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December 2010, Week 2

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Subject:
Status Area change. Why such an issue?
From:
David Thorp <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
FileMaker Pro Discussions <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:31:54 +1100
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Hi all,

I'm confused.  Perhaps someone could enlighten me...

Just about every modern Mac and Windows program on earth has a status bar/toolbar/whatever you want to call it, at the top of every window.  With Mac apps (including FileMaker) you have the option to turn it off, using the little bean in the top right corner.

I can appreciate the comments about the screen space lost due to the wider strip and the longer screen dimension - but that's not an issue for anyone in any other Mac app, right?  If a toolbar across the top is good enough for every other Mac app on earth, why is it such a problem for FileMaker to have it?  

And I can appreciate that the change creates an adjustment we have to make, but we've all made adjustments, usually without complaint, every time *any* software company updates their user interface (or anything aspect really) significantly.  The change from OS9 to OSX were all pretty welcome and what we have now is light years ahead of Mac OS 9.  No one ever complained about how OSX had toolbars across the top of every window, where OS9 didn't, right?  If anything, the only complaint I have is that it took FileMaker 8 years to catch up with this part of the OS!!

So yeah... I'm not trying to be a smartarse, but I really want to understand why this is such an issue, given the points I've made above.  Enlighten me?

David Thorp
All About Abundance Pty Ltd
Sydney / Brisbane.  Australia.
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ph:	+61-4-0558-8065
fx:	+61-2-9475-1444


On 12/12/2010, at 2:10 PM, Richard S. Russell wrote:

> FWIW, I share Lee's irritation at the amount of screen space lost to the expanded status area across the top, and I've said so in the FMI suggestion box. Not only do we give up a wider strip, it's across the longer screen dimension. This is particularly annoying given that I have to design with the status area visible, but I provide my users with an interface where the status area is hidden, and I have to keep flipping back and forth to see whether what I'm working on has dropped off the bottom of the screen or not.

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