Layout Pop up Menu

[dvalley]

A curious question: I have noticed on certain Windows machines the layout pop up menu appears across the entire screen showing all of the layouts. Most Window machines display the pop up menu vertically and one has to scroll through the menu to find a layout. Anyone know why? Is is a setting in Windows or FileMaker? I would like to see all layouts if possible.

Status(CurrentPlatform): Win 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP(Home) [bleah!]; FMP 5-6x

[Anatoli]

I saw that once. IMHO -- it is bad design. Only layouts used by users should be visible. Better is to hide all layouts or hide status area from users.

[danjacoby]

I've never seen a multi-column menu window on a Mac; it sounds like a basic Windows thing, designed to get rid of scrolling (because time was when you couldn't control your scroll in Windows -- it went too fast). Check the settings on the machines on which this happens; I'm fairly certain there's a way to change it.

Anatoli is correct about not showing all the layouts. Any time you let users see layouts they're not supposed to use, you're asking for trouble. I almost always keep all layouts off the menu, and allow access only through buttons/scripts. The trick is to make sure that nobody gets stuck in a layout because they canceled a script in the middle; the solution is to disallow canceling of those scripts.

[dvalley]

The layouts we allow tend to be printing ones. We often have more than 50 per file (sometimes over 90). Different users need different layouts. This is a manufacturing/ shipping area where most of the computers are for walk up use. Due to the ever changing needs of the company (especially custom products) we cannot script everything. We do have a basic printing script which accomodates the bulk of the print jobs, but there are too many variables to script in. The company is not consistant enough to calculate the variables correctly. (a constant headache).

[danjacoby]

The real headache is naming all the layouts so that any idiot can figure out which one to print from.

Have you considered creating a separate layout with buttons for each possible print layout? You can even have a second "see sample" button next to each layout button. Alternatively, you can group print layouts, so that each group has a separate layout in the DB with the "samples" already there for the user to see.

Inconsistency is anathema to computers. I highly suggest taking a good look at the way this DB is used, and work to make it more consistent.

[dvalley]

Unfortunately, the inconsistancies are rooted in the corporate culture. Please the customer at any cost (but make sure that you can do everything by computer).

We could put in a button layout, but there are so many layouts, that I think it would confuse the shipping people.