Stupid logic (programmers logic)

[growler_south]

I can drop files onto Quicklaunch buttons, so why not taskbar buttons? And why the patronising admonishment instead of just DOING WHAT I WANT OR DOING NOTHING AT ALL?



-It must have been easier to code If(drop onto taskbar button) Then(display annoying and insulting window) than it would be to code If(drop onto taskbar button) then(open dropped item in application)

I could understand if it was an oversight, IE dropping files onto taskbar buttons did nothing at all. But someone thought about it and decided that their way was so good, it was to be the ONLY way.

Grrrr...

Comments

[sinnabor.livejournal.com]

Yea, that is totally stupid. Windows has lots of stupid shit like this.

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

"Although drag-n-drop have been around since the middle ages, we've decided you cant do it in this case. We have, however, devised a convoluted and annoying process which you can follw in this case and this case only."

Stupid programmers.

[sinnabor.livejournal.com]

Well, actually, it does make sense. Sorta.

The icons on the Quick-Launch bar represent applications that aren't running. So dropping a file on them means "run this app with that file". Simple enough.

But a taskbar button represents a window, not an application. So does it mean that the file should replace whatever is in that window? Probably not. Should it cause a single-file-at-a-time app like Notepad to launch another copy of itself? Probably not.

The essential problem here is that the Windows UI design opted to manage windows, not applications. But what users really want to deal with is applications. It was, to my eyes, shortsighted and lazy. (Or necessary to avoid a lawsuit.) MacOS got it right.

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

Yes.... I know it represents a window, i just want to drop the file into the window, like I would if the window was visible. I'd like to see Windoze treat DropOntoButton the same as DropIntoWindow.

I guess there are applications where dropping into different parts of the window result in different actions, and it could be unfortunate if a file got dropped into the wrong part of the program.

[sinnabor.livejournal.com]

Yea, they should have made it do *something* useful. The dialog was the worst possible solution.

Donald A. Norman has some great books on the subject, and one of his rules of thumb is that if you have to add a written note to explain how to use something, it's designed wrong. This is a great example of that.

Eh-yup

[auxugen.livejournal.com]

Time to get a Mac!

Re: Eh-yup

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I need the rendering power of a PC. Macs are pretty but dual 2.7 just doesnt crunch numbers as well as dual 3.7s. That and the $40k of software I have on the PC...

(and its not like Macs are without their irritating my-way-or-the-highway UI quirks...)

Re: Eh-yup

[auxugen.livejournal.com]

(and its not like Macs are without their irritating my-way-or-the-highway UI quirks...)

They just want to keep it lookin' pretty.

$40k of software? Egads man, I hope that's work related! I can understand about the processing power though I suppose. I'm still not sure about Apple's move to using Intel chips in the future. The purist in me shivers while the geek in me wants the speed.

Re: Eh-yup

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

LOL I'd love to know how you spend $40k on software thats *not* work-related!
Maya Unlimited, a few evil plugins (Arete nature tools being the most expensive), a whole raft of Adobe products (ouch!), C++...

Re: Eh-yup

[auxugen.livejournal.com]

OK, duh! Good point.

So maybe I shouldn't have had that extra beer at dinner...

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

To borrow from the great Lily Tomlin...
"We're Microsoft; we don't care, we don't have to!"

tee-hee, he said testi

[whiskerfish.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of the "computer proficiency" (what ever happened to I before E except after C?) test at the university I attend, against which I am passively protesting (I know if I wait long enough thay'll change the format).
The testee (http://www.testyfesty.com/) is tested in three catagories: Word, Powerpoint & Excel.
To frame, properly, my point, I gotta tell you that prior to preparing for the test I'd NEVER used Powerpoint, I'd barely used Excel, but I have used Word every day for eight years or so.
I flew through the PPT & Excel portions of the test, but the Word section killed me, not once, but twice! In the Word section, the test is set up where the testee must perform tasks only one way, the way the test programmer, intended, not the way someone who uses the program every day would.
I find it so annoying that it'll be the last test I take @ university to get my degree.

Re: tee-hee, he said testi

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

Computer proficiency?!?! sounds more like Microsoft proficiency. I'd object on religious grounds and insist on taking the test on a Mac. (of course, I'd still be fucked: 20 years of working with some of the most powerful computers available, and I've never used Excel or Powerpoint. I've used Word once or twice, but when I use it it's like Notepad or Vi with fonts...)

Re: tee-hee, he said testi

[sinnabor.livejournal.com]

Bah. I've worked at Microsoft for 9 years, and I'd still rather compose my documents in AppleWorks or a simple text editor. I hate Word.