Author Topic: testers post your first impressions here (Read 37,151 times)

mouser · « **on:** February 28, 2006, 09:13 PM »

i've locked the version update thread so it stays clean and short; please post any thoughts about lbc here.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #1 on:** February 28, 2006, 09:31 PM »

Just downloaded it, I've played with it for about 2 minutes and I'm already surprised.
It's great, the "add by running process" option is just plain genious, and there are so many options that I had no way to see it all in so little time. Still, it has great potential!
My only comment is: how can I make the title bar disappear when the bar is not docked?
Without changing anything in the options, I get it looking like this:

Changing the main dock's properties to "no border", i get this:

Another thing is that when it's docked, the text on the captions disappear:

Anyways, LBC looks great, and by the options dialog (which is very,very powerful, btw), it looks like it'll even get better!
Well.. You got me using a launch bar again

(i stopped using my last one when I found farr

)

mouser · « **Reply #2 on:** February 28, 2006, 09:56 PM »

ill add option to remove titlebar when not docked, but as far as captions disappearing - you have to resize it to get it to the size you want after you dock it, but you cant resize it when borders are set to none - so:

1. turn border back to thin or thick
2. dock it to side of screen and resize it to exact size you want
3. then turn borders back off if you really hate the border when docked.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #3 on:** February 28, 2006, 11:20 PM »

Oh, the resizing was my bad.
But i think that if there are buttons with captions, the bar should resize to fit the captions.
(also, having a "no captions" option on the bar's options could be in handy)

mouser · « **Reply #4 on:** February 28, 2006, 11:34 PM »

good ideas both - i can add that.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #5 on:** March 01, 2006, 12:18 AM »

Yet a few more suggestions:
1 - While playing with the config dialog, I lost the dialog constantlly, because it doesn't have taskbar button. I think you did it on purpose, but it can get anoying.
2 - Is there any way to make the icons display on the horizontal instead of list-like?

mouser · « **Reply #6 on:** March 01, 2006, 12:30 AM »

Quote

2 - Is there any way to make the icons display on the horizontal instead of list-like?

what do you mean?

jgpaiva · « **Reply #7 on:** March 01, 2006, 12:35 AM »

Last 2 for today (sorry for the bugging):
1 - There is some kind of limitation in the size of the window, it has a minimum width. That's bad for people with little "screen real-estate".
2 - the auto-hide could have the option to appear instantaneously.
In 2, i mean: can't the icons be side-by-side on the undocked mode like they appear when the bar is docked at the top of the screen.
(I'm loving LBC more and more..

)

mouser · « **Reply #8 on:** March 01, 2006, 12:47 AM »

1 - minimum width - yep, it's on my todo list
2- auto hide seems a bit buggy, ill try to get it fixed.

3 - side by side when undocked - works for me im not sure what your problem is..

mouser · « **Reply #9 on:** March 01, 2006, 12:49 AM »

i have to say after trying the latest version of true launch bar, that lbc has a long way to go to catch up.

so everyone who likes launch bar commander should definitely check out true launch bar (50% discount for dc members this month) and it's free cousin free launch bar.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #10 on:** March 01, 2006, 12:53 AM »

Ok, found the problem.
Try setting the icon's size to "small", and you'll see my problem with setting icons side-by-side.
(they get too much distanced in that mode, that's why it wasn't aligning them the right way)
It was the "all same width option". Problem solved. I can go to bed now.

mouser · « **Reply #11 on:** March 01, 2006, 01:12 AM »

yep i need to make a note about that.

lanux128 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 01, 2006, 04:37 AM »

hi there,

i'm a long-time user of Arcanewood's Enchanted Toolbar but however your impressive screen-shots persuaded me into trying out LBC... After 20mins of adding apps to the launch-bar, I must say that "Preferences" window could use a taskbar button as the preferences window disappears once it loses focus especially if the main-window (aka the docking window) is set to "Not on Top" and the icon is removed form the systray as well... Now Alt-tab is only way to bring the Preferences window to the foreground...

i'll make further progress reports as i go on... ;-)

best regards,
lanux

jgpaiva · « **Reply #13 on:** March 01, 2006, 12:25 PM »

Ok, I'm officially the most bugging tester of launchbar commander.
Reporting another strange behaviour:
(one picture talks more than 100 words)

allen · « **Reply #14 on:** March 01, 2006, 01:32 PM »

Little quirk, here -- I have a row of icons I keep on the bottom of my desktop -- quick-access stuff. Every time I close the TLB preferences and it re-draws, it pops the shortcuts off the bottom of the desktop and sticks them on the top of the desktop. TLB is set to dock auto-hide on the top of the screen.

AbteriX · « **Reply #15 on:** March 01, 2006, 03:24 PM »

1.50.01, Windows 2000 SP4

sorry, should'nt autohide/autoslide already works or not ?

1.) my settings ---- auto hide or auto slide

2.) normal view

3.)
- the bar is not on top
- the bar didn't appears automaticly if my mouse is on the top of the screen
i have to click on the top of the screen to bring it back

4.) if it comes back, it is only half visible

the same with thick border set

Resizing the bar is no trick, because the bar hides only one time.

And if the bar hidden, it reserved still the space on my desktop... i can't maximize the window now to the top

AbteriX · « **Reply #16 on:** March 01, 2006, 03:30 PM »

Feature discusses:

Auto refresh the bar if i save my settings, --- or maybe autorefresh after i press e.g. F5.
So i could do settings - - refresh - - see how it looks --- modify my settings -- refresh --- .......

ATM i have to close the settings dialog to force the bar to refresh (to see how it looks now)

mouser · « **Reply #17 on:** March 01, 2006, 03:35 PM »

slide and autohide are a bit buggy at the moment, they dont seem to always trigger.

autorefresh bars on save is a good idea - as is avoiding the dissapearance and recreation which i guess is causing allens problems as well.

lanux128 · « **Reply #18 on:** March 02, 2006, 01:22 AM »

hi there,

still adding programs... just noticed that LCB doesn't accept program icons from 16-bit files. any plans to modify this?

also, what about an option to auto-unselect from view any apps that are not available, e.g. those running from removable/network drives...

best regards,
lanux

mouser · « **Reply #19 on:** March 02, 2006, 01:24 AM »

Quote

what about an option to auto-unselect from view any apps that are not available, e.g. those running from removable/network drives

yes, i am going to add this.

as for the icons, i will look into it.

mouser · « **Reply #20 on:** March 02, 2006, 01:47 AM »

can i suggest that if you make lots of changes by dragging and dropping items onto your docking bars while they are docked, that you at some point go into the preferences screen and hit save, because on reboot/shutdown the dock bar configurations may not be saved in the current version, so you would lose changes since the last save.

(by the way you will also find some backup functions in the preferences Tools menu, and you can backup your docking bar files just like normal files).

jgpaiva · « **Reply #21 on:** March 03, 2006, 04:06 PM »

One small proposition:
When the bar is minimized to the tray, it has no tooltip on hover.
This means that it isn't identified in the tray properties to make it not appear, or something like that.
And also, if you have 2 bars with the same icon on the tray, you can't distinguish them.
(I know it's a bit of a stupid request, but it's more for a matter of coherence)

jgpaiva · « **Reply #22 on:** March 05, 2006, 12:32 AM »

Good software can be recognized on those little things that you don't notice.
If you don't notice that the software is doing something, it's only because it's good.
I've just found out that launchbar commander appears on alt+tab. But it appears as the first item, and is never selected.
Mouser did you do this on purpose? IMO, it's a fantastic feature!
Being able to alt-tab into a launchbar is nothing i've ever seen. And the best thing is that if you alt-tab into it, then you alt-tab back into another app, if you do alt-tab, it doesn't select lbc again, because it is never selected by default. I like it!

But i have yet another proposition: if you can alt-tab into it, why not have keyboard navigation built-in?
I know launchbars aren't exactly made with the intend of being keyboard-navigated, but what can i say, i love the keyboard!

dorevale · « **Reply #23 on:** March 17, 2006, 08:22 PM »

Very promising software. I like the dock to system tray feature. For my setup a dock to desktop icon would be more convenient - is that a possibility?

mouser · « **Reply #24 on:** March 17, 2006, 08:42 PM »

dock to icon - interesting idea i hadn't thought of..