A new graphic user interface
in [Mathematica]
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From: Mihail on 7 Aug 2010 06:22 On Aug 6, 2:56 pm, Murray Eisenberg <mur...(a)math.umass.edu> wrote: > What iwould you want in the Mathematica front end that could be more > user-friendly? In what ways do you find it currently unfriendly? > > What has been added to the front end over several versions is absolutely > awesome. > > But perhaps you're thinking of such things as automatic backup, or > multiple-level undo and redo. > > On 8/5/2010 7:00 AM, Mihail wrote: > > > Will a graphic user interface be more friendly in new version of > > Mathematica? > > -- > Murray Eisenberg mur...(a)math.umas= s.edu > Mathematics & Statistics Dept. > Lederle Graduate Research Tower phone 413 549-1020 (H) > University of Massachusetts 413 545-2859 (= W) > 710 North Pleasant Street fax 413 545-1801 > Amherst, MA 01003-9305 Yes, I think of such things as automatic backup, or multiple-level undo and redo. I would like to see more powerful organization of palettes and notebooks. Organization of palettes may be look like the ribbon interface in MS Office 2007. Organization of notebooks may be look like tabs in Google Chrome or Firefox. Notebooks and palettes will be able to dock and undock. The code editor will be able to highlight brackets. The highlighting looks like in Workbench 2. The selection of code works like the selection for normal text without expansion. The expansion appears when I try deselect the selection. The 'complete selection' works like in such manner: 1) I type something for example 'ListL' . 2) I press Ctrl+K (complete selection). 3) I continue type and 'complete selection list' interactive suggests an end of word. The powerful tooltip appears when I type the function arguments and powerful 'complete selection list' appears for function arguments.
From: AES on 8 Aug 2010 07:20 In article <i3gpp1$2v0$1(a)smc.vnet.net>, Murray Eisenberg <murray(a)math.umass.edu> wrote: > What iwould you want in the Mathematica front end that could be more > user-friendly? In what ways do you find it currently unfriendly? I've not made much use of the built-in palettes in Mathematica to date, but probably should do so. I have been making considerable use, however, of the "Inspectors" that have been showing up in various of Apple's newer apps and other third-party apps for Macs, and finding them very user-friendly. I suppose these Inspectors are in essence just tall, skinny, highly multi-function palettes; but their attractive features include: * One single Inspector for the whole app offers direct access to a whole bunch of detailed "utility" functions (various formatting tasks, for example), all visible in one single tall skinny window which you can position wherever you like. * Open this Inspector with a single click on a single, obvious icon that's right there in the application's main Toolbar; dismiss it with a single click. * Tall window allows you to scan down rapidly (preferably without scrolling) to see what task capabilities or utility functions are available; and maybe expand the one you want by clicking its triangle. Don't have to try to remember the name or location of the function you want. * Tabs at top can let you quickly select broader categories of such functions. * Tall skinny structure allows individual task to have a horizontal control bar and/or a text box input/ It's just a generally handy, friendly user interface, with a built-in "teaching" capability for the user, as compared to multiple palettes or dialog boxes, that have to be searched out in multiple menus.
From: David Park on 9 Aug 2010 05:12 In addition to the weekly full system backup on the PC backup drive, and a monthly backup to DVD of all my important files, I also have a short term CurrentBackup folder on my desktop. I make quick copies into there from the home folder for current notebooks that I've been doing a lot of work on. It's a simple low-tech method. Make the Documentation Center like Wikipedia so users could edit it and add examples or caveats? If it works for Wikipedia it might work for Mathematica. Then could MathLeaks be far behind? David Park djmpark(a)comcast.net http://home.comcast.net/~djmpark/ From: telefunkenvf14 [mailto:rgorka(a)gmail.com] On Aug 7, 5:22 am, Mihail <macherkass...(a)gmail.com> wrote: 3. I'm not totally in favor of integrating backup features. I can imagine cases where this would cause problems, slow-downs and crashes, especially if notebooks are large. Perhaps a backup feature that ignores output cells would work? The irony is that as you get better at Mathematica you don't code as much notebook crashing garbage, making backups redundant. (haha) Of course this doesn't comfort new users... I use Microsoft LiveSync to sync my notebooks across machines, and along with regular system backups, this seems to be enough. 4. While I've also REALLY grown to love the documentation materials (especially compared to other languages!!), I do wish there were a way WRI could somehow include a way for users to contribute to it and customize it. (i) When a user comes across a documentation example they find confusing, it would be nice if there were small/discrete button that linked to additional explanations provided by the community. This would be a way to document 'gotchas' and points of confusion amongst users---and would surely be useful summary info that WRI could use to improve the product. (ii) I'd also like to be able to bookmark locations in the documentation and save scraps of customized code ideas, tagged to those bookmarks. I know this would cut down on the mountain of scrap notebooks I have!!
From: David Bailey on 9 Aug 2010 05:14 On 07/08/10 11:22, Mihail wrote: > On Aug 6, 2:56 pm, Murray Eisenberg<mur...(a)math.umass.edu> wrote: >> What iwould you want in the Mathematica front end that could be more >> user-friendly? In what ways do you find it currently unfriendly? >> >> What has been added to the front end over several versions is absolutely >> awesome. >> >> But perhaps you're thinking of such things as automatic backup, or >> multiple-level undo and redo. >> >> On 8/5/2010 7:00 AM, Mihail wrote: >> >>> Will a graphic user interface be more friendly in new version of >>> Mathematica? >> >> -- >> Murray Eisenberg mur...(a)math.umas= > s.edu >> Mathematics& Statistics Dept. >> Lederle Graduate Research Tower phone 413 549-1020 (H) >> University of Massachusetts 413 545-2859 (= > W) >> 710 North Pleasant Street fax 413 545-1801 >> Amherst, MA 01003-9305 > > Yes, I think of such things as automatic backup, or multiple-level > undo and redo. > I would like to see more powerful organization of palettes and > notebooks. Organization of palettes may be look like the ribbon > interface in MS Office 2007. Organization of notebooks may be look > like tabs in Google Chrome or Firefox. Notebooks and palettes will be > able to dock and undock. The code editor will be able to highlight > brackets. The highlighting looks like in Workbench 2. The selection of > code works like the selection for normal text without expansion. The > expansion appears when I try deselect the selection. The 'complete > selection' works like in such manner: > 1) I type something for example 'ListL' . > 2) I press Ctrl+K (complete selection). > 3) I continue type and 'complete selection list' interactive suggests > an end of word. > The powerful tooltip appears when I type the function arguments and > powerful 'complete selection list' appears for function arguments. > A multi-level UNDO would be VERY valuable - it seems to be a perpetual WRI blindspot :( David Bailey http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk
From: David Bailey on 9 Aug 2010 05:14
On 08/08/10 12:21, telefunkenvf14 wrote: > > 4. While I've also REALLY grown to love the documentation materials > (especially compared to other languages!!), I do wish there were a way > WRI could somehow include a way for users to contribute to it and > customize it. (i) When a user comes across a documentation example > they find confusing, it would be nice if there were small/discrete > button that linked to additional explanations provided by the > community. This would be a way to document 'gotchas' and points of > confusion amongst users---and would surely be useful summary info that > WRI could use to improve the product. (ii) I'd also like to be able to > bookmark locations in the documentation and save scraps of customized > code ideas, tagged to those bookmarks. I know this would cut down on > the mountain of scrap notebooks I have!! > This is an excellent idea - I hope WRI are listening! For example, people would soon flag the fact that MatrixForm leaves an extra layer in expressions like: A = Transpose[B]//MatrixForm This is not obvious from the documentation. Of course, to make this work, WRI would have to vet the extra material, or give trusted users the right to add material. David Bailey http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk |