Re: XCode usable?
Re: XCode usable?
- Subject: Re: XCode usable?
- From: Josh Anon <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2003 17:30:08 -0800
I can't speak for others, but here are some of my specific issues:
When I open a project, I care about my files and an editor. Rarely do
I open a project and immediately want to go to search results or a
smart group--I want to scroll to a file (or see the last file I was
editing), and a full editor window. PB did this, and Xcode doesn't.
When I do a build, I want to immediately see detailed build info, and I
want context. It's annoying to have to hit command-shift-b or hunt for
a window to see detailed info (radar 3462826). If I'm trying to do > 1
build, I can't tell which build window refers to what build for similar
projects.
When I'm debugging, I want my file browser right there so that if I
want to add a specific breakpoint, I can easily go to a different file
and add it. I can sometimes use the popup menu from the editor, but if
I haven't opened the file yet, it might not appear (radar 3462823).
Generally, if I'm editing a target, I am not editing code at the same
time--I want my target inspector to be big, and again associated with
my project so that it's easy to drag things from my file browser to
various build phases (e.g. if I have a copy phase for my html-based
manual, and I want to add a new html file). Single window mode made
this easy. The target editor in an inspector makes this annoying. The
lack of an "edit active target" button is also a pain (3467718),
although not specifically related.
There are other various annoyances that make the pseudo single window
mode that I can get hard to use, for instance (3467709) if I want to
see the .m file in my main editor window, and open a different editor
window with a different .h, double-clicking in the file view also
causes selection in the main editor window, so I end up with 2 windows
pointing at the .h file.
Another nice thing that was perhaps a side effect of single window mode
was that the editor splitter worked really well, and it was easy to see
3 editors in 1 window. It seems to be broken in Xcode. A quick
example is click the split button, and watch it disappear from the 2nd
editor, making it seem you can only have 1 split. Then (in the 2nd
editor), hit command-". The editor's split resizing controls and split
collapse completely falls apart. Plus, the split editor seems to be
part of the text editor and not the general editor, as I can't split an
image view (which PB could do). There are other things like this, all
filed (3474846, 3467762, 3462840, 3467759) that just make it tough to
even fake a single window mode.
I guess the overall message is that I like having just 1 place to look
for things, unless I specifically say otherwise (by opening a new
window), and I like context for important steps, such as builds.
Single window mode made that easy.
Thanks,
Josh
On Nov 5, 2003, at 4:48 PM, Scott Tooker wrote:
The problem with some of the requests that I see for a "return to
single window" is that they focus on implementation ("bring back the
tabs!") instead of focusing on the underlying workflow issues (too
many windows popup, limited screen real estate, having to shuffle
across many windows to get status).
I think it's fair to say that there are no current plans to bring back
the slideout tabs. That said, we are definitely interested in tackling
the underlying workflow issues and work well for both single and
multi-window users (which actually contains several different
sub-configurations).
To give these sort of requests more weight and detail, step back and
think a little bit about how the workflow is being mangled or how it
could be better.
Note: this advice really isn't specific to single window requests.
It's actually a good idea when filing any substantial enhancement
request. It just happens that I see this a lot with requests to "bring
back the tabs".
Scott
---
Josh Anon
Studio Tools, Pixar Animation Studios
email@hidden
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