Reply to: Irritating product design

[fullyautomatix]

Another irritating design.

IE blocks images if you open an email which has images embedded in it.

If you then ask IE to show content ( like images that are blocked) it presents you with this dialog box.



Instead of telling me that this could contain content that was not delivered securely and then asking if I still want to view it, in which case its easy to just click "Yes", it says do you want to view only content that was delivered securely ? How annoying. In order to answer the question I need to read the bloody message twice to understand what it means.

[fullyautomatix]

Woot! You can add pictures to a thread!.

I thought I would demonstrate this extra special feature I was talking about in my OP.

[Sysman]

No it didn't. The Beeb supported "paged mode", and the manual explained how to enable and disable it both from the keyboard and programatically:

VDU drivers

14 - This code makes the screen display wait at the bottom of each page. It is mainly used when listing long programs to prevent the listing going past so fast that it is impossible to read. The computer will wait until a SHIFT key is pressed before continuing. This mode is called "Paged mode". Paged mode is turned on with the CTRL N and off with CTRL O. When the computer is waiting at the bottom of a page both the Shift lock and Caps lock lights will be illuminated.

Maybe you're thinking of the Spectrum manual?

Apologies, bad phrasing on my part. What I meant to say was that instead of using some form of screen paging system, the programmer sought to slow down the display, and did it via a counted loop.

I always thought that was tacky even in a single user machine, but early versions of BASIC (BBC BASIC included?) didn't have the equivalent of a sleep or wait statement.

[Cliphead]

Was that the same Lotus where "Licence Protection" was a Directory holding a couple of files all with DOS Attribs set to R/O, Hidden & System...... which "normal" PC users didn't even know existed.... So when running Lotus it did a sort of IF EXIST RUN LOTUS.... ELSE FAIL logic.....

I sort of remember PC Tools and XTree.... and didn't Lotus also have a tool Magellan? Where you could do all sorts of "clever" stuff...

and (real) Norton Utilities..... before Virus protection stuff......

Yep all correct if I remember rightly. Norton Utils was great but to do some serious work all three tools were essential on any DOS system - NU, PCT and Xtree. The best money I ever spent on any piece software ever was Xtree Gold.

[Drewster]

Early versions of Lotus would allow the user to save a file with spaces in the file name but couldn't open it again. Remember PC Tools? Xtree? Invaluable utils.

Was that the same Lotus where "Licence Protection" was a Directory holding a couple of files all with DOS Attribs set to R/O, Hidden & System...... which "normal" PC users didn't even know existed.... So when running Lotus it did a sort of IF EXIST RUN LOTUS.... ELSE FAIL logic.....

I sort of remember PC Tools and XTree.... and didn't Lotus also have a tool Magellan? Where you could do all sorts of "clever" stuff...

and (real) Norton Utilities..... before Virus protection stuff......

[NickFitz]

A couple of memories:

• the ex-PC programmer who was programming on a multiuser system. When the screen was whizzing past too quickly, instead of putting in a "Hit any key to continue" he put in a GOTO loop for a thousand or so iterations (weel that's what it said to do in the BBC BASIC manual innit?). Small wonder the rest of the system's users were complaining that system performance was "lumpy".

No it didn't. The Beeb supported "paged mode", and the manual explained how to enable and disable it both from the keyboard and programatically:

VDU drivers

14 - This code makes the screen display wait at the bottom of each page. It is mainly used when listing long programs to prevent the listing going past so fast that it is impossible to read. The computer will wait until a SHIFT key is pressed before continuing. This mode is called "Paged mode". Paged mode is turned on with the CTRL N and off with CTRL O. When the computer is waiting at the bottom of a page both the Shift lock and Caps lock lights will be illuminated.

Maybe you're thinking of the Spectrum manual?

[Cliphead]

Early versions of Lotus would allow the user to save a file with spaces in the file name but couldn't open it again. Remember PC Tools? Xtree? Invaluable utils.

[Sysman]

This was the same user who (obviously NOT learning his lesson) "migrated" a <cough> Dataease Database from a standalone PC onto a Network for about a dozen people to use..... although he (unfortunately) hadn't realised that there is a "slight" difference in requirements for record locking and data integrity in a multi user system than the Stand alone system.....

I think the initial setup from the S/O version was to lock the Database (by the first user) until they had done everything..... before locking everything for the next in the queue (after leaving them "hanging")

So he (without contacting support obviously) turned off all record locking...... Which really speeded it up........
but unfortunately caused a total Horlicks where records "I know I have entered and saved" disappeared.....

He kept applying for Jobs in IT...............

A couple of memories:

• the ex-PC programmer who was programming on a multiuser system. When the screen was whizzing past too quickly, instead of putting in a "Hit any key to continue" he put in a GOTO loop for a thousand or so iterations (weel that's what it said to do in the BBC BASIC manual innit?). Small wonder the rest of the system's users were complaining that system performance was "lumpy".
• the set of programmers who hadn't a clue about record locking, so didn't test for it. When they twigged, their answer was to ensure that no more than one user could execute a given program concurrently

[Drewster]

There was a software installer which always started out with "Are you satisfied with your system disk backup?", offering a get out if you weren't. In early days it made you stop and think, but as time wore on you automatically answered "Yes" to continue.

Reminds me of good old fashioned Lotus macros.... written by Users......

"Experienced User" sets up some Automation for "Inexperienced Users"... via (poxy) Menu driven process.....

EU knows to do Action 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.... cos he is "Experienced"

EU automatically codes the Exit Option to be /qy....

IU doesn't know to do Act 1, 2, 3,4 etc.... So when they "Exit" - It does.... (somewhat obviously "losing" all their carefully entered data)...

EU "Trouble shoots" but can't find any errors "It always works!!! I've Tested it 100s of times"....

EU eventually raises URGENT Help Desk call because "Lotus is not working properly"......

Try to explain to EU and his manager that although EU might be an experienced <cough> User... His is not actually competent to write "systems" for other users and even if he is - he really should get someone else to Test what he thinks he has done..........

This was the same user who (obviously NOT learning his lesson) "migrated" a <cough> Dataease Database from a standalone PC onto a Network for about a dozen people to use..... although he (unfortunately) hadn't realised that there is a "slight" difference in requirements for record locking and data integrity in a multi user system than the Stand alone system.....

I think the initial setup from the S/O version was to lock the Database (by the first user) until they had done everything..... before locking everything for the next in the queue (after leaving them "hanging")

So he (without contacting support obviously) turned off all record locking...... Which really speeded it up........
but unfortunately caused a total Horlicks where records "I know I have entered and saved" disappeared.....

He kept applying for Jobs in IT...............

I am sure this has no relevance at all but - He was a Marillion Fan!

[Cliphead]

I was always baffled by Notepad's behaviour if you tried to save an empty text file: it put up a dialog saying "You have not entered any text to be saved. Type some text, and then try again." - in fact, here's a piccy:

Can't beat touch.

[NickFitz]

I heard about (but never actually sought provenance of) a script that said:

'Do you want to back up the database or have you already done so?'

Yes/No?

I was always baffled by Notepad's behaviour if you tried to save an empty text file: it put up a dialog saying "You have not entered any text to be saved. Type some text, and then try again." - in fact, here's a piccy:

[Sysman]

I heard about (but never actually sought provenance of) a script that said:

'Do you want to back up the database or have you already done so?'

Yes/No?

There was a software installer which always started out with "Are you satisfied with your system disk backup?", offering a get out if you weren't. In early days it made you stop and think, but as time wore on you automatically answered "Yes" to continue.

[stek]

I heard about (but never actually sought provenance of) a script that said:

'Do you want to back up the database or have you already done so?'

Yes/No?

[OwlHoot]

I am currently using a VPN client software to login to a client web server.

After finishing what I want, I want to terminate the application and so I right click and say "Exit" and this brings up a dialogue box.

Do you wish to terminate the session? "Yes" and "No". Problem is the "Yes" button initially starts disabled with a time counter which starts counting down from 10. Once it reaches 0, the button becomes enables and the text becomes "Yes".

How annoying. As if presenting me with a confirmation box was not enough they want me to think for 10 seconds over this.

It sounds like a trial version. If so, try paying for it cheapskate!

[thunderlizard]

I think it must be some kind of superiority complex that makes developers put those confirmation dialogs on shutdown (when there's no question of losing unsaved work).

"What? You want to close my app? Are you out of your senses? Because it you close it by accident, it could take as many as 2 clicks and 5 seconds to start another instance!"