Ribbon request

[Phil C]

Although I am not a big fan of the "ribbon" concept, I congratulate the H&M team for a very logical layout of the ribbon.

I have only one gripe (so far). The "screen shot" tool is a topic editing tool, not a project-level tool. As such, it belongs on the Write tab, not the Project tab. Possibly the Insert grouping, or in its own group. I was finding it a PITA constantly switching back and forth from Project to Write, but having now added the Tools category to the Write tab it is much better. However, it was overkill having to add 8 project tools to get access to one topic tool. With the ribbon real estate overcrowded, some of the other buttons have now shrunk in the ribbon.

Is there a dialog that would allow me to move items from one category to another? Maybe I missed it.

[Tim Green]

Hi Phil,

You can't change the items in ribbon groups, you can only specify which groups should appear in which tabs (Program Options > Ribbon). In this instance, it was really a case of just not having enough room. The easiest way around this is to assign a hotkey to the screen capture tool in Program Options > Shortcuts.

Personally, however, I almost always use TNT, which is now completely free for both commercial and private use and gives you many more options.

[Winsteps]

Great news, Tim! TNT is free ... I must have missed the announcement. Have tried many other screen-capture programs, but always return to TNT. TNT is not cluttered up with all those "features" that get in the way of doing simple things quickly. My clients are amazed and delighted at the speed with which I can document software operations and output - thanks to HM and TNT.

HM Ribbon - have now automated my memory of where everything is in the ribbon, so can now use it almost as fast as the old menu system. This parallels a comment on "Code Project": "We know a Windows program is good when it does the job almost as fast as an MS-DOS command-line executable."

[Tim Green]

"We know a Windows program is good when it does the job almost as fast as an MS-DOS command-line executable."

I can sympathize with this. At the same time, I've worked with so many systems that multiple user interfaces have almost become second nature. At the moment I use about 50% OS X and 50% Windows and have no trouble switching between them. And I started with CP/M systems before moving on to Atari ST, DOS and later Windows. Actually, I started with the Sinclair ZX-81, which I built from the original kit...

[Phil C]

Hi Phil,

You can't change the items in ribbon groups, you can only specify which groups should appear in which tabs (Program Options > Ribbon). In this instance, it was really a case of just not having enough room. The easiest way around this is to assign a hotkey to the screen capture tool in Program Options > Shortcuts.

Personally, however, I almost always use TNT, which is now completely free for both commercial and private use and gives you many more options.

The shortcut is a good way to go. Thanks. But, I will also leave the tools group on the editor tab for now.

TNT has some features I can make use of. In particular, I frequently need to crop images. TNT has much simpler cropping than the "lens" scheme required in Impict. However, cropping is still clumsier than image tools that crop using handles similar to those used in resizing. The latter make it much easier to do pixel-precise cropping on all 4 sides.

I use dual monitors on a stretched desktop. Neither TNT nor Impict will allow me to capture free region images on the other monitor from the one the capture program itself is on. (A bad "feechur" I wish you guys would fix) However, at least Impict (and H&M screen capture) hide themselves when capture starts, revealing what I need to capture, whereas TNT stays stuck smack dab in the way, making it impossible to capture what I want, without first rescaling the TNT window down to something I can shove out of the way. E V E R Y T I M E. Tedious.

As a result, for initial capture, Impict is the better choice for me. And the version embedded in H&M at the same time places the picture at the insertion point in the text. I only wish it would produce the same image I get in H&M 4/Impict 4 (and TNT). I capture Win7 Aero dialog windows that include the entire Aero shadow, using free region with the window positioned on a white background to avoid see-through clutter. H&M 6 screen capture (and Impict 6) appear to leave the window out of focus, eliminating the window color. TNT and Impict 4 restore the focus to the previous window, the one I want to capture. (But TNT leaves itself on top. Boo.)

[Martin Wynne]

And I started with CP/M systems before moving on to Atari ST, DOS and later Windows. Actually, I started with the Sinclair ZX-81, which I built from the original kit...

Hi Tim,

My first computer, in 1972. I remember a company board meeting to decide whether to order an extra 16K of memory. Admittedly memory was in 16-bit words rather than bytes, so that was 32KB of extra memory. It cost a fortune:



See: http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhib ... intro.html

We used the system to control the welding of chain links. No-one in the company knew anything about computers, including me. I was just told to get on with it and make it work. I wrote the control program entirely in assembler -- all the variables were named after railway stations! The program was littered with jumps and gotos, which I equated mentally to railway journeys. It was all punched into paper tape. I put everything I knew about resistance welding into that program.

It worked, and the scrap ratio off the welding machines dropped significantly.

Martin.

[Michael Valent]

Actually, I started with the Sinclair ZX-81, which I built from the original kit...

ZX81 rules! I remember a bombing raid game entirely written in Assembler and using up only 1K [sic!] of memory.
And its Z80 processor is still in use today (e.g. in traffic light steering).

[Paul Elbertse]

Phil,

I saw your remarks:
"I use dual monitors on a stretched desktop. Neither TNT nor Impict will allow me to capture free region images on the other monitor from the one the capture program itself is on. (A bad "feechur" I wish you guys would fix) However, at least Impict (and H&M screen capture) hide themselves when capture starts, revealing what I need to capture, whereas TNT stays stuck smack dab in the way, making it impossible to capture what I want, without first rescaling the TNT window down........"

I use dual monitor too, in combination with a tool called Ultramon which gives me the opportunity to put an application window with 1 click onto the other monitor.
I also use TNT. I have the possibility to capture a free window on any window, no matter on which window the program is on. TNT also hides itself so I can always see, no matter on which screen TNT is and no matter on which screen I want to capture, exactly what I am capturing.
The only thing I would like TNT to have is a capture delay possibility.

Regards,

Paul

[Tim Green]

On Dual Monitors: Performance here varies quite widely depending on the graphics card and driver, unfortunately. It's not a situation where behavior is the same in all Windows machines.

@Martin:

ZX81 rules! I remember a bombing raid game entirely written in Assembler and using up only 1K [sic!] of memory.
And its Z80 processor is still in use today (e.g. in traffic light steering).

Not to forget the wonderful thrill of excitement when your girlfriend unplugs it to do the hoovering, deleting the last 48 hours of coding in a single delightful instant...

[Aitch]

ZX81.... commodore 64... It's sad that our kids won't know what we are talking about - even when we mention Tapes!! (music and data)

My dad used to work in IT where the company's Server room took up a whole floor! We LOVED running around the freezing cold room, buzzing.. with rolls of backup tapes everywhere and the lights.. All those flashing lights!

I feel so old now.

[Tim Green]

This is getting more and more off-topic, but if you want a bit of nostalgia there's a delightful little iPhone/iPad app called "Amazing Type-Writer" that emulates a an old typewriter on file cards. Every letter looks slightly different, complete with different pressures and filled-in holes and different positions above and below the baseline. You can't delete, just backspace and x things out. I can hardly remember it now, but I wrote entire theses and translated entire books using that method...

[Phil C]

ZX81.... commodore 64... It's sad that our kids won't know what we are talking about - even when we mention Tapes!! (music and data)

My dad used to work in IT where the company's Server room took up a whole floor! We LOVED running around the freezing cold room, buzzing.. with rolls of backup tapes everywhere and the lights.. All those flashing lights!

I feel so old now.

Hey, aitch. "Old" is a relative term.

I operated (and occasionally programmed) those computers on a raised floor at the IBM factory. (also card punches, collators, ...)
That was when the tapes contained the actual live data, not backup. Later wrote a program to exercise the first "hard drive", which was the size of a large (US size) refrigerator and contained (gasp!) a whole megabyte. My first "Personal Computer" (an IBM 1401) weighed (literally) about a ton, but only had 4k memory..characters.

OK, I didn't actually own it. But it was mine to do whatever I wanted for hours at a time. I considered it "mine".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1401
Please don't get me started...I have work to do.

Amazing how a topic I started got hijacked to "nostalgia" by toddlers.

[Aitch]

Amazing how a topic I started got hijacked to "nostalgia" by toddlers.

It doesn't take much for me to hijack a thread. Sorry Tim and other posters
Shall we move this to the off topic thread?

[Roy Henry]

<snip>

Personally, however, I almost always use TNT, which is now completely free for both commercial and private use and gives you many more options.

The Download page states

Supported operating systems:
Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4, 2000, XP and Windows 2003 Server.

Does that mean Windows 7 users are out of luck?

[Phil C]

Does that mean Windows 7 users are out of luck?

It must have been an oversight on the download page. I have TNT installed on Win7 Ultimate x64. Seems to work fine.
(add...)
Just about any app that runs on XP will run on Win7. I run dozens of those. The "switch to standard colors" option on the Options menu lists the same systems as listed on the download page. I just leave all of them unchecked.

It appears to be a typical Win32 app. It obviously has no specific Win7 recognition. However, it faithfully captures the entirety of an aero window, pixel for pixel. (Unlike HM4)