Frontend suggestions
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From: David Bailey on 10 Aug 2010 03:55 Since the subject of possible enhancements to the FE is being discussed, I wonder if we could determine which feature would be most popular. I have two requests: 1) Infinite undo! 2) Better documentation of functions such as Import that perform a range of operations. So many details seem to slip between the cracks. For example, nowhere does there seem to be a statement that .mid files can be exported but not imported! 3) A total ban on the word "typical" - it doesn't belong in documentation that is supposed to be definitive! Please add suggestions in replies and we can see which is the most popular. David Bailey http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk
From: Hans Michel on 11 Aug 2010 04:46 The FE and the language itself needs a new expression between Notebook and Cell (above CellGroup which is still a Cell) we need Compartment. Compartments can exist side by side in the screen environment and content can overflow into the next linked Compartment. With Compartment you can now do interactive pagination. The FE still feels as if one is writing in Galley mode. Pagination is or feels batched. Is it a notebook or a scroll? So in version 8 or 9 or earlier I would like to see: Mathematica notebooks consist of lists of Compartments objects. New in 8 or 9 or earlier Hans -----Original Message----- From: David Bailey [mailto:dave(a)removedbailey.co.uk] Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 2:55 AM Subject: Frontend suggestions Since the subject of possible enhancements to the FE is being discussed, I wonder if we could determine which feature would be most popular. I have two requests: 1) Infinite undo! 2) Better documentation of functions such as Import that perform a range of operations. So many details seem to slip between the cracks. For example, nowhere does there seem to be a statement that .mid files can be exported but not imported! 3) A total ban on the word "typical" - it doesn't belong in documentation that is supposed to be definitive! Please add suggestions in replies and we can see which is the most popular. David Bailey http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk
From: AES on 11 Aug 2010 04:44 In article <i3r0kt$deb$1(a)smc.vnet.net>, David Bailey <dave(a)removedbailey.co.uk> wrote: > 1) Infinite undo! > > 2) Better documentation of functions such as Import that perform a > range of operations. So many details seem to slip between the cracks. > For example, nowhere does there seem to be a statement that .mid files > can be exported but not imported! > > 3) A total ban on the word "typical" - it doesn't belong in > documentation that is supposed to be definitive! > > Please add suggestions in replies and we can see which is the most popular. 4) Present documentation pages have multiple labeled categories, viz., More Information, Examples, Scope Generalization & Extensions, Applications, Properties & Relations, See Also, Tutorials, and More About. Might seem more than enough -- in fact, too much, since no real person just wanting to get enough info to use a given command can devote enough time to really read through all of them. But still: add an additional category to some (not all -- maybe just a few) documentation pages, where needed: a category named something like "Warnings" or "Hints" or even "Gotchas", whose purpose would be just to give brief warnings about those gotchas that occur most frequently in connection with that particular command. The decision as to which commands acquire a Gotcha Warnings section, and what goes in it, would be based Wolfram's interface research (Wolfram does do interface research?) as to which gotchas occur most frequently in the use of Mathematica. The gotchas that reoccur most repeatedly in cssmm postings would be a start.
From: Murray Eisenberg on 12 Aug 2010 05:25 That's a most interesting proposal, and one that would obviously take a lot of thought to design properly and integrate into the existing structure. There's also the issue of performance, of course. My suspicion is that the present scrolling-window orientation -- what you call "writing in galley mode" -- is due to some Mathematica designer/developer(s) not really believing in the future of printed media, with their page orientation. Whatever the validity of their view, though, it's somewhat irrelevant: even in a strictly on-screen-only environment, one still needs to deal with the issue of how much should fit on screen at once. This becomes even more pressing an issue with devices such as iPads and iPhones. On 8/11/2010 4:46 AM, Hans Michel wrote: > The FE and the language itself needs a new expression between Notebook and > Cell (above CellGroup which is still a Cell) we need Compartment. > Compartments can exist side by side in the screen environment and content > can overflow into the next linked Compartment. > > With Compartment you can now do interactive pagination. > > The FE still feels as if one is writing in Galley mode. Pagination is or > feels batched. Is it a notebook or a scroll? > > So in version 8 or 9 or earlier I would like to see: > Mathematica notebooks consist of lists of Compartments objects. > New in 8 or 9 or earlier > > Hans > -----Original Message----- > From: David Bailey [mailto:dave(a)removedbailey.co.uk] > Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 2:55 AM > To: mathgroup(a)smc.vnet.net > Subject: Frontend suggestions > > Since the subject of possible enhancements to the FE is being discussed, > I wonder if we could determine which feature would be most popular. I > have two requests: > > 1) Infinite undo! > > 2) Better documentation of functions such as Import that perform a > range of operations. So many details seem to slip between the cracks. > For example, nowhere does there seem to be a statement that .mid files > can be exported but not imported! > > 3) A total ban on the word "typical" - it doesn't belong in > documentation that is supposed to be definitive! > > Please add suggestions in replies and we can see which is the most popular. > > David Bailey > > http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk > > > -- Murray Eisenberg murray(a)math.umass.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
From: AES on 12 Aug 2010 05:26 In article <i3to0s$sao$1(a)smc.vnet.net>, "Hans Michel" <hmichel(a)cox.net> wrote: > The FE and the language itself needs a new expression between Notebook and > Cell (above CellGroup which is still a Cell) we need Compartment. > Compartments can exist side by side in the screen environment and content > can overflow into the next linked Compartment. > > With Compartment you can now do interactive pagination. > > The FE still feels as if one is writing in Galley mode. Pagination is or > feels batched. Is it a notebook or a scroll? > > So in version 8 or 9 or earlier I would like to see: > Mathematica notebooks consist of lists of Compartments objects. > New in 8 or 9 or earlier It's hard to tell how this would work out in practice, but at least it's a new, novel, and very clever and interesting suggestion, together with some perceptive comments. But at the same time, Mathematica's core and essentially unresolveable problem is that it has already gone way, way beyond the size and level of complexity that can be compressed into a single interface and learned and managed and managed and used by the large number of individuals who just want to use it to get work done in some much more limited area. And no adding of additional capabilities and complexities is going to resolve that.
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