Re: Xcode 4 related questions
Re: Xcode 4 related questions
- Subject: Re: Xcode 4 related questions
- From: Nathan Sims <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:29:27 -0800
Thanks Joar for your response. I'm *not* ragging on Xcode 4 per se; I'm just confused by the UI. I thought I could just upgrade to it and do basic operations without a learning curve, but I was wrong. See edited comments below.
On Mar 11, 2011, at 10:34 PM, Joar Wingfors wrote:
>
> On 11 mar 2011, at 21.08, Nathan Sims wrote:
>
>> Me too, but if there's a way to make the UI useful, I don't see how yet. A lot of visibility into the build process seems hidden now.
>
> Which parts of the build process? We expose all of the same control over the build process, and the same amount of feedback over what's going on during a build. Some things have moved around a bit though, such as...
My basic workflow when developing is:
a. Simultaneously Edit numerous files, then Compile (do this many, many times!)
b. Build
c. Usually (95%) go back to a.
d. Finally, Run. Then go back to a.
Xcode 3 made this easy, as the steps above just entailed a click on a button already present on the UI. I'm not alleging that Xcode 4 can't do this, but it's not obvious to me where the compile or build without running buttons are, or how to have numerous free editing windows up, or how to have the Build results window up so I can reference it while editing numerous files, etc. The Xcode 4 GUI seems to have a more 'single-threaded' workflow mindset.
>
>> Why are all the buttons unlabeled?
>
> Which buttons? If you find something that's not discoverable enough, or that doesn't have tooltips, please file a bug report:
Which buttons? All of the buttons. None has a label so you can see what it does without hovering the cursor over it. Also, is there a way to disable tooltips? They always seem to pop up atop whatever I'm doing, getting in the way. This is a major annoyance I have with Xcode 3, BTW.
>> Is the Toolbar customizable? If so I didn't see it in Preferences...
>
> No, it's not (you can show / hide the toolbar, and switch between showing the labels or not, though).
I think this may be indicative of the orientation issues I've been having with Xcode 4. Xcode 3 allowed for very flexible customization to adapt to *my* workflow. It's just not so obvious how to do this in Xcode 4, and in fact, may not even be possible to customize it? My humble opinion is that one size doesn't fit all, a more flexible developer-dictated approach would be very welcome. This is a developer app after all, not a user app, so it should honor my choices and allow me to do things in the way most productive for me.
>
>> I took Xcode 4 off.
>
> I'm sorry to hear that, we hope to see you back some day!
It's just that I didn't have time to get going with it. I will go back to it, but the learning curve didn't allow switching over in the middle of a number of ongoing projects.
>
>> It was complaining about all sorts of things being deprecated, etc
>
> Xcode is not in control of which features that are available in certain versions of Mac OS / iOS. We're just the messenger.
I was just explaining one of the reasons I didn't have time to get into it, not criticizing Xcode 4 for it.
>
>> Is there a video or something to show how to use Xcode 4? Isn't it a sign of poor design if the UI isn't intuitive?
>
> We provided videos and presentations at last years WWDC, and I'm sure that we will provide even more at this year's WWDC. We have updated documentation, and a new Transition Guide document that I hope all of you take a look at. Xcode 4 is a big change over Xcode 3, and we understand that it will take a bit of time for anyone migrating between the two to feel at home in the new version. I'm not sure that any amount of documentation could change that though.
Yes, I found WWDC 2010 video 307 & friends, and will view them as soon as I get a block of time to get into Xcode 4.
Thanks Joar!
- Nate
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