Menu clarity - Open Leo File

[lewis]

Here is a suggestion for improving menu clarity.
The files at 'Open Leo File>' are all preceded by Open

File> Open Leo File>    Open CheatSheet.leo
                                  Open LeoDocs.leo
                                  Open LeoDist.leo
                                  Open leoPluginsRef.leo
                                 etc
                                
Suggest changing it to
File> Open Leo File>    CheatSheet.leo
                                  LeoDocs.leo
                                  LeoDist.leo
                                  leoPluginsRef.leo
                                 etc
                                
It's obvious to the user that you are about to open a leo file; if focus is lost from the menu you have to re-highlight 'Open Leo File' anyway.
It improves perception and readability; the file name registers first as you read the list. The alphabetic list is more apparent and it removes duplication.


Regards
Lewis

[Edward K. Ream]

On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 4:34 AM, lewis <lewi...@operamail.com> wrote:

Here is a suggestion for improving menu clarity.
The files at 'Open Leo File>' are all preceded by Open

​Done at 654b45a. You have a knack for useful simplifications.  Thanks.

Edward

[lewis]

The same principle can be applied to some parts of the Help menu but each case should be considered on it's merits.

so the Help menu would change from:
Help>   About Leo
        Open Home Page
        Open Table of Contents
        Open Users Guide
        Open Text Tutorials
        Open Video Tutorials
        ---------------
        Open CheatSheet.leo
        Open LeoDocs.leo
        Open quickstart.leo


to
Help>   About Leo
        Home Page
        Table of Contents
        Users Guide
        Text Tutorials
        Video Tutorials
        ---------------
        CheatSheet.leo
        LeoDocs.leo
        quickstart.leo

IMHO it's clearer for reasons explained above but it's your call.

Regards
Lewis

[Edward K. Ream]

On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 5:26 PM, lewis <lewi...@operamail.com> wrote:

The same principle can be applied to some parts of the Help menu

​Done at 98039af.  Thanks for the suggestions.

Edward

[lewis]

I think the 5 Open file menu items under Cmds> Files and Directories> Open should be considered for removal.

Opening the files are not commands, but all other entries are.

Consider that users already have 2 menu routes to these leo files via

File> Open Leo File>    CheatSheet.leo
                                  LeoDocs.leo

                                  LeoDist.leo
                                  leoPluginsRef.leo
                                 etc

and

Help> CheatSheet.leo
        LeoDocs.leo
        quickstart.leo

If you decide to keep them, the menu item Cmds> Files and Directories> Open Leodocs.leo is currently broken.

Regards

Lewis

[Edward K. Ream]

On Sat, Jul 15, 2017 at 12:11 AM, lewis <lewi...@operamail.com> wrote:

I think the 5 Open file menu items under Cmds> Files and Directories> Open should be considered for removal.

Opening the files are not commands, but all other entries are.

​

Actually, they are commands, and I use some of them all the time.  Leo's @menu nodes can show the actual commands, or an alias, more suited to menus.

For example, @item open-cheat-sheet-leo in leoSettings.leo has this body:

    &CheatSheet.leo

This sets the label and so-called accelerator in the menu. The actual command is open-cheat-sheet-leo.

Previously, I only ever used menus to open settings files.  Now, I do:

<Alt-x>my<tab><return> # my-leo-settings-leo

<Alt-x>leo-set<tab><return> # leo-settings-leo

Consider that users already have 2 menu routes to these leo files via

File> Open Leo File>    CheatSheet.leo
                                  LeoDocs.leo

                                  LeoDist.leo
                                  leoPluginsRef.leo
                                 etc

and

Help> CheatSheet.leo
        LeoDocs.leo
        quickstart.leo

​

This redundancy doesn't both me (I was aware of it), and may help newbies.

Edward

[lewis]

OK I see.

These lines need updating in leosettings for the Cmds to work via menu:

Open Leo&Docs.leo (should be Open &LeoDocs.leo)

Open leo&Plugins.leo (should be Open &leoPlugins.leo)

Lewis

On Saturday, July 15, 2017 at 7:41:05 PM UTC+10, Edward K. Ream wrote:

​

For example, @item open-cheat-sheet-leo in leoSettings.leo has this body:

    &CheatSheet.leo

.....​

[lewis]

Yes, technically they are commands and in your example you use the keyboard directly, not the menu.
In the context of a menu they appear as a File Open menu operation. They seem duplicated and out of position.

Under a Cmds heading the display should be the actual commands:
open-cheat-sheet-leo
open-leo-plugins-leo
open-LeoDocs-leo
open-quickstart-leo
open-scripts-leo

Further, a better learning opportunity for newbies would be a 'Help-for-Menus' entry to show the menu coding. HTH with that if you like :)

Regards

Lewis

On Saturday, July 15, 2017 at 7:41:05 PM UTC+10, Edward K. Ream wrote:

[Edward K. Ream]

On Sun, Jul 16, 2017 at 2:14 AM, lewis <lewi...@operamail.com> wrote:

Yes, technically they are commands and in your example you use the keyboard directly, not the menu.

​This is a discussion about menus, not commands.
​

 

In the context of a menu they appear as a File Open menu operation. They seem duplicated and out of position.

​Opening important Leo files in the File menu seems reasonable to me. I am not bothered about the duplication, as I said.
​

 

Under a Cmds heading the display should be the actual commands:
 

open-cheat-sheet-leo
open-leo-plugins-leo
open-LeoDocs-leo
open-quickstart-leo
open-scripts-leo

​Reasonable, despite possible duplication ;-)​

 

Further, a better learning opportunity for newbies would be a 'Help-for-Menus' entry to show the menu coding. HTH with that if you like :)

​Took me a few seconds to understand what you meant by "menu coding.  You mean, I presume, the format of @menu and @item settings within settings files.

This information belongs in leoSettings.leo, along with the documentation of all other kinds of settings nodes. A help-for command would not good--the information is for devs, not newbies.

leoSettings.leo should document @menu and @item in direct children of the node called: `About this file, leoSettings.leo`.

I thought they were there, but apparently not. This is a big miss. Good catch.  Please feel free to modify leoSettings.leo, or to suggest such changes here.

Edward

[Edward K. Ream]

On Sun, Jul 16, 2017 at 7:45 AM, Edward K. Ream <edre...@gmail.com> wrote:

This is a discussion about menus, not commands.

​But see below...​

 

Further, a better learning opportunity for newbies would be a 'Help-for-Menus' entry to show the menu coding. HTH with that if you like :)

​A help-for command would not good--the information is for devs, not newbies.

​Otoh, a help-for-setting command seems not only reasonable, but urgently needed ;-) Following the "less said the better" principle, this command might give just an overview of the available settings, with a unl that will open this node:

     leoSettings.leo#About myLeoSettings.leo

There are already several help-for commands relating to specific kinds of settings:

    help-for-abbreviations
    help-for-bindings
    help-for-keystroke

They should probably remain. Perhaps the new help-for-settings could reference them as well.

Lewis, any suggestions for help-for-settings would be appreciated.

Edward

[Edward K. Ream]

On Sun, Jul 16, 2017 at 9:28 AM, Edward K. Ream <edre...@gmail.com> wrote:

​> leoSettings.leo should document @menu and @item...This is a big miss.​

See #529 addresses. It also recommends a new help-for-settings command.

Edward

[Edward K. Ream]

On Sunday, July 16, 2017 at 7:45:07 AM UTC-5, Edward K. Ream wrote:

​

 

Under a Cmds heading the display should be the actual commands:
 

open-cheat-sheet-leo
open-leo-plugins-leo
open-LeoDocs-leo
open-quickstart-leo
open-scripts-leo

Done at  59f65b.

Edward

[Edward K. Ream]

On Sunday, July 16, 2017 at 7:45:07 AM UTC-5, Edward K. Ream wrote:

On Sun, Jul 16, 2017 at 2:14 AM, lewis <lewi...@operamail.com> wrote:

leoSettings.leo should document @menu and @item in direct children of the node called: `About this file, leoSettings.leo`.

Done at 11c4773.

I thought they were there, but apparently not.

The documentation appeared (and still does) in the  top-level Menus node, but this was too hard to find.

Edward

[Edward K. Ream]

On Sunday, July 16, 2017 at 9:35:33 AM UTC-5, Edward K. Ream wrote:

See #529...also recommends a new help-for-settings command.

c356b39 contains a first draft of help-for-settings.  All suggestions welcome.

I have just closed #529.  You may reopen if you like, or just make suggestions here.

Edward

[lewis]

Thanks Edward,

All working except for 2:

open-leo-plugins-leo [not working]
open-LeoDocs-leo [not working]

In leosettings.leo  @settings-->Menus-->@menus-->@menu &File-->@menu Open &Leo File, these lines need updating for the Cmds to work via the menu:

Open Leo&Docs.leo (should be Open &LeoDocs.leo)

Open leo&Plugins.leo (should be Open &leoPlugins.leo)

Also the menu shows open-leoplugins-leo command, but it should display as required by the command open-leo-plugins-leo

Regards

Lewis

[Edward K. Ream]

On Wed, Aug 23, 2017 at 5:00 PM, lewis <lewi...@operamail.com> wrote:

All working except for 2:

​I was a bit confused by your comments. ​

​Rev 32c81ac changes two menu entries  in the Cmds:Files and Directories menu. Everything else appears to work properly.  Let me know if anything else needs to happen.

Edward