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8101

General Software Discussion / Re: A LOUDER Internet

« Last post by Renegade on March 15, 2011, 06:20 PM »

The no. of people who don't want to click 'play' on a page with embedded media will always be a LOT greater than those who do. So this is never going to change.

The point of the web is to provide a rich user experience. If a website has music, I of course want the music to start playing when I visit it. The fact that this feature is abused doesn't mean autoplay is bad.

-MrCrispy (March 15, 2011, 06:13 PM)

You're quite correct.

For *some* cases it is appropriate. But certainly not for a pop under ad page.  When you've got as many programs, windows, and tabs open as I do, it's impossible to find. And VERY annoying at 2am.

Sound in general is a problem like that though as there's no such thing as setting the actual real volume output. Different sources play at different volumes. This makes things even worse.

8102

Living Room / Re: Technical Excuses for Porn (Safe For Work)

« Last post by Renegade on March 15, 2011, 05:29 PM »

Ah, how nice to be able to put a name to the face. I've seen her image on countless sites and always wondered about her.

-sajman99 (March 15, 2011, 02:32 PM)

Exactly~!

I'd not seen the full picture until I started doing some in-depth research in imaging software, but I'd seen the shoulders & above shot.

8103

General Software Discussion / Re: [PREDICTION] You Will Eat a Tablet in the Next Few Years

« Last post by Renegade on March 15, 2011, 05:51 AM »

Ever notice how an Apple store looks more clean & clinical than most hospitals? I figured it was because they were performing lobotomies.

-app103 (March 15, 2011, 03:59 AM)

BWAHAHAHAHAHA~!

That was good~!  

8104

General Software Discussion / [PREDICTION] You Will Eat a Tablet in the Next Few Years

« Last post by Renegade on March 15, 2011, 01:36 AM »

I can see it coming. We are all going to having tablets rammed down our throats in the very near future.

The form factor is too good. They're too versatile. They will create new applications to streamline processes in daily life. Just imagine what could be done in education alone.

Not that it's a bad thing, but it's going to alienate some people.



Now, for my apologies... I know that some were expecting tabs of LSD. Sorry to disappoint.

8105

Living Room / Re: Interesting calming essay about nuclear power plan situation in Japan

« Last post by Renegade on March 14, 2011, 06:55 PM »

Long ago when I lived in Canada, there were gas stations that had hybrid fuels for cars that contained, I believe, ethanol. I've not seen anything like them since.

8106

Developer's Corner / Re: onsubmit doesn't work in IE

« Last post by Renegade on March 14, 2011, 06:15 PM »

This might help:

http://www.webxpertz...wthread.php?p=191220

Not sure. I've not tried it though.

8107

Living Room / Re: Interesting calming essay about nuclear power plan situation in Japan

« Last post by Renegade on March 14, 2011, 05:05 PM »

While I'm far from an expert on the subject, it seems that nuclear power IS cleaner than many other forms of power, but this is really doing a lot of damage in the public eye.

People want clean energy, but... What's cleaner? Coal? Hardly. Hydro-electric is pretty good, but has problems too. At some point all energy sources have issues. Bio-mass? Perhaps.

I have been reading every news release on the incident since the earthquake. There has not been one single (!) report that was accurate and free of errors (and part of that problem is also a weakness in the Japanese crisis communication). By “not free of errors” I do not refer to tendentious anti-nuclear journalism – that is quite normal these days. By “not free of errors” I mean blatant errors regarding physics and natural law, as well as gross misinterpretation of facts, due to an obvious lack of fundamental and basic understanding of the way nuclear reactors are build and operated. I have read a 3 page report on CNN where every single paragraph contained an error.

Sadly, news isn't about reporting events. It's about entertainment for people in denial of their sadism...

8108

General Software Discussion / Re: Popping Downloads - iframe or meta refresh?

« Last post by Renegade on March 14, 2011, 04:32 PM »

I HATE popups. Why not let the user click?

-Mattphoes (March 14, 2011, 03:08 PM)

The only thing that pops up is the download. This is the same way that you get downloads at Sourceforge, CNET (download.com), and most major download centers/sites.

It's not a pop up window though if that's what you're thinking. Like you, I can't stand those. It is rare that you actually need a pop up window. Most problems can be solved with a floated div or lightbox or something like that. They are less intrusive and load faster. The problem there is that if you want to do something, you must script it and usually end up using AJAX. That's good and bad, but more good than bad.

There are a few reasons to do it that way though. The main one is so that you can have a page with ads for the visitor while they are downloading.

8109

Living Room / Re: Spaceships A-Z, LEGO

« Last post by Renegade on March 14, 2011, 08:58 AM »

Gotta say, that was very cool!  

8110

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: $20 for PureComponents

« Last post by Renegade on March 14, 2011, 02:43 AM »

Tip: mention which platform it's for (my first guess would be .NET, but not everyone knows you ), and perhaps a copy-pastaed list of controls inclued, and purrrrrhaps even a few screenshots

* f0dder gets off Renegade's back.

-f0dder (March 14, 2011, 02:39 AM)

What is inside?

ScheduleSet Calendars

Show and Manipulate Date Based Information.
   

EntrySet Controls

User interface controls to create data entry forms.
   

EntrySet Extenders

New visual and functional features for old controls.

EntrySet Lists

List controls for accessing and displaying data.
   

ActionSet Navigators

Access and Outlook Style Navigators.
   

ActionSet RibbonUI

User Interface in the Microsoft Office 2007 style.

* Renegade shakes off laziness.

8111

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: $20 for PureComponents

« Last post by Renegade on March 13, 2011, 11:58 PM »

Oh -- forgot to mention for those unfamiliar... They're UI components for programming.

8112

Found Deals and Discounts / $20 for PureComponents

« Last post by Renegade on March 13, 2011, 11:57 PM »

While not the best out there, they're cheap:

http://purecomponents.com/indexso.htm

$20 is hard to beat.

It comes with source code as well, so even if you only buy it for the source code as a tutorial, it's worth it.

8113

Developer's Corner / Re: Easily Create a USB Portable Version - Cameyo

« Last post by Renegade on March 13, 2011, 11:22 PM »

I missed that first thread. The second I'd stopped reading before it got to Cameyo.

Anyways, it works.

8114

Developer's Corner / Easily Create a USB Portable Version - Cameyo

« Last post by Renegade on March 13, 2011, 10:37 PM »

I had someone email me looking for a portable version of my software. I made one using this:

http://www.cameyo.com/

And it works flawlessly.

Just thought I'd share that.

8115

General Software Discussion / Re: Favorite ZIP/RAR application?

« Last post by Renegade on March 13, 2011, 08:39 PM »

I find 7-zip is quite good. Mind you, I really don't use many different options for compressing files. Whether a file is 1.6 MB or 1.5 MB is of little consequence to me.

Universal Extractor is also very good. I only use it for extracting, but it's a good utility.

8116

Living Room / Re: Hilarious Jersey Shore Review

« Last post by Renegade on March 13, 2011, 08:33 PM »

That was how I first heard about Jersey Shore!

8117

Living Room / Hilarious Jersey Shore Review

« Last post by Renegade on March 13, 2011, 08:17 PM »

A friend had this posted on Facebook:

8118

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: Duplicate Photo Finder

« Last post by Renegade on March 13, 2011, 09:33 AM »

I always try to stick to system colors, but need to check that. I'll check with classic as well though.

I didn't get to it today though.

The lack of progress bars is very odd though... I'll pursue that avenue.

8119

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: A Custom Page for Inno Setup showing DoCo info and donation benefits

« Last post by Renegade on March 13, 2011, 07:32 AM »

If you would like to spif up the installer with a skin I've used this free tool for Inno Setup in the past:

-MilesAhead (March 12, 2011, 05:47 PM)

That's not something I'll be adding, I really dislike any skins beyond the default Windows stuff, and IMHO are a big waste of energy when applied to an installer, that is only run once.

-Ath (March 13, 2011, 05:41 AM)

Installers are the first exposure to the application, so getting it right is important.

I remember seeing a Paradox installer a very long time ago, and it was one of the coolest I've ever seen. It had music and a wicked cool UI.

But yeah, they're rarely worth bothering with. The higher the number of downloads you have, the more important it is though. But that goes for everything.

For the CodeJock stuff there, I'd checked that out a while back, but didn't really like it much. You really need to do your own design from top to bottom to get it done nicely. The ones they have are decent examples, but just not really up my alley.

I actually really like the Visual Studio installer projects. You can get one done in record time.

8120

Living Room / Re: Which cartoon character do you most relate to (and why)?

« Last post by Renegade on March 13, 2011, 03:26 AM »

Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius~!



 

8121

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / Re: Looking for Suggestions for Name of New Blog that Will be Abandoned

« Last post by Renegade on March 12, 2011, 09:22 PM »

For a name:

The Productivity Archive
Paul's Productivity Archive

Just a couple thoughts.

8122

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: A Custom Page for Inno Setup showing DoCo info and donation benefits

« Last post by Renegade on March 12, 2011, 08:19 PM »

That will happen. At a minimum, it will get labeled as "ADWARE" by some people. It doesn't matter how innocent it is. But, you can't please everyone.

-Renegade (March 12, 2011, 07:52 PM)

By that logic, all installers are Adware. They tend to have visible text things saying 'made with NSIS' or 'made with WISE', etc. And usually on every single screen, or on the final page. But yeah, whiners complain. It's a law of nature at this point I think.

-worstje (March 12, 2011, 07:56 PM)

Yeah. That's a pretty extreme end of the spectrum, but... Sigh...

It's actually a pet peeve of mine in commercial software (and other products). I don't want to advertise for another company, especially after I pay for a product. This happens a lot in web templates and components for web sites. People use flat out black hat techniques for SEO in things that you PAY for. But that's a far cry from "NSIS" in an installer.

Same goes for shirts. Why would I want an embroidered horse on my shirt that's large enough for me to ride on? Seems a tad nutty to me.


But agreed -- there will always be someone ready to whine no matter what.

8123

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: A Custom Page for Inno Setup showing DoCo info and donation benefits

« Last post by Renegade on March 12, 2011, 07:52 PM »

I've thrown something together, except for the text that I got from the Lorem ipsum generator Renegade did a recent micro-mini-review of:

-Ath (March 12, 2011, 12:54 PM)

That was actually cranioscopical. I can't take credit for that.

But the idea reminds me of this thread. 

My guess is that a lot of applications do not end up in the hands of the end-user through DonationCoder. Thus, a simple page with extra information in an installer would be a nice sort of publicity campaign. An explicit This page is informational only, and no extra 'bundled' software will be installed. message might be useful to add at the bottom, just in case people go into ADSPYCRAPWARE mode the moment they see something that does not involve the name of the application itself.

-worstje (March 10, 2011, 03:25 PM)

That will happen. At a minimum, it will get labeled as "ADWARE" by some people. It doesn't matter how innocent it is. But, you can't please everyone.

For the copy, I'd say keep it short and to the point. That's harder to write and more time consuming, but it's also more effective.

8124

General Software Discussion / Re: Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch - Aaawwweeesssooommmeee

« Last post by Renegade on March 12, 2011, 07:25 PM »

That was pretty cool.

It's always interesting how different approaches can have such radically different effects for the same basic task. The extreme stretching there effectively gives you an entirely different work of art. It would be cool if the "tunnel echo" could be removed some. (Didn't play with it all that long.) It does sound pretty "ghostly" though.

8125

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: Duplicate Photo Finder

« Last post by Renegade on March 12, 2011, 07:06 PM »

I hope you wont be cursing me for these bug reports Renegade 

I was helping someone move their photos to a new computer today. Their older pc has a maze of duplicated folders and files - there seemed to be 10 copies of one batch of images in the one folder
Everything was already copied onto an external drive.

So I installed your app on the new laptop:
Windows 7 64 bit; classic theme (I believe it's uptodate but dont know if SP1 installed)

I compared the pics on the external drive.

Some minor problems:

1) when I selected the folder in the lower pane, the selected folder in the upper pane was no longer readable - ie, text and highlighted background were both dark blue, if I then clicked on the folder in the upper half, it became readable - but the lower one was then unreadable.

2) when it was checking for duplicates, there was no indication it was working, until I actually clicked (anywhere) on the programme window - then the hour-glass showed.

3) eventually I had to compare the "my pictures" folder with itself. (I used the fast setting.) I'm not sure how many exactly, but there was over two thousand loose images in there and a few folders**. It showed the warning message, I clicked okay, but basically it seized up after that - when I clicked (anywhere) on the window it said no response (or whatever it says - "keine rückmeldung") in the titlebar. So eventually I closed it down - it did close normally, I didnt have to kill it. I tried a few times but it was definitely too much for it...


** I presume contents of subfolders are NOT looked into?

-tomos (March 12, 2011, 03:36 PM)

Cursing? Heck no! I'm glad you've told me~!

1) when I selected the folder in the lower pane, the selected folder in the upper pane was no longer readable - ie, text and highlighted background were both dark blue, if I then clicked on the folder in the upper half, it became readable - but the lower one was then unreadable.

Is the computer using a theme? Or is the default color scheme changed in Windows?

2) when it was checking for duplicates, there was no indication it was working, until I actually clicked (anywhere) on the programme window - then the hour-glass showed.

That shouldn't happen. The progress bars at the bottom should start.

3) eventually I had to compare the "my pictures" folder with itself. (I used the fast setting.) I'm not sure how many exactly, but there was over two thousand loose images in there and a few folders**. It showed the warning message, I clicked okay, but basically it seized up after that - when I clicked (anywhere) on the window it said no response (or whatever it says - "keine rückmeldung") in the titlebar. So eventually I closed it down - it did close normally, I didnt have to kill it. I tried a few times but it was definitely too much for it...

Can you let me know the computer specs? I was testing on folders of about 1,000 photos that were 4~5 GB, and it worked fine.

Also, can you let me know the rough sizes of the pictures?

Offhand, I don't know what the problem is. There's nothing special going on, and nothing really tricky that could "mess up".

I think it might be the folder browser control... It's based on the stock listview. I probably should replace that with a custom control I have that's designed for very large data sets. Still... 2000 isn't "that" many...

I have some work to get done here, so I'll look into it this evening if I get done in time, or tomorrow, and get back to you.

Thanks for letting me know.