Recent Posts

3401

Living Room / Re: Firm pitches $2,800 64GB USB Flash disk

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2006, 08:52 AM »

i've seen a few usb memory sticks just die for no apparent reason - a couple were less than a month old and one was a corsair, so it all looks a bit dodgy to me.

3402

Living Room / Re: DIY madness ...

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2006, 08:51 AM »

Carol, i've got one of these http://shop.vendio.c...418050/?s=1144317602 sorry, can't find an uk link.

it's meant to be for a portable tv (i was going to use it to help with sculpting) but it looks similar to what the lego device is trying to do. i think it cost me about ten quid from wilcos or somewhere like that. maybe it would work unless you wanted something a bit more sophisticated???

3403

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: reduce corner area sensitivity to prevent taskbar showing

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2006, 08:43 AM »

that's great, Skrommel. nice little utility now.

i'm still encountering the same problem on my machine in that the system tray will overide the 'ontop' value of 'closefence'.

i'm wondering if this is a 'dual core' processor type problem as that's what i have and i've noticed other strange things happening on this machine - mainly with games crashing that i can't get out of but i was able to 'ctrl+alt+del' out of when on a single core machine. i admit i've no idea what i'm talking about but it's just something i've noticed between different machines.

i shall keep using 'closefence' and if i eventually spot the cause of the problem i'll report back. thanks for all your effort so far.

3404

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2006, 03:38 AM »

i know what you mean, noth(a)nk.you, and there are times when i find touching the mouse very irritating and prefer to work primarily with the keyboard. and, of course, there are times when it's necessary to use mouse and keyboard in harmony - photoshop demands it.

but i suspect that i'm not alone when i'm using the computer and my left arm seems completely redundant - keeping my left hand on the keyboard at all times just for the occassional dialog box confirmation isn't really what i'd call comfortable. okay, moving ones hand from it's resting place to the keyboard every now and again isn't such a terrible thing, but i think the point in all this is that 'small' actions can seem like 'big' annoyances when working with a computer, especially as they accumulate throughout the day.

i want things to 'flow' when i'm interacting with the windows interface. it seems to me that common gui's haven't really progressed much over the past couple of decades - i was just trying to address a little part of it that i find 'illogical'.

3405

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2006, 03:10 AM »

thanks, i look forward for the new release...

good point about the position of your hand on the mousemat and the location of the cursor after the 'jump cursor' method - that is another annoying thing about it i agree.

it may also be more 'pleasing' if 'dialogmove' knew if the cursor was already close to the dialog window that appears.

if the cursor is already within 200 pixels (or whatever distance) to the small dialog window then 'dialogmove' wouldn't do anything. i feel this would look better as there really isn't a need for such small jumps and the eye does't then need to 'spot' the position of the window 'jerking' about.

3406

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2006, 02:56 AM »

i'm wondering is this perhaps going to work better with a preset list of small dialog windows that it should operate with?

this would stop the strange shrinking window effect on the windows that suffer from this and it would also prevent other things i've just noticed - one of my winamp windows (that is quite small) jumped around when i didn't want it to.

as the main annoyance that prompted me to suggest this method was from the small system dialogs that appear throughout the day, i think a simple list could be made so that 'dialogmove' could just catch them on opening.

the list would include all the usual culprits (these are the from their title bars):

confirm file delete (after clicking empty recycle bin)
save
open
find
confirmation
end program

i'm sure there are more but i can't get any to appear at the moment as i can't think what would bring them up.

there also appear to be awkward small dialog windows that would have to be catered for. for example: when photoshop asks if you want to save a file the dialog that pops up says 'Adobe Photoshop' in its title bar and then 'save...' in the text below.

i'm going to try and get my script working again that i had done before and see if it also has the shrink window problem.

3407

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2006, 02:33 AM »

i'm about to try the new version now, jgpaiva, so i'll report back soon.

it would be very interesting to hear what brotherS thinks to all this. i've been convinced for years that this method would be a significant improvement on gui functionality and is also the most logical when you think about it - afterall, why should a dialog window always popup in the center of the screen? other windows often remember their last closed positions and now that we've moved away from 640 x 480 resolutions screens there's a lot of 'desktop' to cover.

think of it this way: if you are using a dual monitor set up, i'm sure you'd find it annoying having to 'spot' and 'click' on a dialog that popped up on the opposite monitor you were working on. even with the cursor jump method you'd still have to move your cursor a full screen back to the original monitor - that is simply a bad gui method. okay, i know many apps will open up their dialogue windows on the correct monitor the main app is running on but i've certainly used others that don't quite understand how to behave with a dual monitor arrangement. my method would cure that.

3408

General Software Discussion / Re: what kind of keyboard you use?

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2006, 02:22 AM »

that 'deck' keyboard looks and sounds cooool but for $160 that's a high price for customization. the saitek keyboard i mentioned above is very similar (if you want 'blue') and costs a fraction of the price.

3409

Official Announcements / Re: Contest - Come up with a novel idea for DonationCredits

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2006, 02:15 AM »

One thing I would like to see added to the forum is a form of "Graphics" snacks.
There are those of us who are "artistically" impaired and would like to be able to request maybe unique Icons, skins, bitmaps, jpegs etc. to use in their applications. 
Maybe provide a way to allow private graphic designs for those who want to copyright particular designs and such.

-Cpilot (April 07, 2006, 12:05 AM)

i'm not saying this is a good or a bad idea, Cpilot, but aren't there other forums that cater for this already?

3410

General Software Discussion / Re: what kind of keyboard you use?

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 12:03 PM »

up until the beginning of this year i'd been using a $5.00 type keyboard - it's been going for years and i can't say there's anything wrong with it.

now, at home, i'm using a 'Saitek Eclipse' as it appears to be highly recommended in hardware reviews. okay, it looks a bit funky but it seems like a quality item to me.

http://www.saitek.co.../uk/prod/eclipse.htm

when at work, i use the most disgusting keyboards you can imagine. it's a school, so you can guarantee that every bacteria there has ever been is smothered over all over the keyboards.

3411

Older Newsletters / Re: Newsletter for April 3, 2006 - Codename 'Happy Birthday to Us'

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 11:53 AM »

is this DC's first poem, i think it is. well done, JoTo.

3412

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: reduce corner area sensitivity to prevent taskbar showing

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 11:51 AM »

i've increased the border size to 3 pixels and turned off the transparency. this now allows me to see when 'closefence' really is ontop or not.

the strange thing is that the system taskbar does appear to keep bringing itself back to be the absolute topmost item, even whilst it is hidden (you can see a thin 2 pixel strip running along the top of the screen). i can nolonger see any kind of pattern to why it would do so???

i can accept that my system is one of the weird ones.

3413

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: reduce corner area sensitivity to prevent taskbar showing

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 09:26 AM »

i'm playing around with this but it's not really what i was after http://home.nordnet....TaskbarActivate.html

i have a new question: is it possible to stop the cursor from even reaching the top right area of the screen rather than have it jump back a few pixels after it's been recognised as being in that area?

'taskbaractivate' appears to suffer from similar problems to 'closefence' in that it won't do what it is meant to do 100% of the time.

3414

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: reduce corner area sensitivity to prevent taskbar showing

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 09:11 AM »

damn, i thought it might be too good to be true. is there any way of making a 100% working method. it sort of defeats the whole point of the thing if it doesn't work on the first attempt.

3415

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

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 09:08 AM »

i agree about the stormy clouds, etc.

3416

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: reduce corner area sensitivity to prevent taskbar showing

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 08:53 AM »

unfortunately, i've have to report back that 'closefence' doesn't appear to work 100% of the time.

sometimes it does prevent the taskbar from appearing but the pattern for when it does works seems to be this.

when a program first appears that is maximised 'closefence' doesn't do it's job until it has failed once, i.e. the taskbar still appears when moving the cursor to the top right of the screen. repeating the same cursor movement on the same window after the first 'fail' will then successfully allow 'closefence' to prevent the taskbar from appearing.

i wonder, is this just a quirk of my machine or a quirk of autohotkey?

3417

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 08:16 AM »

ignore what i said about:

PredefWinHeight:=600
PredefWinWidth:=600

that's the bit that's making my windows go funny.

3418

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

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 08:13 AM »

those are certainly more my colours, ToxMox.

3419

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 08:09 AM »

Although it's not bullet-proof (yet ), please check if this is what you're looking for:
DialogMove.ahk

-jgpaiva (April 06, 2006, 07:07 AM)

great. it's almost there. i'm getting better results with this at the moment:

PredefWinHeight:=600
PredefWinWidth:=600

it does appear to be doing a few strange things - reducing the size of some windows to just their title bars when bringing them back into focus.

the bit about preventing the dialog box jumping to off the screen edge needs to be implemented and it would be a lot better if the dialog box centered itself under the cursor when it makes the jump - providing this doesn't conflict with the opening off the screen edge.

jppaiva, i shall try to understand your script and modify it but i would be grateful if you carried on with this little project.

thanks for the work so far. DC credits will be on their way.

3420

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 06:46 AM »

Let me se.. You want a script that would move every active dialog smaller than a given size to a place very close to the mouse?

-jgpaiva (April 06, 2006, 06:13 AM)

that pretty much sums it up. like i say, i've had it working except for the bit about it releasing the window once it has moved it. it would be useful if an 'exclude' list could be used to prevent certain small windows moving maybe - but that defeats the whole point of it.

3421

Living Room / Re: cody has some eggs?

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 06:43 AM »

ah, yes. feet. how silly of me.

3422

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 06:08 AM »

well, i'm still trying the auto cursor jump thingy - but it doesn't work within photoshop. this is good as i didn't want my cursor jumping around to every button that had focus but it doesn't even work when the 'are you sure about saving' dialog pops up. this wouldn't happen if my little util came about, ahem, ahem.

early days yet so i'll persevere.

3423

Living Room / Re: cody has some eggs?

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

i thought cody used his beak for writing?

3424

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 05:37 AM »

the thing i don't like about the auto cursor jump method is that i often don't want to click the button that is in focus. so, i have to check to see where the cursor has jumped to and also spot the button i actually want to click AND then after that i move the cursor back to the area of the screen i was clicking around - i wouldn't call the 'cursor jump' method the most efficient and i'm sure there must be micro seconds lost where you have to become reorientated as to where the cursor has gone and what you are meant to be clicking on.

it may be microseconds to do all this moving around but it's a massive irritation to me.

i'll turn the auto move cursor thing on for a bit and see if i can get used to it.

3425

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 06, 2006, 05:17 AM »

https://www.donation...=302.msg2140#msg2140

this original request was made a few months ago but it appears no one was up for the challenge - so, i'm resurrecting the request with a reward for 100 DC credits to anyone that can create a satisfactory util (preferrably using autohotkey so that it would be easy to modify).

and now for a quick explanation of what i'd like:

i've a very large monitor, a 24" widescreen LCD (this may or may not be seen as an attempt at compensating for other inadequacies).

i've always been irritated (even with smaller monitors) how i have to keep moving my cursor to the center of the screen to acknowledge small dialog boxes that appear throughout the course of my pc use.

what i would prefer, is that the small dialog window would move itself automatically to fall somewhere under where my cursor is at the time of clicking the button that caused the small dialog window to appear.

e.g. CURRENTLY, i click on a button at the far edges of the screen that requires some kind of confirmation, so a small dialog window appears in the center waiting to be clicked and acknowledged. okay, i move my mouse to the center and click BUT i'm going to move my cursor back to the original area where i first clicked the initiating button as that's where i'm 'working' with OTHER buttons and things.

INSTEAD, i would click on a button at the far edges of the screen and if a small dialog window appears in the center it would then automatically jump so that it positions itself under where the mouse is. the mouse is still hovering over the button that has just been clicked.

i know, i know. there are methods for the mouse to jump to the button that is in focus but i really can't stand that way of working. it still requires me moving my attention away from where my cursor originally was and then moving it back again. and, i don't want this to work with all windows so i wouldn't want the cursor jumping around all over the screen every time a new button comes into focus.

i've attempted to create my request using autohotkey but i don't have the programming skills to make it work correctly. i can make small windows jump to the cursor but they then become STUCK to the cursor position and move around with it...

the trick would be that the dialog window jumps to the the cursor position and then releases itself so that it doesn't continuously keep trying to center itself under the cursor. you can't click on any buttons, of course, if the dialog window keeps automatically moving around.

the other point to consider is that the automatically jumping window would have to remain fully on screen regardless of whether the cursor was at the very edges, i.e. if the cursor was close to the screen edge the window would have to position itself close to the cursor but not so close it goes off the edge.

i really only want this to work for the small dialog windows that appear, things like save/open/close/'confirm file delete' or anything else of this small size.

i'd like to be able to figure all this out with autohotkey as i'm sure it is possible but i believe it would be a very quick coding snack for those of you that already know how to script. it would take me several hours/days of messing around without any guarantee that i'm heading in the right direction.

thanks for your time...