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So, what's next after v17.12?
http://forums.winstep.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10595		 Page 5 of 7
Author:  winstep [ Mon Jan 15, 2018 4:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
New Beta of v18.1 is out, if you haven't been notified yet, you might want to manually check for updates.

So, what is new on this beta? Besides many fixes, here are the major highlights:

1. Recycler Bin not updating properly issue on non-English systems should have been fixed for good.

2. New 'Dark Mode (Black)', 'Dark Mode (Gray)' and 'Winstep' User Interface options.

The first two in particular should help the UI blend better with Windows 10, especially if Dark Mode is enabled. Winstep is a bonus look that matches the Winstep web site.

When using the two Dark Modes, some colors in the Winstep UI will automatically match the currently selected Windows 10 'Accent' color.

The new modes are accessed via Preferences -> General tab -> More Options button, and can be used on non-Windows 10 systems too, although the Microsoft Common Controls buttons, listboxes and combo boxes might look a bit odd.

I will still look into modifying these so they're a better match to the new UI modes. Perhaps also dependent on this, one question that needs answering is: should the Winstep application under Windows 10 automatically start with the 'Dark (Gray)' mode (or 'Dark (Black' if the user has Dark Mode enabled in the OS) on first run?

Please do let me know what you think. Those running WindowBlinds in particular should also let me know if they run into problems/visual glitches with the new UI modes.

3. New tab sliding animation when switching tabs in Preferences.

This is deliberately enabled by default so you can tell me what you prefer, static switching or the new slide switching method. If nobody likes the new method I will leave it there as an option but NOT make it the default in the official release.

You can turn it on or off via Preferences -> General tab -> More Options -> Disable User Interface Animation.

I'm also thinking of adding a more subtle additional Windows 10/Fluent Design based transition animation based on fading out the old and fading in the new, but I haven't tried it yet so I still don't know if I can pull it off.

I understand these last two are purely cosmetic changes, but they were quick to implement and eye candy sells too. :)

4. Fixed Language Bar internal command on Windows 10.

It now also brings the target window to the foreground.

5. Clicking the weather module in the Shelf now also displays the weather forecast in a sub-dock.

Previously it would open a web page on your browser with detailed weather information. You can still access this page by right clicking on the module and selecting 'Detailed Weather Conditions'.

6. You can now play with the Colorization sliders in the About tab of Preferences and cancel the changes by clicking the Cancel button.

Beats me why this wasn't so from the beginning, sigh.

7. Docks, etc, outside the monitor where a full screen application is open now keep on updating.

8. Fixed issue where a sub-dock would go behind the parent dock.

9. Other misc.fixes...

For a full list please see the changelog: right click on the version number at the top right corner of the About tab in Preferences, click 'View Changelog'.
Author:  coolbreeze [ Mon Jan 15, 2018 5:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Request from Jorge for Comment on latest beta
My very first post in any of these forums since purchasing a license for Extreme. Just finished d/l of latest beta and don't have access to beta forum do I chose this one for comments I made to Jorge via email. Below is my quote:

"Thanks again for your very timely response. I downloaded your new beta and the Dark Mode Black is a winner. I think you should make it default when Winstep actualizes. I also use WindowBlinds and so far no anomalies encountered. Personally, I like user interface animation. Hope this helps."

Obviously, I hope this helps folks here.

Regards,
Alan....
Author:  winstep [ Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
Thanks Alan, glad you liked the new additions! :)

Now lets see what the others also think of the new UI animation and Dark modes.

In the mean time, another small cautionary tale which is probably only interesting to other developers, but ah well:

When making the Moon Calendar animation, I was conscious that I was animating very large bitmaps (the moon), calculating Gaussian blurred moon shadows in real time, keeping a background image in perpetual movement at the same time (the star field), and then composing all of that, including the calendar, into a single image.

I knew slower systems might not fare so well, but, at the same time, I wanted to provide the smoothest animation possible for any particular machine. The higher FPS I could get away with, the better.

So, to adapt frame rates to the speed of that particular PC, I calculated how long it took on average to display a single frame of animation and used that number to enforce a maximum frame rate. This way slower machines would not get bogged down.

On a fast machine a full frame is created and rendered every 30 ms, which results in roughly 30 FPS. The animation shows an accelerated timeline of the moon: in the real world, there would be a 3 hour difference between each frame.

Despite such a small 3 hour real time interval between frames - relatively speaking - even at full 30 FPS it was possible to notice small 'jumps' in the moon libration (rotation) angle. To smooth things out, every 10 ms I inserted a 'transitional' frame, which was a simple rotation of the previous frame. Since this rotation did not require Gaussian blurred shadows to be re-calculated, it was much faster than re-creating a new frame.

On my machine it took 1-2 ms to render these intermediate frames, and, since it was so fast, I did not think it would be a problem on slower machines and therefore did not plan for it.

I forgot one thing though: on a PC running at 200% DPI, everything is twice the size: the moon, the scrolling background, etc... you're moving four times more pixels/data per frame. So, what took just 1-2 ms on my machine, ended up taking 10 ms or more on a slower machine running with high DPI, and that 10 ms value is CRITICAL because that is the time between timer kicks. It meant that as one frame was finished, the other begun to render immediately, leaving no time for the rest of the application to process mouse clicks and key presses.

You would get a nicely smooth rotating moon with no way to stop it other than killing the application. Sigh.

I fixed it by noting the time it takes to render the intermediate rotation - if it ever takes longer than 5 ms, I kill the 10 ms transitional animations. This returns maximum FPS control to the mechanism I had previously engineered for fully rendered frames, which works flawlessly.
Author:  Windy [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 3:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
Love the sliding animation feature in Preferences when switching tabs!

Oh, just so you know, I was having issues with the Recycle Bin too with not updating/showing when it was closed and empty. It's now working again with the new update.

Oh, another thing, Avast did it again. I had to try a couple of times to install the updates. It had me send it to them again for the files to be checked for malware. Obviously they haven't white-listed those files yet. I know you mentioned it could be because of pirated versions.
Author:  werewolf [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 4:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
don't have time to play, but REALLY like the weather opening in a sub-dock! thanks.
Author:  Vlad [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 5:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
winstep wrote:
Quote:
Those running WindowBlinds in particular should also let me know if they run into problems/visual glitches with the new UI modes.


Windows 10 and WindowBlinds user: all the new interfaces have a problem with the listboxes, text is white on white for normal, white text on light blue background on mouse over, contrast is good on clicking.
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Author:  Vlad [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 6:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
winstep wrote:

Quote:
New Beta of v18.1 is out


I like the new dark themes and thank you Jorge for the bug fixes! Good work!
I also like the new animation! What can I say? I do like eye candy...
Author:  vectornut [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 7:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
Windy wrote:
Love the sliding animation feature in Preferences when switching tabs!

DMNT! I wanna see! Somebody make a GIF so I can see. I don't want to wait until payday so I can update my license and see. :evil: :shock: :lol:
Author:  Vlad [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 8:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
vectornut wrote:

Quote:
I wanna see! Somebody make a GIF so I can see.


Here is a link to the GIF you wanted

https://ibb.co/hgvv46
Author:  vectornut [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 9:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
Vlad wrote:
vectornut wrote:

Quote:
I wanna see! Somebody make a GIF so I can see.


Here is a link to the GIF you wanted

https://ibb.co/hgvv46

Ahhh, very cool, thank you!
Author:  seeker [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 10:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
slide animation is maybe bit to fast regarding what you said about motion sickness?

also i had an issue caused by some 3hird party software/bug/memory leak (not sure what was the cause since my laptop had been running for a while so i figured it probably just needs a restart) that caused the animation to glitch out, which gave me to think if it could be taxing for older computers?

it runs fine after restart


7. Clicking a Weather module icon in the Shelf now opens a Weather forecast dock.


how can one change theme for the weather dock?
Author:  winstep [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 1:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
Wow. Seems like the new UI slide in animation is getting an unanimous Yes, so I'll have that enabled by default. The Dark Modes seem to be a hit too.

Few further questions for you guys: in your opinion...

... under Windows 10, if the user has enabled Dark Mode in Windows, should the Winstep application automatically enable Dark Mode too when run for the first time?

Also, again under Windows 10, if the user has NOT enabled Dark Mode in Windows, should the Winstep application start with the standard UI or with Dark Mode (Gray) when run for the first time?

seeker wrote:
slide animation is maybe bit to fast regarding what you said about motion sickness?


It's a balance... the slide animation is currently set to complete in 600 ms. Can't be too fast because then it becomes a blur, can't be too slow because you have to wait for it to complete before the tab becomes usable.

seeker wrote:
caused the animation to glitch out, which gave me to think if it could be taxing for older computers?


The animation itself is extremely lite: the new tab window is rendered off screen when you click on another tab (that is the only part that might take some actual processing time, and it happens even before the animation begins) and then both tabs are made to slide in and out by simply changing the x coordinate of both windows.

There is an induced delay between 'animation frames', otherwise the whole animation would be over before it started. This delay is accomplished by surrendering processing time to the OS, so if some other process is busy hogging all CPU cores I suppose the animation can become jerky. However, it will never take longer than 600 ms to complete, which is what really matters.

seeker wrote:
how can one change theme for the weather dock?


Errr... well, yeah, you can't lol. It will be whatever is the currently applied 'universal' dock theme.
Author:  winstep [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 1:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
Vlad wrote:
Windows 10 and WindowBlinds user: all the new interfaces have a problem with the listboxes, text is white on white for normal, white text on light blue background on mouse over, contrast is good on clicking.


Thanks for the heads up. That seems to be a conflict between WB/Windows Common Controls.

I can set the text and background color of the combo box for when it is expanded , but when the combo box is closed the text and background color are set/overridden by the Windows Common Controls. Seems to me WB, unlike the Windows Common Controls, is using the text color I set for when the combo box is expanded.

Anyway, this mess can only be avoided by rendering the combo boxes and command buttons myself if the Dark Modes are enabled (the Standard UI mode would remain - and is - compatible with any applied WB theme).

This is not as easy as it sounds, since it requires VB's control creation at run time to be intercepted via a system hook.
Author:  seeker [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 2:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
winstep wrote:

seeker wrote:
caused the animation to glitch out, which gave me to think if it could be taxing for older computers?


The animation itself is extremely lite: the new tab window is rendered off screen when you click on another tab (that is the only part that might take some actual processing time, and it happens even before the animation begins) and then both tabs are made to slide in and out by simply changing the x coordinate of both windows.

There is an induced delay between 'animation frames', otherwise the whole animation would be over before it started. This delay is accomplished by surrendering processing time to the OS, so if some other process is busy hogging all CPU cores I suppose the animation can become jerky. However, it will never take longer than 600 ms to complete, which is what really matters.


it wasnt (just) jerky, it was glitching in a weird way like stripes and... dont know how to describe it now that is gone

winstep wrote:
seeker wrote:
how can one change theme for the weather dock?


Errr... well, yeah, you can't lol. It will be whatever is the currently applied 'universal' dock theme.


and how can you change/apply 'universal' dock theme?
Author:  winstep [ Tue Jan 16, 2018 4:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: So, what's next after v17.12?
seeker wrote:
and how can you change/apply 'universal' dock theme?


You open Preferences, go to the Themes tab and then change 'Winstep Themes' to 'Dock Themes'. You can now select a theme from those available and it will apply to all docks that are not theme locked.
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