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Re: Design best practises - libraries, sub-stacks

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 9:31 pm
by dunbarx
Jacque.

Horizontal? Really? I am so enamored of, and used to, and set in my ways because of, and, ahem, sorry...

I think the pyramid is so utterly natural. Not that most "flowcharts" of the message path, (dating back to both Goodman and the original Apple HC user guide) actually use a pyramid. After all, we are not talking about food groups, but rather the concept that several different kinds of controls lie at a "base" layer, and feed into ever higher and more sparsely populated upper layers.

And I really do not care which way is up; that is actually a detail. But this is how I would always try to convey this concept to a new user.

Now it is no secret that, apart from the control layer, there is only on object residing on each upper layer. So what? The pyramid is a bit distorted is all. But remember the dynamic path? Just try to display that while lying down...

Craig

Re: Design best practises - libraries, sub-stacks

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 11:18 am
by Tukcedo
Hmmm let me try that my revolutionary brother ...

Edit: indeed, that seems to offer some great possibilities!!!

Re: Design best practises - libraries, sub-stacks

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 11:49 pm
by jacque
dunbarx wrote: I think the pyramid is so utterly natural. Not that most "flowcharts" of the message path, (dating back to both Goodman and the original Apple HC user guide) actually use a pyramid. After all, we are not talking about food groups, but rather the concept that several different kinds of controls lie at a "base" layer, and feed into ever higher and more sparsely populated upper layers.

And I really do not care which way is up; that is actually a detail. But this is how I would always try to convey this concept to a new user.

Now it is no secret that, apart from the control layer, there is only on object residing on each upper layer. So what? The pyramid is a bit distorted is all. But remember the dynamic path? Just try to display that while lying down...

Craig
We both learned our catechism from Saint Danny, and I confess that I used to be a sky worshipper. But earth worship appears more natural if you consider gravity, because if the engine is at the bottom, gravity will push messages downward from the uppermost controls. That said, when the religious wars began I decided to opt out and start my own horizontal sect. New and old users both seem to grasp the doctrine of the Before And After equally well.

As for taking it lying down, we live in different Flatlands. Imagine the pyramid is drawn on paper, with the engine at the top, and you are holding the paper perpendicular to a tabletop. You are now a sky worshipper. Flip the paper upside down and you become an earth worshipper. If you then lay the paper flat on the table, you have become a horizontally-enabled adept who can envision the engine anywhere as long as it is before or after other controls. The map is now a series of small streams that feed into larger rivers, which all converge at the Great River Dam.

Or something like that.

PS: Poor Tukcedo, he only wanted to make a button...and now look what's happened.

Re: Design best practises - libraries, sub-stacks

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:08 am
by Tukcedo
jacque wrote: PS: Poor Tukcedo, he only wanted to make a button...and now look what's happened.
Don't worry, I got out of it what I wanted: learned how to use a Scrolled List ;-) ;-)