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+--- Thread: MS Office Shortcut Bar Emulator Plugin (/thread-1727.html)
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MS Office Shortcut Bar Emulator Plugin - Guest - 11-28-2004
Hello.
In Suggestions, I posted this proposal for an MS Office Shortcut Bar mode enhancement to True Launch Bar, but then I saw some guidance directing suggestions over to a Forum, in order to receive comments on it. Therefore, I am posting a slightly edited version of my MS Office Shortcut Bar thoughts to this forum, and retitling it "MS Office Shortcut Bar Plugin".
I'm sure everyone reading this is familiar with the MS Office Shortcut Bar, which was dropped by Microsoft in Windows XP. However, some readers may not have used Office Shortcut Bar in a non-docking mode, in which the whole collection of individual toolbar names appears as vertical text inside a rectangle which presents each toolbar's shortcut icons in a resizable 2-D screen grid. The underlying metaphor is a "shelf of books."
I found it _very_ productive to work with Office Shortcut Bar undocked, because I could group related icons together in a specific region of its screen rectangle. I quickly learned to click on exactly the icon I wanted without having to read anything. In other words, my brain associated a particular 2-D icon position with the function of its underlying shortcut. This meant identical icons were easily recognized to perform different functions because they were grouped with other icons in _different_ positions on the 2-D grid. This was, I thought, part of the essence of a good visual user interface -- i.e., no text need be read to identify the correct button to click.
I believe TrueSoft would have a winning plugin by implementing a MS Office Shortcut Bar option which also incorporates the newer features of True Launch Bar. Packing so much visual information into a multi-toolbar screen rectangle produces maximum user productivity. It would be reasonable, at least to me, to charge a few dollars extra for an Office Shortcut Bar emulator plugin, because exploiting the benefis of its undocked 2-D grid display will be a long, difficult programming task.
I hope TrueSoft will consider offering an MS Office Shortcut Bar plugin for a future release.
Addendum to Office Shortcut Bar Plugin Post - Guest - 11-28-2004
Hello, again.
After my Office Shortcut Bar post, I fiddled some more with Free Launch Bar, and was able to assemble multiple folders in an undocked Free Launch Bar. The Office Shortcut Bar would print each toolbar's title vertically, instead of showing only a piece of each title horizontally.
The screen shot of this configuration is attached to this post.
I have not been able to duplicate any of the other undocked functionality of the Office Shortcut Bar. But, for now, the floating (undocked) Free Launch Bar picture should give everyone a good idea of the 2-D icon grid functionality I find productive.
- Doug Smith - 11-28-2004
The full version of True Launch Bar can do all that office short cut bar could do (and lots more). There is no need for such a plugin.
Check the True Launch Bar settings for Auto-sensing toolbars.
Also read how True Launch Bar fits into the Office work pane.
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- Dracula - 11-28-2004
Quote:I have not been able to duplicate any of the other undocked functionality of the Office Shortcut Bar.
In TLB you can create menu's with shortcuts, create collapsable/expandable groups or even submenu's, hide the icon text, and you can set it to any width you prefer...
Please explain, what exactly is this other functionality of the MS Office bar?
- Yuri Kobets - 11-28-2004
Quote:After my Office Shortcut Bar post, I fiddled some more with Free Launch Bar, and was able to assemble multiple folders in an undocked Free Launch Bar. The Office Shortcut Bar would print each toolbar's title vertically, instead of showing only a piece of each title horizontally.Unfortunately this is standard behaviour for Windows toolbars. I cannot control the title. If you need title try the spacer plugin, it allow add pictures on toolbar.
- Guest - 11-30-2004
Doug Smith Wrote:The full version of True Launch Bar can do all that office short cut bar could do (and lots more). There is no need for such a plugin.
Check the True Launch Bar settings for Auto-sensing toolbars.
Also read how True Launch Bar fits into the Office work pane.
Doug:
I took your advice to read the wesite and experiment with Auto-Sensing. We all use toolbars a bit differently, but, as the attached screen shot shows, there remains one critical Office Shortcut Bar feature which True Launch Bar does not possess.
In the screenshot, notice that I have added a green Overlay Image to the partially showing toolbar (titled "Documents") on which the pointer is resting.
If I wanted to replace the display of the Miscellaneous icon area with the display of the pointed-to True Launch Bar, I would _not_ be able to do that by clicking or double-clicking anywhere on the "Documents" bar. This type of display was well-supported in Office Shortcut Bar, and I think it should also be supported in True Launch Bar.
As to how the "Documents" bar can replace the "Miscellaneous" bar in on-screen display of icons, it is done like this. First, drag the "Documents" bar to the left so it is the leftmost undisplayed bar. Next, drag the "Miscellaneous" bar to the right, keeping the cursor at the level of the bar titles. When the cursor's horizontal hotspot gets between the window title bar's X-square and the right edge of the window frame, release the drag and the leftmost undisplayed toolbar ("Documents") will pop on the screen and occupy the position formerly displayed by the "Miscellaneous" toolbar, which will take up the rightmost undisplayed toolbar position.
This multiple Drag & Drop process is pretty awkward and cumbursome, but it always works when I perform it accurately. Thus, it would be a real blessing for former Office Shortcut Bar users if just clicking a toolbar icon were everything needed to display it.
- Q Section - 11-30-2004
Hello noffkehw
Are we missing something here or what? Please see the screenshot and tell us if this is not what you meant, please. This is a TrueLaunch Bar Office bar creation and easy to make. If this is what you meant let us know and we will help you create it.
- Q Section - 11-30-2004
This is a sizable free-floating bar and here is a shot with the tooltip (customisable).
- Q Section - 11-30-2004
Sorry - after rereading the above posts we see you really want vertical call-outs. Hmmm still working on that here but one of the other members can tell you if this is possible in this situation. You can do this, though -
- Q Section - 11-30-2004
Last two, we promise.
- Dracula - 11-30-2004
noffkehw: after seeing your screenshots I wonder whether you understand the idea/purpose of TLB. You can organize shortcuts in menu's and submenu's, so the toolbar itself will not be stuffed with (identical!) icons.
I attached some additional screenshots of what can already be done with TLB, and might be close to what you're trying to achieve...
- Guest - 12-01-2004
Dracula Wrote:noffkehw: after seeing your screenshots I wonder whether you understand the idea/purpose of TLB. You can organize shortcuts in menu's and submenu's, so the toolbar itself will not be stuffed with (identical!) icons.
I attached some additional screenshots of what can already be done with TLB, and might be close to what you're trying to achieve...
Bingo! You are correct! I'm new enough to True Launch Bar to wander off on the wrong foot now and then. You're doing this with menus, right? I'll explore this path, and more advice is always appreciated.
- Guest - 12-01-2004
Dracula Wrote:Categories one by one.
I have achieved everything you show in your "Categories one-by-one" animation. I have "Enable expand/collapse" and "Enable auto collapse" both checked, but ...
...1. I have not produced the behavior you show, in which the expanded title's icon area collapses when another title is clicked to display its icon area. How do I achieve this?
...2. I have checked and unchecked "Enable auto collapse", but I can see no performance difference under its control. When checked, it seems to me that "Enable auto collapse" should produce your "Categories one-by-one" behavior. Do I need to have anything else activated?
- Dracula - 12-01-2004
Quote:1. I have not produced the behavior you show, in which the expanded title's icon area collapses when another title is clicked to display its icon area. How do I achieve this?
Hehe, what you don't see is that I clicked twice for each frame in the animation. Once to expand the new section, and another time to collapse the previous section.
Quote:2. I have checked and unchecked "Enable auto collapse", but I can see no performance difference under its control. When checked, it seems to me that "Enable auto collapse" should produce your "Categories one-by-one" behavior. Do I need to have anything else activated?
I experimented with that setting as well: it automatically collapses the related section when the menu is closed.
In conclusion: as I mentioned, it comes close to what you want. Maybe it would be a nice additional feature of the "Enable auto collapse" option: also collapse whenever *another* section in the menu is expanded.
- Yuri Kobets - 12-01-2004
Dracula Wrote:In conclusion: as I mentioned, it comes close to what you want. Maybe it would be a nice additional feature of the "Enable auto collapse" option: also collapse whenever *another* section in the menu is expanded.OK I've added this into my todo list. In the next version this feature will be released.