be cracked - the crackers know they can crack it - the people that aren't going to pay for software know they can can get a cracked version.

all i see from this is a crazy situation is that the valued customer ends up paying for a program that has to have serial numbers or crazy dongles to make the software work - all a bit of a nuisance as it doesn't stop cracking or pirating.

would dropping the price of 'expensive' software make pirating/cracking less appealing? seems the software companies think not.

is there any anology to the film industry - remember when prerecorded movie video tapes cost about £100 so everyone used to rent and copy them as it would be insane to pay that price?

then they dropped the price to about £10 to buy a prerecorded video tape - and then, of course, dvds too when they arrived. now, they must sell millions.

maybe this kind of business model can't work for the software industry as no one wants to collect and display all their paid for software titles on their bookshelves like they do with dvds. if only they could make buying and owning software sexy then the problem would be solved.

3215

Official Announcements / Re: Contest - Make a new Banner for Website

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 06:50 AM »

everything could could be scaled up a bit, of course. the world wider and therefore flatter and then all the 'beings' could be enlarged - i'll perhaps try later.

3216

Official Announcements / Re: Contest - Make a new Banner for Website

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 06:36 AM »

i've taken out the stroke and this appears to give a much better effect overall (in my opinion).

if it's decided that cody isn't going to stand on the world then i'll remove the stroke from the non cody version too.

the only downside for cody being in the world is that he's now so small it's going to be a bit tricky when we come to have a themed cody.

3217

Official Announcements / Re: Contest - Make a new Banner for Website

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 05:53 AM »

might be nice to see a version of topbanner_website_world_09.png  with a smaller cody at the far right, as if he was a pet
instead of the overlord.. if it's not too much trouble.

-mouser (May 29, 2006, 05:38 AM)

do you mean with cody standing on the world or at the right of the world and not standing on it?

3218

Official Announcements / Re: Contest - Make a new Banner for Website

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 05:50 AM »

its fun seeing cody in the balloons but since he will be on the right hand side of every banner it might be overkill.

-mouser (May 28, 2006, 02:15 PM)

I think this has reached an important point.
Wouldn't it be possible to have the globe with cody on the right, the sliver in the middle, and the rest of the banner on the left?
I think that would be just perfect.

-jgpaiva (May 29, 2006, 05:42 AM)

that would probably be better done with the world (or whatever) becoming part of the gif/png that cody is made out of on the current live website - this would allow it to overlay the banner underneath.

(i think.)

3219

Official Announcements / Re: Contest - Make a new Banner for Website

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 05:33 AM »

...

3220

Official Announcements / Re: Contest - Make a new Banner for Website

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 05:29 AM »

...

3221

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 05:14 AM »

i think this is the perfect project for you, jgpaiva.

with the dialogmove project you must be an expert on window moving.

there's also a util i have from years back that allowed resizing the grid (i'm trying to remember what it's called) but it didn't have the auto drag resize options i want so i never really used it. i'll try and find it.

anyway, i hope you take up the challenge, jgpaiva - cody has something nice for you after all...

3222

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 03:18 AM »

i think i prefer skrommel's 'winwarden' to gridvista - i know, i know, it hasn't got the 'drag' functions that gridvista has but i prefer the number of options it does provide.

3223

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 03:06 AM »

i've had a quick play with it but it's not really what i'm after - picky aren't i.

i'd still very much like what i described above as it would be far more versatile and powerful - it would also work smoother and be less complicated in use.

i'll keep trying gridvista as it's almost there and maybe i'll get used to it - anyone wishing to try to fulfil my original request will be rewarded of course.

3224

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on May 29, 2006, 02:47 AM »

many thanks jgpaiva and Carol.

i'll download and play with it right now...

3225

Official Announcements / Re: Contest - Make a new Banner for Website

« Last post by nudone on May 28, 2006, 04:14 PM »

hehehe looks like he is feeding the people who are his little children

-mouser (May 28, 2006, 04:12 PM)

ha ha, brilliant.