When you open Nexus Preferences, the About tab currently says 'Liked this software? Then Winstep Xtreme will simply blow your mind!' at the bottom.

What I need are more short suggestive phrases, which would appear randomly every time you open Nexus Preferences, explaining why Winstep Xtreme gives the user so much more than the stand alone Nexus version.

For instance, something like 'Would you like having as many docks as you want?' or 'With Winstep Xtreme you can also have tabbed docks' etc...

So, simple phrases that would ilustrate how much happier ( ) the user would be if he upgraded to Xtreme, but written in such a way that the user's mouth would water at the simple thought of trying out Xtreme.

Any suggestions please?

Also, a question: if the user makes and applies some changes in Preferences but then clicks the Preferences window titlebar close button, do you think that should be considered as 'Cancel' or as 'Ok'?

If the user makes changes in preferences then presses the close button he/she should be asked if they want to save the changes. It is this way in Start Menu Organizer, so doing this for NeXuS, NextSTART, and WorkShelf would just make the setting universal.

I agree with system001

Hmmm... it would be too complicated setting a 'changes made' flag for every little setting in Preferences, which leaves us with only two choices:

1 - If you click the close button, you always get asked if you want to save any changes you might have made.

2 - When you click the Apply button, a 'changes made' flag is indeed set. So, you would be asked only if you had clicked Apply in the mean time, and only those settings you changed until you clicked Apply would be saved, any other changes between clicking Apply and the window's close button discarded.

Let me give you an example: you change a theme and click Apply. You then change the position of the dock and click the Preferences window close button. Because you have clicked Apply before, you get asked if you want to keep the changes you applied. If you say no, everything gets undone (including the change of theme). If you say yes, then the new theme is kept but the dock's position is not changed.

So, from this perspective, which option makes more sense?

I'll be blunt. Both of those options suck. I prefer when applications behave like I'm used to. So preferences in winstep should behave like preferences in any other program...

If I change things and click ok, all settings should be saved as I set them then window is closed.

If I click apply, settings are saved, window remain open.

Pressing cancel will simply close the window without saving anything.

And finally, the titlebar close button should do the same as cancel.

I find it annoying when I click on close and nothing happens, makes me think the program has bugged out on me.

I personally also think that this, from all the options, is the one that makes more sense - and the easier to implement.

Most programs when you click the close button will ask you if you want to save your changes. I think this is one thing that should be the same regardless of what program you are running. I have done this too many times with a program forget to hit apply and hit the close button and loose my changes because the program is not set up to ask you if you want to save your changes. Some things should be system wide. This might be something for Microsoft to address in future OS releases.




This seems a good work around.

But it's still a work-around, potentially confusing, and not as simple or as elegant as executing a Cancel when you click on the window's close button.

And, after all, if I get a Yes/No or Ok/Cancel dialog anywhere in Windows, clicking the titlebar's close button is the same as clicking the Cancel button. So THAT is actually the standard way of doing things.

In my opinion, Mickeko is right in this one. Plus, even if you do make a mistake, it's not like you're going to lose valuable data - you'll just have to apply your settings again and remember from then on that the Ok, Apply and Cancel buttons are there for a reason.

Really?

I'll check the validity of what you claim... What I do is open the preferences window, change a setting, and then hit the close button on the titlebar. Here's the result:

Internet Explorer doesn't ask.
Windows Mail doesn't ask.
Skype doesn't ask.
MSN Messenger doesn't ask.
Adobe Photoshop doesn't ask.
Mozilla Firefox doesn't ask.
VLC media player doesn't ask.

All of the tested programs cancel all changes when I hit the close button.

I could keep loading up every piece of software I have installed, and I'm pretty sure they all would behave the same way.

Yep, we're talking about settings here, not actual data.

Obviously, for programs like MS Word, etc, where you would actually LOSE data, clicking the window's close button will prompt you to save changes. Then again, those applications don't have Cancel buttons either.

What happens when you click the close button is settled, thanks everybody for their opinions.

Now what about some nice examples of juicy 'you really should try out Xtreme' phrases?

all your office apps do(other than outlook) i use excel almost daily and all i even do is click the close button, and get asked if i want to save changes)
all your adobe products do(including photoshop) just tested it.
paint.net does


your major editing apps do. all i was saying is we need a system default one way or the other, or even an option to toggle depending the users preference. and if all the apps are part of suite then what happens when the close button is pressed in one app should be the default in all apps in that suite when the close button is pressed.

You're talking about closing the software entirely, which is WAY different from the behavior of the settings window. Don't confuse the two. Any changes you do to the docks/shelves are (as far as I know) and should be instantly saved. There's no need for any questions there.

Again, the reason the Organizer asks for confirmation is because you can actually spend a great deal of time organizing the Start Menu just the way you want it, only to lose it all by clicking the wrong button.

For this same reason, the Organizer also prompts you for confirmation when you click the Cancel button.

Because, in the case of WorkShelf Preferences, it doesn't make any sense for the Cancel button to ask for confirmation, the close window button shouldn't too.

Just a point: I hate being asked "Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"You don't want to check with someone else first, do you?"

"You're not feeling very confident are you"

"I think you had better take a moment and think this over"

"I want you to know - this is definitely final"

"Don't say I didn't warn you"


For flippin sake - when I click close, Apply, or Detonate Nuclear Weapons - I meant it - and if I didn't, well let me deal with the consequences - I'll just have to go back and change those settings back. It's not the end of the world (well maybe the nuclear bomb might be awkward to explain).