ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-L Archives

Archiver > ROOTSMAGIC-USERS > 2006-08 > 1155169137


From: "Chris~Mueller" <>
Subject: Re: [RMagic] Reference No. wish
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 20:18:57 -0400 (EDT)


Bravo Margaret for your very diplomatic statement re not adding clutter to RootsMagic's design!

I'm not diplomatic so shall put on my flame-proof suit before sending this message.

Add my voice to the list of those who feel *very* strongly about one of the best features of RootsMagic -- its clean, uncluttered design! I'm an avid Mac computer user but I bought a high end PC w/Windows XP just to use Bruce's wonderful program with its easy to read display of information.

Bruce has done a wonderful job of balancing the amount of data displayed with ease of reading that data. It is not only an art but a science as to how to display text and images for ease of reading and *comprehending* on a computer screen. Most recent studies focus on design of web sites, but the same "good rules" apply for any text displayed on a computer screen -- kill the clutter! Every piece of text and every image on a screen display must be *critical* to the overall purpose of that specific screen display of information -- all else is gratuitous junk.

Bruce can never make *every* user of RootsMagic 100% happy. What is an important functionality to some will be useless, at best, to others. Bruce has an nigh impossible task of adding an enhancement which will be the solution to all of "John Dow's" problems without that same enhancement *creating* problems for "Jane Dough". We all want to use his wonderful software in our own preferred way -- you might love the mouse and hate using the keyboard while I hate it when the mouse is the only way to accomplish a task. You have wonderful uses for RFENs while I curse as I strip AFNs and RFENs out of shared gedcoms.

We all have "wishes" for future enhancements to the program but I hope that those which Bruce implements will never impact the readabilty of his clean, uncluttered design.

Please, please, please do not add any additional text to the Explorer display!

Charles G. stated "Then I'd like to see another column added to the RM Explorer search list. It could go just to the left of the "born" column and would display the Ref# or REFN. The left panel might have to be widened slightly and the right panel narrowed correspondingly."

Three columns of numbers side-by-side? Oh horrors!!! A legibility nightmare.

Narrow the right panel?? As it is now, too often in the Family Information box the name of the mother does not fully display. I perhaps have many more men in my databases with multiple given names than do other users of RootsMagic. But with Germans who often have 4 given names, the first 3 of which are the same as their father's, grandfather's and *all* cousins -- we need all the current width of the right panel to be able to see just the beginning of the name of wife, forget seeing the surname as she will also have 3 given names which will also be duplicates of others in her family.

See, an enhancement which would bring great joy to Charles would create great difficulty for me in reading the explorer screen display.

Blessings on Bruce for his efforts to please us all! Any may we all accept that it's an impossible task.

Chris Mueller
(who has too many ancestors whose first 3 (of 4) given names were "Johann Heinrick Frederick")

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