topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Friday March 29, 2024, 2:27 am
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Author Topic: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)  (Read 9209 times)

Vurbal

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2012
  • **
  • Posts: 653
  • Mostly harmless
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« on: January 28, 2014, 07:42 PM »
Even though I'm sure Mouser will know what I'm posting about I'll spell it out for anyone else who wants to throw in their 2 cents worth. One of the side effects of LBC's functionality vs aesthetics bent is a relative lack of styling-type options. I think that's fine. It doesn't stop me from making a nice looking toolbar. If I wanted 3D animation I'd watch a cartoon.

Just for the sake of reference I'm including some screengrabs from my launchbar so it's clear what I'm talking about. I intentionally didn't resize it so it would be easier to see things at roughly the same scale I am. There are also smaller ones below to illustrate particular points. I made sure to include the mouse pointer in the images.

LBC_001.pngWidth, spacing and padding (Oh my!)

LBC could use at least a basic option for padding the edges of nodes for a number of reasons. The first is admittedly just because it looks nice. I'm not saying everybody cares about it but honestly most people do even if they don't understand why. Preferring symmetry is an evolutionary advantage because if one half of a person's body is very different from the other they're likely to make a poor mate. I don't really want to mate with my launchbar but having buttons of wildly different sizes kind of bugs me.

My current solution: LBC_002.png

My proposal is an option to add X pixels of padding to the edges - ideally with the option to pad the left and right sides differently than the top and bottom. It could even be per side but even I think that's excessive. The mouseover highlights could then start at the padding rather than the icon which also has a visual advantage. It's a lot easier to make out the icon or text if it's not covered with your pointer.

Currently I simply put extra spaces before and after the caption text to stretch the node boundaries. Of course it's difficult to get them close to the same size without a lot of trial and error.

LBC_011.png

It also doesn't work when the caption isn't being displayed. Besides the issue of the mouse pointer, this results in very small spaces in between. Once again not always a problem but it can be. Particularly when you're using small icons but also if 2 adjacent icons are similar or even if you're just not overly familiar with the shape. I've been using separators but that's not really ideal either since a) it means a lot of separators and b)they seem to have a minimum size of 10 pixels when used that way.

LBC_004.png LBC_008.png

LBC_006.png LBC_005.png

Padding the top and bottom isn't all that important but if it's no extra work it would look a little nicer IMO. For example it would move the icons on mine further down from the top edge. This really is just looks though and not something I would even ask for by itself.

The other problems I hinted at on IRC actually turned out to be almost entirely side effects of the kludges I recently did away with. However as I was doing a little more kludge removal today I ran across another one I'd forgotten.

Because of the different visual styles my bar uses for different sections I thought it would be nice to have finer control over the caption font. I was hoping I might be able to do that using Link nodes but that turned out not to be the case. I still like the concept though and I thought I would go ahead and move my main menu set and help file menus to their own docks anyway.

Unfortunately it didn't work for the help menus because I couldn't get them to use small icons any more. The parent menu is set to small icons for child nodes, the link nodes were set to small captions, and I even set the original menus which were now in a separate dock to small icons. No matter what it doesn't work. It's not a big deal since I can just leave them where they started. Don't spend a bunch of time troubleshooting it or anything.
I learned to say the pledge of allegiance
Before they beat me bloody down at the station
They haven't got a word out of me since
I got a billion years probation
- The MC5

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of ''crackpot'' than the stigma of conformity.
- Thomas J. Watson, Sr

It's not rocket surgery.
- Me


I recommend reading through my Bio before responding to any of my posts. It could save both of us a lot of time and frustration.

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2014, 08:00 PM »
lol Vurbal!!  This is my kind of thread.

Vurbal

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2012
  • **
  • Posts: 653
  • Mostly harmless
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2014, 08:10 PM »
Notice how I also use a left handed mouse pointer. That's another visibility issue. I like a big mouse pointer but the bigger it is, the more it gets in your way. Click on a text box and by default the pointer is directly over where you're typing.
I learned to say the pledge of allegiance
Before they beat me bloody down at the station
They haven't got a word out of me since
I got a billion years probation
- The MC5

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of ''crackpot'' than the stigma of conformity.
- Thomas J. Watson, Sr

It's not rocket surgery.
- Me


I recommend reading through my Bio before responding to any of my posts. It could save both of us a lot of time and frustration.

Vurbal

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2012
  • **
  • Posts: 653
  • Mostly harmless
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2014, 08:35 PM »
While I'm at it here's one more thing - not display related - I keep forgetting to ask. Why is it a few thing in text file menus require the /params argument to work, some only work if you enter the arguments normally (like on a command line) and most work either way?

Right off the top of my head the only thing I can think of that hasn't worked without it are the nircmd power/logoff features - but not the other nircmd options I've used. From memory it seems like what hasn't worked has been low level MS stuff like invoking functions using rundll32 or DirectShow filters like FFDshow configuration.
I learned to say the pledge of allegiance
Before they beat me bloody down at the station
They haven't got a word out of me since
I got a billion years probation
- The MC5

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of ''crackpot'' than the stigma of conformity.
- Thomas J. Watson, Sr

It's not rocket surgery.
- Me


I recommend reading through my Bio before responding to any of my posts. It could save both of us a lot of time and frustration.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2014, 08:36 PM by Vurbal, Reason: Punctuation is your friend »

wraith808

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • default avatar
  • Posts: 11,186
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2014, 02:41 PM »
Notice how I also use a left handed mouse pointer. That's another visibility issue. I like a big mouse pointer but the bigger it is, the more it gets in your way. Click on a text box and by default the pointer is directly over where you're typing.

That's actually a really elegant solution to that problem.

app103

  • That scary taskbar girl
  • Global Moderator
  • Joined in 2006
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,884
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« Reply #5 on: January 30, 2014, 05:15 AM »
This is a related issue that I have...

I have been using LBC in a single column:

Screenshot - 1_30_2014 , 5_37_48 AM.pngWidth, spacing and padding (Oh my!)

It's not that I really want to use it in a single column, it's that I have no control over being able to force a new row.

If I expand it to a width I'd like, the things I want on an individual row by themselves, aren't.

Screenshot - 1_30_2014 , 5_41_25 AM.pngWidth, spacing and padding (Oh my!)

It gets even worse if I do not use captions.

Ultimately, that is how I would want to use it...sections without captions...Like I do on my taskbar.

Screenshot - 1_30_2014 , 5_46_10 AM.pngWidth, spacing and padding (Oh my!)

This is important to me for the sake of productivity. I want to be able to instinctively know where everything is, and I can not do that if I add more/less icons to a category and it causes it to change it's location on the bar, either pushing things up or down a row.

For example, if I add any more items to my upload folders category, it will push that category to a new row. Or if I add more items to the download folders category, it will change the contents of every row after that, completely rearranging where each category is on the bar.

It would also be nice if I could also define how many rows a category can occupy, forcing the overflow to appear on a menu, when clicking a divider button, like the taskbar does when you push the toolbars to occupy a single row.

Screenshot - 1_30_2014 , 6_09_06 AM.pngWidth, spacing and padding (Oh my!)



wraith808

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • default avatar
  • Posts: 11,186
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2014, 10:21 AM »
Is it appropriate to say how scared I am now?  :'( :P ;D

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« Reply #7 on: January 31, 2014, 11:06 AM »
Is it appropriate to say how scared I am now?  :'( :P ;D
You're not alone.  App's toolbars have frightened me for a while now.

Vurbal

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2012
  • **
  • Posts: 653
  • Mostly harmless
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2014, 12:07 PM »
Notice how I also use a left handed mouse pointer. That's another visibility issue. I like a big mouse pointer but the bigger it is, the more it gets in your way. Click on a text box and by default the pointer is directly over where you're typing.

That's actually a really elegant solution to that problem.

Thank you. I consider that the ultimate compliment.
I learned to say the pledge of allegiance
Before they beat me bloody down at the station
They haven't got a word out of me since
I got a billion years probation
- The MC5

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of ''crackpot'' than the stigma of conformity.
- Thomas J. Watson, Sr

It's not rocket surgery.
- Me


I recommend reading through my Bio before responding to any of my posts. It could save both of us a lot of time and frustration.

app103

  • That scary taskbar girl
  • Global Moderator
  • Joined in 2006
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,884
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« Reply #9 on: January 31, 2014, 10:50 PM »
Is it appropriate to say how scared I am now?  :'( :P ;D
You're not alone.  App's toolbars have frightened me for a while now.

Admit it. You are just jealous of how incredibly organized I am.  :P

wraith808

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • default avatar
  • Posts: 11,186
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« Reply #10 on: January 31, 2014, 11:58 PM »
^ That's *one* possibility.  :D

mouser

  • First Author
  • Administrator
  • Joined in 2005
  • *****
  • Posts: 40,896
    • View Profile
    • Mouser's Software Zone on DonationCoder.com
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Width, spacing and padding (Oh my!)
« Reply #11 on: April 21, 2014, 08:44 AM »
This discussion is now continued here: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=37755.0