Property Box loses focus

PaulDesmondWhite · Post by **PaulDesmondWhite** » 22 Oct 2009 03:14

I've been trialling FH4 for a couple of days and already wonder if it's a good move for me.

When using FH i am constantly switching applications (Ancestry, IGI, etc), collecting data and typing into FH.

With my way of working, FH is almost always showing the diagram window and property box (ready to receive the new data).

In V3, when i switched back to FH, my text cursor was still in the place i left it inside the property box.

Unless i'm missing something fundamental, FH4 has a serious usability problem. When i switch back to FH, focus goes to the diagram window, so i need to pick up the mouse and click again into the right property box field.

Please tell me i'm doing something wrong so i can happily cough up the upgrade cost.

ID:4082

JonAxtell · Post by **JonAxtell** » 22 Oct 2009 09:37

FH always has serious usability problems. [frown]

The loss of focus issue has already created such a huge frustration factor for me that I made a wish list request for it. See http://www.fhug.org.uk/wishlist/wldispl ... lwlref=424 (Field to stay in focus on app switch).

I would argue that this wish list item should be fixed in a intermediate release ASAP (v4.03?) as unlike a lot of other wish list items which are to do with adding features and nice-to-have things, this wish list item affects the basic usability of FH. To not have this issue fixed makes FH extremely frustrating and awkward to use and will not endear users to it. And annoying your users is not something a software developer wants to do.

ChrisBowyer · Post by **ChrisBowyer** » 23 Oct 2009 06:47

JonAxtell said:
FH always has serious usability problems.

In the past I've always dismissed FH's usability problems as one of it's endearing little quirks, and tried to restrict my wish list requests (and votes) to things that I can't actually achieve any other way. After all, I use it often enough that you just get used to it. But V4 was supposed to include a major overhaul of the user interface and I found it disapointing in that respect.

And I wouldn't want them to spend a lot of effort tweaking with little things like this one at a time at the expense of things that I can't work around (and this is after all only one of many, and not necessarily the most important).

FH really does need a major overhaul of the user interface from the top down (like throw away MDI, and rethink all the operations from the user's rather than the data's perspective), and that would have to be in a major release.

ChrisBowyer · Post by **ChrisBowyer** » 23 Oct 2009 07:41

Paul White said:When i switch back to FH, focus goes to the diagram window

It doesn't when I do it... either clicking it in the task bar or pressing Alt+Tab gets me back in the property box if that's where I left it (but not necessarily in the right place in the field). Are you doing something different?

JonAxtell · Post by **JonAxtell** » 23 Oct 2009 10:11

It depends on whether the property box is docked or not. If it's floating and has focus switching back keeps the cursor in the property box. The moment you dock the box, the cursor's focus is placed elsewhere - the record window if that is open, or the diagram if that is open and even then it's not right. Eg. if the record window is open and a note is being edited, the note text still loses focus.

As to getting the little things fixed, I haven't looked at all the list of 'little niggles' to see which I would give priority too but I would prefer to have a few little bugs/issues fixed every month or so as opposed to fixing them all in one big jump in a years time. It seems that a major version of FH gets released followed by a few minor versions to fix some bugs which crop up from the new version (some debatable about needing to be fixed ASAP). But after that bit of a flurry nothing happens till another major version, and the old bugs are still not fixed. I would love to be proved wrong but it's been some time since the last minor version release and I can't see why there should be such a hold up before another minor version is released.

Finally the UI - Yes it is stuck in Windows 95 world. Ditch the MDI interface (and it's accompanying techy description in the manual which is of no use to 90% of the users of FH) and redesign the UI to be suited to the needs of the user and HOW they do their work not on the needs of the data. 99% of users don't want to know that Gedcom is the underlying format for storing data, just that when it comes to using Gedcom (export/import) it's very good at supporting it.

PaulDesmondWhite · Post by **PaulDesmondWhite** » 23 Oct 2009 10:36

Chris, i use the property box docked. Then app switching sets focus to the diagram window (not that there's anything much to show the fact, other than loss of the property box cursor).

I agree that, undocked, the property box retains focus, but (in general) cursor moves to start of last focus field.

Exceptions are:

1) Main tab, Children subform: cursor jumps to Name field, whole field selected.

2) Notes tab, Note text subform: prior cursor and selection retained HOORAY.

3) All tab, whole property selected: retains selection.

4) All tab, cursor inside a text box: focus moves to preceding label.

5) Any time Note popup is active, cursor and selection are retained (as was the case in V3 and one strong reason i make a lot of use of it).

Afraid i don't really agree with you about this kind of stuff being 'trivial'. Putting it off has bad long-term consequences that old stick-in-the-muds like me have seen far too much of:

a) It's cumulative (see how much V4 is degraded versus V3?).

b) Developers start thinking it doesn't matter and become sloppy.

c) Half the users get increasingly pissed off.

d) The other half never discover what a joy it is to use well-written software, just assuming computers are crap.

And while i'm having a rant, what i didn't mention before - with the introduction of the 'Focus' window (did a 'Focus Group' invent the name?) we now have an application with THREE different 'look-and-feel' components. Great result, just for the sake of an almost useless component that looks like an attempt to ape FTM etc.

PaulDesmondWhite · Post by **PaulDesmondWhite** » 23 Oct 2009 10:43

Pipped to the post again by bloody Jon!!!

If i got to bed a bit earlier, i might get up in time to deal with the morning post!

100% agree about interim bug fixes (and don't ever let a developer get away with calling them usability issues or whatever)

ChrisBowyer · Post by **ChrisBowyer** » 23 Oct 2009 16:05

Agree with you entirely... I didn't say it was trivial, it infuriates me too. But I can live with it. There are lots of things on the wish list that I have to go to much greater lengths to deal with, like editing every narrative report I produce for example. But we're never going to agree on priorities, everyone has their own pet hates, and let's face it, they don't take a lot of notice anyway.

Family Historian User Group