It ain't pretty, it's my MEPro

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

There are worse-looking programs around but the MEPro interface is a bit untidy, un-Pro in fact. If I were in a large company looking at buying the software I would not be over-impressed. Appearance does count for something and contributes to confidence in the product. The Script Editor is fine. No complaints there although others may have. What's your beef? Here's mine:

 

Why have honking great icons down the side and micro-icons across the top? Same size please, somewhere in between sizes. Icon text is fine for the Side Bar (in proportion of course, no shouting text).

 

Is there much point to the movable Side Bar? The main reason I want to move it is it's so big.

 

Why not have the same icons across the top in Pro as in ME3? Us pros like to use the mouse too and that short Explorer bar looks a bit empty. How about being able to customize from a larger selection of icons; tooltips enabled as Option for Explorer Bar.

 

For simple people like me, can we waste less space with the Categories block. Some of us don't really use that other than to display current mex files? How about a horizontal row of Tabs above the Macros section, wrapping to new row below when right side of the dialog reached. If people use categories for the mex then that row starts with mex name and tabs for categories to the right.

 

In the dropdown list of recent macros, make the box wide enough so I can see more than 5 letters of the macro name. The box is filled with the file path. Alternatively have Option of mex filename only, no path.

 

Although unrelated to User Interface, it would be nice to be able to add graphics to Text Box Displays and the like. That would make the usage seem far more professional. Some companies may like to see their logo appear on the display. The improvements over ME3 welcomed of course.

[Cory]

Here's what I do.

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In MEP Explorer I remove the Sidebar and Toolbar. For me they are completely useless and take up space. And almost all the buttons I can get to with hotkeys. Same with all the toolbars in the Scripting Editor. So I guess my point is that I IMHO these buttons are infrequently used and better left off altogether thus making the argument moot.

 

A few months back I made a feature request about the recent macro list with a few suggestions of how one might make it more useful. But in the mean time I created a popup macro that loads my common macro files. And if I'm going to be working on a new client I can quickly and easily add it from the macro. Works slick. In fact I think it's even better because I only pin the things I know I'm going to need.

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

I'm glad to see at least one other person cares to comment. I'm a button-pusher myself. Hotkeys/shortcuts are more useful to someone working in the two application windows all the time. I find Adobe Photoshop a real pain to use because it has virtually no buttons up top. Every other graphic application does and for most people speeds up work no end. In Photopaint I have 50 buttons across the top (all customizable) plus the Property Bar which is context-sensitive to the Tool. I use the lot and there's no way I'm going to remember that many hotkeys or shortcuts.

 

Perhaps the Side Bar was put there to make life easy for beginners. It's way out of proportion. Unifying text and button sizes would improve the look considerably.

 

Taking your setup, that's fine. You can customize to your way of working - it's always nice to see more of the nitty gritty. I'm in the same camp re wasted space. In Restore Down mode, there is so much wasted space but so much I can't see. The top right, the category box (I only want to see the mex name; I categorize by grouping in Macro Files), the info box at the bottom, the over-sized buttons at left. I suppose now that monitors are becoming widescreen the wasted vertical space is more of an issue. I would like to be able to remove the category box as an option and replace with a short list of open Macro Files somewhere else (like in the huge blank top right of dialog box!). The Category box is 2.5cm of usable width. I'm sure that some people use the box a lot - that's fine but there should be a choice.

 

Just for aesthetics I would run the Explorer bar right across the dialog even if there aren't more buttons. It looks like something is missing from top right. Perhaps others would disagree, no point in having a long bar if it has little on it.

[terrypin]

There are worse-looking programs around but the MEPro interface is a bit untidy, un-Pro in fact. If I were in a large company looking at buying the software I would not be over-impressed. Appearance does count for something and contributes to confidence in the product. The Script Editor is fine. No complaints there although others may have. What's your beef? Here's mine:

 

First reactions:

 

Why have honking great icons down the side and micro-icons across the top? Same size please, somewhere in between sizes. Icon text is fine for the Side Bar (in proportion of course, no shouting text).

 

Doesn't worry me.

 

Is there much point to the movable Side Bar? The main reason I want to move it is it's so big.

 

Agreed. In fact never noticed it could be moved, and I wouldn't want to.

 

Why not have the same icons across the top in Pro as in ME3? Us pros like to use the mouse too and that short Explorer bar looks a bit empty. How about being able to customize from a larger selection of icons; tooltips enabled as Option for Explorer Bar.

 

Sounds a good idea.

 

For simple people like me, can we waste less space with the Categories block. Some of us don't really use that other than to display current mex files? How about a horizontal row of Tabs above the Macros section, wrapping to new row below when right side of the dialog reached. If people use categories for the mex then that row starts with mex name and tabs for categories to the right.

 

No change please! I like it the way it is. I have about 60 categories and use them extensively.

 

In the dropdown list of recent macros, make the box wide enough so I can see more than 5 letters of the macro name. The box is filled with the file path. Alternatively have Option of mex filename only, no path.

 

Agreed. Under File > Reopen (which is what I assume you mean) I can see nothing to help me identify the file. All I see on every line is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Applic...

 

Although unrelated to User Interface, it would be nice to be able to add graphics to Text Box Displays and the like. That would make the usage seem far more professional. Some companies may like to see their logo appear on the display. The improvements over ME3 welcomed of course.

 

Agreed.

 

 

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

The Category Box is not that far off OK. You can drag the Macro list to the left if you are not using Categories, but then you lose the name of the active mex files.

 

Re "Agreed. Under File > Reopen (which is what I assume you mean) I can see nothing.." I was referring to the File Open Button with the down arrow dropdown list - same content as the list referred to. I can't understand how that possibly got through testing. Perhaps it's some limit of the authoring software. ME3 does not suffer the problem, in fact the middle of the path is filled with .... to ensure the mex filename is fully visible. Full marks to the ME3 squad.

 

When opening a new file, you get the small Open Macro File dialog, followed by the Explorer-style dialog if you browse and on closing, the Open Macro File dialog is still there. I usually want to see the Open Macro File once, but twice seems unnecessary.