Subject: Re: [Witch Talk] Have Cycle Apps > Windows use both horizontal and vertical direction

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2017 06:15:33 -0800

On Feb 27, 2017, at 1:00 AM, svenax <[email-masked]> wrote:

> I would imagine that this format would be useful to most people using horizontal Cycle Apps > Windows, maybe even to the point that it should be the default. What do you think?

That's what I asked the list :) ... so far, two replies.

> Also, given a nicer interface to hidden settings, is there a list of available settings somewhere?

See my previous reply to the list for more on that topic.

-rob.

---

From: svenax <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2017 01:00:05 -0800 (PST)

On Sunday, 26 February 2017 01:30:14 UTC+1, Many Tricks wrote:
>
> On Feb 24, 2017, at 1:47 AM, svenax <[email-masked] <javascript:>> 
> wrote:
>
> I'm using a horizontal switcher set to Cycle Apps > Windows. When I drill 
> down to show windows, it would be great if Witch 4.0 could change to a 
> vertical switcher, since the window names tend to be much longer and 
> usually get truncated to the point that they are unreadable.
>
>
> We actually have a hidden pref for this, and this is a great excuse to 
> reveal our new easier-to-use hidden pref setter.
>
> 1) Option-click on the ? (Help) icon at the right side of the Witch Sys 
> Prefs window. This should drop a sheet:
> 2) For setting, enter this:
>
> Cycle Apps > Windows: Ignore Parent Orientation
>
> 3) For Value, enter this:
>
> TRUE
>
> Click Apply Boolean True, and that's that: You should now have a vertical 
> window/tab list with horizontal app list.
>

Awesome! That works beautifully.

> And generally speaking, do others find this format useful? Should we 
> include it as a config option?
>

I would imagine that this format would be useful to most people using 
horizontal Cycle Apps > Windows, maybe even to the point that it should be 
the default. What do you think?

Also, given a nicer interface to hidden settings, is there a list of 
available settings somewhere?

/Sven

---

From: Shoshanna <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2017 11:55:32 -0800 (PST)

On Sunday, February 26, 2017 at 9:49:45 AM UTC-5, Many Tricks wrote:
>
> That may have been a misinterpretaton of your request: I thought you were 
> asking for a layout where windows were listed in a box underneath the 
> horizontal apps, and the box would move across as the you selected each app 
> in the list. (Others have asked for that, and that's what we can't do in 
> the current engine.) 
>

Huh, I actually think I'd find that visually distracting. I'm glad that 
svenax asked for this capacity more clearly than I did!

> > feel like telling us about any other exciting hidden preferences? 
>
> Well, if you install Witch 3.9.9, and open its help, you'll find quite a 
> few listed.

I had . . . never actually opened the help.

 a bit of a support nightmare

I can imagine!

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2017 06:49:43 -0800

On Feb 26, 2017, at 5:37 AM, Shoshanna <[email-masked]> wrote:

> Oh, huzzah! I asked for this same capacity on New Year's Day, and was told that while it was "on our list for the future," it wouldn't be possible in Witch 4. I'm delighted that that turns out to be wrong!

That may have been a misinterpretaton of your request: I thought you were asking for a layout where windows were listed in a box underneath the horizontal apps, and the box would move across as the you selected each app in the list. (Others have asked for that, and that's what we can't do in the current engine.)

> Windows: Ignore Parent Orientation," which naturally enough doesn't exist. TL;DR: sanitize the input, or allow the user to pick from

We'll see if we can't add some intelligence here, thanks for catching that.

> a list of preferences rather than having to enter one? Providing a list also allows users to explore and experiment, which has its pluses and minuses, of course...feel like telling us about any other exciting hidden preferences?

Well, if you install Witch 3.9.9, and open its help, you'll find quite a few listed. Why aren't they in the 4.0 help? Because we've found that users set them, then either forget they've set them ("Support, why isn't my Witch doing..."), or expect that they're standard features ("Support, why does Witch on my new Mac not do this thing Witch does on my old Mac?"). That becomes a bit of a support nightmare, so we decided to leave out the list from the current help. 

We added the easy access to help with support, basically - when a user contacts us and wants something that exists in a hidden pref, this is a much better solution than the old version, which involved disabling Witch, opening Terminal, pasting some code, and re-enabling Witch.

regards;
-rob.

---

From: Shoshanna <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2017 05:37:44 -0800 (PST)

> reveal our new easier-to-use hidden pref setter.

Oh, huzzah! I asked for this same capacity on New Year's Day, and was told 
that while it was "on our list for the future," it wouldn't be possible in 
Witch 4. I'm delighted that that turns out to be wrong!

> include it as a config option?

Well, I certainly want it 😄

I had some confusion, because for simplicity's sake (so I thought!) I 
copied the preference name from your message in my browser window and 
pasted it into the Setting box -- but I didn't realize that, even though I 
had highlighted only the line containing the text, I had inadvertently 
copied the carriage return at the end, which got pasted into the text box, 
making it look as though nothing had successfully been pasted (because the 
text had scrolled up and was invisible). I assumed that pasting wasn't 
enabled for some strange reason, typed the line in manually, gave it a 
Value of TRUE, and hit Return, only to find that it didn't work, since of 
course I'd told Witch to change a setting named "Cycle Apps > Windows: 
Ignore Parent Orientation<RETURN>Cycle Apps > Windows: Ignore Parent 
Orientation," which naturally enough doesn't exist. TL;DR: sanitize the 
input, or allow the user to pick from a list of preferences rather than 
having to enter one? Providing a list also allows users to explore and 
experiment, which has its pluses and minuses, of course...feel like telling 
us about any other exciting hidden preferences?

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2017 16:30:11 -0800

On Feb 24, 2017, at 1:47 AM, svenax <[email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote:

> I'm using a horizontal switcher set to Cycle Apps > Windows. When I drill down to show windows, it would be great if Witch 4.0 could change to a vertical switcher, since the window names tend to be much longer and usually get truncated to the point that they are unreadable.

We actually have a hidden pref for this, and this is a great excuse to reveal our new easier-to-use hidden pref setter.

1) Option-click on the ? (Help) icon at the right side of the Witch Sys Prefs window. This should drop a sheet:

TRUE

Click Apply Boolean True, and that's that: You should now have a vertical window/tab list with horizontal app list.

And generally speaking, do others find this format useful? Should we include it as a config option?

-rob.

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2017 15:10:46 -0800

> I'm using a horizontal switcher set to Cycle Apps > Windows. When I drill down to show windows, it would be great if Witch 4.0 could change to a vertical switcher, since the window names tend to be…

Thanks for the feedback; we'll consider this as we put the finishing touches on Witch 4.

regards;
-rob.

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From: svenax <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2017 01:47:40 -0800 (PST)

/Sven Axelsson