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Post by Stefan on Jun 21, 2024 2:42:56 GMT -5
George, Robert,
Now I see it, I think the reverse-video colouring is too intense, given that the =FILE> lines (like the excluded line marker) are drawn in the Options - Scheme - TxtHi colour. Especially the use of a red background makes me think of "error". If we must use a reverse-video coloring, may I suggest that we allow the user to choose the colour and intensity. Perhaps Options - Screen - Line Number Hi-Intensity - BG2 might be a suitable candidate to avoid extending the palette.
I proposed the dot-dash approach so the File-separator line is similar, but not identical, to the excluded line marker. You can use any "delicate" separator as long as it differs from the excluded lines marker. In the mockup below I used -_-_-_, but equally maybe _______ or . . . . . . . . is appropriate.
I think ====== might work but ###### is probably too intense again.
For bonus points... It occurs to me that even the above approaches do not address the fact that the user can no longer see the filename after scrolling right. I note that the excluded line marker ALWAYS shows the excluded line count ------ <00068> -- on the right of the visible screen.
Perhaps the MEDIT line could behave similarly and show the filename on the right of the visible screen.
I've mocked a BEFORE and AFTER image for the dark theme.
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Post by mueh on Jun 21, 2024 3:00:46 GMT -5
Hi Stefan ! Install 24172 . George has already implemented that filename is not scrolled right .
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Post by Stefan on Jun 21, 2024 6:01:08 GMT -5
Cool - I like it. Thanks George.
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Post by George on Jun 21, 2024 10:36:24 GMT -5
I don't like the color hilight particularly either, this is getting into the personal preference area. How about a 'wavy' line? ![](//storage.proboards.com/3714814/thumbnailer/zdEgBSKLaUKQdKSNOjuO.png)
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Post by Stefan on Jun 22, 2024 2:27:40 GMT -5
I think that's perhaps a bit too fussy.
Technically, the MEDIT file separation is not a data line at all, so if people prefer a coloured line, you could render it in Options - Screen - Line Number Hi-Intensity colour to differentiate it from the text data. Another advantage is that the =FILE> marker in the line number field then matches the colouring of the separator line.
Given the use of a different colour, you have the choice of many characters to 'pad' the separator line, including '-------' already in use for excluded lines but rendered in Options - Scheme - TxtHi colour.
'Padding' options are a double character sequence, e.g. <><><><><> or a single characters e.g. # ~ - = + . _ ,either continuous or alternating with a single blank.
Some examples below...
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Post by George on Jun 22, 2024 8:42:16 GMT -5
Stefan: I'll vote for the <><><><><><><><> style. Here it is in the LineNo Hi color Votes from anyone else? George ![](//storage.proboards.com/3714814/thumbnailer/uuTRlKyhWzIuKvfNzsBO.png)
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Post by mueh on Jun 22, 2024 9:01:43 GMT -5
Hi George ! I prefer <><><> or ====== .
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Post by Robert on Jun 22, 2024 10:48:28 GMT -5
George, perhaps you can see where this is going. No one likes anyone else's choices. No matter what you pick, someone will dislike it. That tells me that none of the various characters like <><> or ==== or anything else will please everyone. Here is my conlusion:
1. Don't move the file name during left/right scroll. You have evidently already done this change.
2. On the =FILE> line, in the area to the right of the name, don't highlight it and don't put any <> or == stuff. Just show that part as plain blank text.
3. Adopt the convention that the name on the =FILE> line is highlighted according to SCHEME 14. Then users can pick any color they wish.
R
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Post by Robert on Jun 22, 2024 11:51:47 GMT -5
If you didn't like using a fixed SCHEME number, you could use a SET symbol (or two?) to define the colors, like SET MEDIT.FILE.FG and SET MEDIT.FILE.BG
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Post by George on Jun 22, 2024 12:56:56 GMT -5
Robert: Yes, you're right, like I said - personal preference.
So Scheme 14 it is, I don't see a big problem in 'stealing' a user entry.
BTW, on the same topic - MEdit - I've put in something I've wanted for a while.
There is a new primitive (MEditList) that needs to be assigned to some key or other. If you're in a MEdit session, and press it, a PopUp appears with all the loaded filenames. Left click on one and you are immediately positioned to that =FILE> line as top-of-screen.
When you have lots of files loaded, this is a real timesaver.
I've also added the Doc for the missing (CmdPad) one you spotted.
George
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Post by Robert on Jun 22, 2024 16:12:46 GMT -5
George,
1. I like the idea of (MEditList). Reminds me of KEYMAP LIST. If this new list is long, can you scroll it? Also, you might want to report the total number of files in the given MEDIT on the 'title line' of the popup? Just a thought.
2. There's just a tiny snag with using Scheme 14, which is the next time someone uses MEDIT, their =FILE> highlighting may be screwy - it will be whatever is currently set for 14, whether that's a good color choice or not. (I happened to have scheme 14 defined myself to highlight non-breaking space characters (X'A0') with a special color, for instance.) And, there is no way (that I can think of) to determine if it's the "first time" the new =FILE> highlighting is in effect, so you can't really 'initialize' Scheme 14 during install-time very easily. Somehow, we need to get the attention of the users on this. Any idea how that would work out? It's asking a lot of documentation.
R
===> Just had a thought. Right now you can 'label' a scheme with any name you like. Suppose you (George) check the label of Scheme 14 at initialization time. If that label contains "MEDIT" then it means it has been set to a highlighting color. If not, then you pick some readable color choices and just force scheme 14 to that. If users don't like it, they can change it, but at least they would have a usable, readable color to start with.
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Post by Stefan on Jun 23, 2024 1:15:13 GMT -5
George,
I took the liberty of moving your earlier post from 'Contributed macros' to this thread.
Your last mockup (line number hi intensity with <><><>) looked very effective.
The subsequent descision is more unbalanced than the current UK Parliamentary Election!
Seems to me the votes (albeit very few in number) were you, mueh and I for <><><> and Robert for 'no symbols'.
I make that a 75% result in favour, yet the 25% win the day!
Stealing Scheme 14 is awkward for me, but I can work around that. But the lack of any symbols on the line means the separator line is still easily overlooked, which was the whole reason why I initiated this topic in the first place.
Aside from the filename being fixed in place, these lengthy deliberations have achieved NOTHING other than the loss of a Scheme colour to effect a colour change from TxtHi to Scheme14.
Disappointed!
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Post by George on Jun 23, 2024 11:17:30 GMT -5
OK, to 'solve' this, here's what I've done. Hilite color is out, so Scheme14 is left alone. A new Option => Screen item was added -- =FILE> Line Format. The entry format is: { LEFT | RIGHT | CENTER | CENTRE } [ ,pad-string ]Where:
The LEFT/RIGHT/CENTER specifies how the filename is positioned.. Default padding is blanks.
The pad string specifies a character string which will be repeated to pad the line. It can be any length. If it contains special characters or blanks, it should be quoted.
The line will be displayed in the Line-number Hi-intensity scheme.
![](//storage.proboards.com/3714814/thumbnailer/pKoZxXHnisKQdZGjPQag.png)
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Post by Robert on Jun 23, 2024 14:24:14 GMT -5
George, this is a good solution. It's more than I would have asked for, but since you did it, this should address everyone's needs without my Scheme 14 hack. This is better.
I am constantly amazed at how much attention people give to highlight colors. I grew up with 3278/9 color terminals, where all you got were basically red, green, blue and yellow for the ISPF forms, and then sometimes white. I lived with that for many years and it was enough for me.
Time moves on ...
R
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Post by George on Jun 23, 2024 14:35:17 GMT -5
Robert: Yep, I never even got a 3279, I think we had 1 in-house for testing. And by the time our 3270's were getting decrepit, they were replaced by PC's with 3270 emulation.
I hated that, we lost the PFKs on the right and had to use the PC's PFKs above the normal keys. Emulators back then didn't allow the NumPad to be mapped. That's why nowadays I've gone back to using the NumPad for most of my PFKs.
A whole different world now.
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