Winstep

Software Technologies


 Winstep Forums


Print view
Board index : Winstep Forums : General Discussion  [ 11 posts ]
Author Message
 Post subject: Centering Icons in Shelf
PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:35 am 
Offline

Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:18 am
Posts: 4
Hello and good morning,

I should start by saying I've been using Winstep Nexus faithfully for several years without issue, and have enjoyed the convenience and features it provides.

After installing the most recent update, however, I noticed a deviation from the previous version in the shelf, namely the left margin has been greatly reduced as to make centering the icons impossible. I've tried several ways to make it work the same as it did in the previous versions, namely increasing icon pixel size or spacing, but to no avail. I've attached pictures below to help exemplify the problem and my attempt to unsuccessfully fix the condition. Any suggestions on how to remedy this would be most appreciated.

Before Update:
Image

After Update:
Image

Attempted Fix:
Image


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Centering Icons in Shelf
PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:15 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2004 8:30 pm
Posts: 11930
Adding support for multiple Shelves, vertical Shelves, Shelf scaling, Drawers, etc, in the v18.8 release was a MAJOR and very time consuming undertaking, requiring changing literally THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of lines of code.

WorkShelf was first released back in 2000, and there was a lot of Shelf-related code in there that went back to that time. All that old stale code had to be revised and, in many cases, simplified to unravel years of changes piled up on top of each other.

Themes, for instance, first started with the Shelf bitmaps being divided into separate components/bitmaps (left, middle, right, center, etc...). In time this evolved into other, simpler, ways of making Shelf backgrounds. Throughout all these changes backwards compatibility had to be maintained and supported, so old themes would not simply stop working.

So, with v18.8 there were MANY changes to make things a lot simpler to handle internally, but always with the goal of maintaining full backwards compatibility. I run an extensive period of beta testing for v18.8, and I tested several different old themes to make sure nothing had been broken. Nobody complained during the long period of beta testing either.

There were some changes that were DELIBERATELY introduced, such as the order of icon rows for multi-row Shelves at the top of the screen, for instance (I discuss this in another topic). Some metrics for Shelves were also changed a bit.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I did my very best not to break backwards compatibility with themes, but there are hundred of themes out there and I could not test them all - so it is possible some things will not work or display the same as before, or that I missed something.

What theme are you using in there? Looks like a colorized version of KTEK-4D?

_________________
Jorge Coelho
Winstep Xtreme - Xtreme Power!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject: Re: Centering Icons in Shelf
PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:39 pm 
Offline

Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:18 am
Posts: 4
I definitely don’t want to seem unappreciative; I can only imagine the immense amount of work that went into the feature-heavy v18.8 release, and it really shows (drawers are an amazing addition, and I love the new color options!)

Anyways, you are correct that the theme in the above pictures is the KTEK-4D using one of the tint options for colorization


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Centering Icons in Shelf
PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:50 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2004 8:30 pm
Posts: 11930
NBAKingzFan10 wrote:
I definitely don’t want to seem unappreciative; I can only imagine the immense amount of work that went into the feature-heavy v18.8 release, and it really shows (drawers are an amazing addition, and I love the new color options!)


Sorry, I was just trying to give you a sense of how massive the amount of changes were.... :)

NBAKingzFan10 wrote:
Anyways, you are correct that the theme in the above pictures is the KTEK-4D using one of the tint options for colorization


Ok, I'll look into it and try to figure out what is happening in there. The funny thing is that I used KTEK-4D extensively for testing (I love that theme) but I didn't spot that issue.

That's why beta testing is so important, so issues like this can be spotted and corrected before an official release. Alas, as with everything, people testing the builds normally already have their own configurations set in stone, which makes it more difficult to spot issues with less used setting combinations that some users out there NOT involved in testing have.

P.S. Glad you like the new Drawers. :)

_________________
Jorge Coelho
Winstep Xtreme - Xtreme Power!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject: Re: Centering Icons in Shelf
PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 1:59 pm 
Offline
Global Moderator
Global Moderator

Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2018 7:19 pm
Posts: 2330
Location: Here, there, and everywhere
Heck, never noticed that before! But then, my shelves in all my different setups (I use several, for both personal and theme development, and they all get changed/tweaked/adjusted frequently - hence a myriad of backup files!) are never that symmetrical, but yes, *now* I can see it here too.

I often, especially during beta cycles, switch between different setups several times in a day, and usually between different themes (both own and third party) even more, but still you can miss things. :(

_________________
nexter - so, what's next?

Just a volunteer Moderator, not connected to or affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies, and not an official part of customer service though I do try to help when and where I can if my scarce time permits


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Centering Icons in Shelf
PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:11 am 
Offline
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2004 8:30 pm
Posts: 11930
Ok, just looked at this (luckily I have a Windows 10 VM here with source code for v18.1) and I can tell you this so far:

There is ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE where the icons start between the different versions (v18.1 vs. v18.8 ) using the KTEK-4D theme. The values are exactly the same.

So, the difference you're seeing *might* have something to do with the icon spacing values. What icon spacing values are you using for that Shelf?

It *might* be something else too: what is your screen DPI? If it's anything other than 100%, there's your answer.

You see, before v18.8 the Shelf only offered *basic* support for high DPI screen settings. It would increase the size of the icons and the size of the text, BUT IT WOULD NOT SCALE UP THE BACKGROUND BITMAPS. This meant the size of tabs, mini-tabs, etc, would remain the same. So, not TRUE scaling.

With v18.8 the whole Shelf is already scaled up properly and proportionally (which is why v18.8 also added an option for manual scaling up to 200%).

Something else to take into account: an horizontal Shelf set to span the full screen width might naturally end up with more empty space at the right side than at the left side. This is because the remaining space at the right might not be enough to contain a full icon cell.

_________________
Jorge Coelho
Winstep Xtreme - Xtreme Power!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject: Re: Centering Icons in Shelf
PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:39 am 
Offline
Global Moderator
Global Moderator

Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2018 7:19 pm
Posts: 2330
Location: Here, there, and everywhere
winstep wrote:
Ok, just looked at this (luckily I have a Windows 10 VM here with source code for v18.1) and I can tell you this so far:

There is ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE where the icons start between the different versions (v18.1 vs. v18.8 ) using the KTEK-4D theme. The values are exactly the same.

So, the difference you're seeing *might* have something to do with the icon spacing values. What icon spacing values are you using for that Shelf?

It *might* be something else too: what is your screen DPI? If it's anything other than 100%, there's your answer.

You see, before v18.8 the Shelf only offered *basic* support for high DPI screen settings. It would increase the size of the icons and the size of the text, BUT IT WOULD NOT SCALE UP THE BACKGROUND BITMAPS. This meant the size of tabs, mini-tabs, etc, would remain the same. So, not TRUE scaling.

With v18.8 the whole Shelf is already scaled up properly and proportionally (which is why v18.8 also added an option for manual scaling up to 200%).

Something else to take into account: an horizontal Shelf set to span the full screen width might naturally end up with more empty space at the right side than at the left side. This is because the remaining space at the right might not be enough to contain a full icon cell.

Yep, that makes sense. I've also checked on this in different themes and with the horizontal shelf set to full screen width. And the space left at the right varies a hell of a lot even just between different themes, and more so when you change the H icon spacing. (Same applies to vertical shelf.) Never really noticed this consciously before - I guess you get so used to it you take it for granted. (Funny old things, our brains and perception. :) )

_________________
nexter - so, what's next?

Just a volunteer Moderator, not connected to or affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies, and not an official part of customer service though I do try to help when and where I can if my scarce time permits


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Centering Icons in Shelf
PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 4:59 pm 
Offline

Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:18 am
Posts: 4
Edit: So, interestingly enough, I failed to do the most basic of things (and I'm really beating myself up over this); I reverted the version using Acronis to roll back Nexus to 18.5. Noticed everything looked fine, decided to backup the settings (why didn't I think of that before?!?!), and then updated again to v18.8.

As expected, the shelf tweaked itself to resemble the 2nd image, with the left margin being compacted again. However, upon restoring from the 18.5 backup, the margins are happily back in place and I couldn't tell you what, if anything, was causing it... at all. It baffles me still.

Anyways, I just wanted to apologize for wasting your time due to my negligence of covering the basics before running for help. Thank you immensely for your efforts, and most of all, thank you for this wonderful program that I plan to use for years to come

Cheers!


Last edited by NBAKingzFan10 on Tue Sep 04, 2018 5:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Centering Icons in Shelf
PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 5:15 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2004 8:30 pm
Posts: 11930
NBAKingzFan10 wrote:
I haven't changed any settings, in Windows or Nexus or otherwise, since upgrading to the newest version. My DPI in Windows is still set at 100%. In the "Before Update" picture, I was using an icon size of 92 and a horizontal spacing of 38. Vertical spacing, although I'm sure it doesn't matter, was and still is at a value of 21. The "after update" picture (where the left margin is severely compacted) is using the same exact values as the previous version (Icon size 92; Spacing 38, 21 respectively). Given what you said, it seems a little confusing that there would be such a dramatic difference in the spacing between the icons to the left of the shelf as opposed to before, especially using the same exact settings.


Well, I haven't tried it with your exact settings yet to see if there is a discrepancy. :) I did make a TON of changes to the Shelf code, after all.

NBAKingzFan10 wrote:
It doesn't appear to affect the function of Nexus and, much like the dust particles under my phone's screen protector that I swore I would never get used to, I'm steadily adapting to the shelf as it stands and it's bugging me less and less than it did when I first noticed it a few days ago.


Eheh. As I wrote to another user complaining about the reversal of icon rows for Shelves docked to the top of the screen:

"Imagine you had just started using the application - for you the 'new way' would be 'the right way', and the 'old way' would be the 'wrong way'.

Just shows that human beings are creatures of habit and that they truly detest changes - even when those changes are for the better. :)

Luckily we are also very adaptable creatures. =)"

_________________
Jorge Coelho
Winstep Xtreme - Xtreme Power!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject: Re: Centering Icons in Shelf
PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 5:22 pm 
Offline

Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:18 am
Posts: 4
Edited my previous comment to reflect an update on the situation

Luckily we are very adaptable creatures. Very forgetful ones, too, as I found out and as you'll see from my update :oops:

Again, thank you for everything you do Jorge, your efforts do not go unnoticed (although maybe underappreciated at times)


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Centering Icons in Shelf
PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 5:36 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2004 8:30 pm
Posts: 11930
NBAKingzFan10 wrote:
However, upon restoring from the 18.5 backup, the margins are happily back in place and I couldn't tell you what, if anything, was causing it... at all. It baffles me still.


So, restoring from the backup did the trick?

It's probably related to the migration from v18.5 to v18.8 then... Previous to v18.5 all the Shelf settings were stored together with the other general settings (because there could only be one Shelf), both in Backups and in the Registry.

Because v18.8 supports multiple Shelves, however, they had to be separated into their own 'Shelves' hive, so a kind of internal migration process occurred when you run v18.8 for the first time. Perhaps something did not get transferred properly to the new internal data structures.

Good thing I made sure v18.8 is backwards compatible with pre v18.8 backups (always was a sucker for backwards compatibility). :wink:

Also, now that I know this I have a feeling re-applying the KTEK-4D theme would have fixed the problem as well. :)

NBAKingzFan10 wrote:
nyways, I just wanted to apologize for wasting your time due to my negligence of covering the basics before running for help. Thank you immensely for your efforts, and most of all, thank you for this wonderful program that I plan to use for years to come


Ahah, no worries, hindsight is always 20/20 vision. :wink:

Thanks for the thumbs up! :)

_________________
Jorge Coelho
Winstep Xtreme - Xtreme Power!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
Post new topic Reply to topic Board index : Winstep Forums : General Discussion  [ 11 posts ]
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 55 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron