Expected usability

[rantanplan (Mitch)]

Dear all,

I would like to bringt up a topic which I think might be seen quite controversial, but is a constant source of frustration for me:

My expected usability and the Tinderbox reality

I am using Tinderbox now since roughly 2 years and mainly for collecting notes and organizing them in map view. So Map-View, with and without the text-pane, is my terrain.

I love the way how tinderbox stimulates my creativity, but even after all the time, i stumble dozens of times per day about reactions, which are completely against my (perhaps completely wrong) expectation.

A few examples from the last hour:

• I would like to select multiple notes with click-CMD. Some notes are selected when I click at a slightly different place than the first time, even both clicks were definitely within the note „box“.

• I want to relocate selected notes to a different place on the map: pushing against the top of the window (tab bar) or to the right (where the „resize-frame“ of the text pane is visible) moves the shown map-part. Pushing against the left and the bottom does nothing. So I have to zoom or move the map to the right size and start again.

• I select multiple notes and want to select a composite. And because I have CMD pressed it selects a single note in the compositet. Ok, here I could understand the behavior, but why are the other notes i selected previously the de-selected. And why can’t I select all notes in the compound by clicking to an empty space in the composite? And why does it work the other way around?

• Getting the „all map view“ (CTRL-Option-CMD) works for very selected Zoom-levels. Often it only shows me a different part of the map. Relocation my view by moving the cursor to a position and releasing keys there then also doesn’t work.

I love Tinderbox for its flexibility and power. But the usability is for me frustrating in a way, that I regularly scan for alternatives. Not that I found one yet. I would perfectly buy an update (still having a valid subscription) only for the usability being in a more intuitive way, with no new features

I would love to understand the underlying usage principles and learn them. So my question to you, how is your daily experience? You see, I really want to like Tinderbox even more If there is a logic in usability which I don’t get, this might be a good time to learn it.

Slightly frustrated
Mitch

[PaulWalters]

Since Eastgate responded, below, I deleted my erroneous suggestions.

[rantanplan (Mitch)]

Hi @PaulWalters,

thanks for taking the time to read and answer. No worries, I don’t take your answer as a pushback. In fact I am more than impressed by Tinderbox features and the possibilities it offers. And that this comes with a price is understood. And all the “simpler” alternatives make me miss the one or the other core-feature which I really love. So no chance that I abandon Tinderbox

I will follow your proposal and file @eastgate my proposal in a reproducable way. I tried to select the more common (for me) deviations from my expectation to get a better understanding if I solely feel that way and if I really misunderstand some underlying concepts.

[eastgate]

@rantanplan

I would like to select multiple notes with click-CMD. Some notes are selected when I click at a slightly different place than the first time, even both clicks were definitely within the note „box“.

⌘-click extends the selection by toggling the selection status of the note you ⌘-click on. If you find an example where this doesn’t operate as expected, send the example to bernstein@eastgate.com.

[eastgate]

@rantanplan

want to relocate selected notes to a different place on the map: pushing against the top of the window (tab bar) or to the right (where the „resize-frame“ of the text pane is visible) moves the shown map-part. Pushing against the left and the bottom does nothing. So I have to zoom or move the map to the right size and start again.

Move the note closer to the top of the screen. Drag it slowly just beyond the edge of the top; the window will autoscroll.

Or, drop the note near the top. Use draggy-hand or mouse wheel scroll up; then finish the scroll.

Both these are canonical Mac scrolling behaviors.

[eastgate]

@rantanplan

I select multiple notes and want to select a composite. And because I have CMD pressed it selects a single note in the compositet. Ok, here I could understand the behavior, but why are the other notes i selected previously the de-selected. And why can’t I select all notes in the compound by clicking to an empty space in the composite? And why does it work the other way around?

Start by selecting the composite, then select additional notes.

[eastgate]

@rantanplan

Getting the „all map view“ (CTRL-Option-CMD) works for very selected Zoom-levels. Often it only shows me a different part of the map. Relocation my view by moving the cursor to a position and releasing keys there then also doesn’t work.

If you’ve got an example of this, send it to bernstein@eastgate.com.

[rantanplan (Mitch)]

Hi @eastgate, thanks for your response.

I’ll send you details by mail about the topics, thanks.

[eastgate]

Thanks

[mwra (Mark Anderson)]

Admin here, I’m going to lock off this thread as it has—I believe—resolved usefully but it’s tittle is (I’m sure unintentionally) is click-bait for random ‘and another thing’ thread drift. Everyone above as well as the forum are welcome to start new threads (referencing this one if needs be) about any particular issue.