Reducing/Eliminating Screen Flashing in Windows

[grantwood]

Hello,

I am currently working on a solution that helps medical practices get rid of their paper charts (ChartPACS). Anyway, the solution looks fairly nice on the Mac (I design on a Mac), but I'm having problems with screen flashing on Windows.

I've included a stripped-down version of a typical layout. The example file just has tabs that allow you to switch among a few layouts.

Some notes about the example file:

1) The striped background initially was a graphic, but I later converted it to a series of lines using Filemaker's built-in line tool.

2) The header graphic was initially just placed in a layout, but I later placed it in a container field.

3) The first three layouts have an opaque background on the bottom layer. After doing some research, I tried this to reduce the flashing.

Like I just mentioned, I've done quite a bit of research on this topic, but I can't seem to eliminate or reduce the flashing on Windows. Does anyone have any insight? Will I have to "live with" this flashing, or is there some trick I'm missing?

Thanks for any help.

Regards,

Sean Mills

screen_flash_test.fp7.zip

Edited August 5, 2005 by Guest

[SteveB]

Search for this post "Eliminating the Flash Effect" (Topic#104349)

Steve

[grantwood]

Thanks for the link, Steve. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to reduce the flashing based on the tips listed in that article, unless I'm doing something wrong.

[LaRetta]

Hi Sean,

I believe it's a bit better ... the flash happens more quickly and is synchronized a bit better. You have many over-lapping layers here but I think you can tell the difference. The lighter the color of the objects, the less flash will be noticed (because flash is white of course). Whether it's sufficient I leave to you to decide.

What did I do?

1) Removed the grey underlay and the excess wording on top. Each layer adds to flash.

2) Colored the background close to the overlay color.

3) Ungrouped and ungrouped and ungrouped until ungroup greyed out (your lines were grouped 3 times). Then Edit > Select All, Copy, Cut, Saved layout, then re-pasted all to improve stacking order.

4) Grouped all and locked all.

No one change by itself made sufficient difference; each contributed however. #2 and #3 made biggest difference. You can improve it further by shortening your blue lines (on the parallel with the buttons) so they MEET the buttons but don't go under them (instead wrap around); it'll take some piece-meal work at 400% to get it right. You will never totally eliminate the flash (particularly on Windows). I only use background for color (light background) and keep object overlapping to a minimum. Let me know if you can tell the difference.

LaRetta

screen_flashMODIFIED.zip

[grantwood]

Hi LaRetta,

Thanks for having a look. On the PC I have at work I couldn't tell much difference, but could my PC's video card be playing a role? The video card is one of those budget Intel integrated cards, which means it doesn't have any dedicated memory (VRAM), but instead uses the system RAM.

Also, what if we simplified things a bit and removed the striped background? Does that improve things on your end? It didn't seem to on mine, but again, perhaps my PC's video card is partly to blame.

Sean

[LaRetta]

"what if we simplified things a bit and removed the striped background? "

That is the biggest problem on my end and I knew it would be the moment I saw your file.

From your copy, delete only the locked blue-line background on 1-3 so your background is the light grey. You will see what I mean. All my backgrounds are light grey. I get NO flash in your file then. I know nothing about hardware, sorry. I would assume system speed and graphics cards all make a difference, as well as network speed and traffic.

Did you download the demo provided on the other thread called Flash Arrest? How does that look to you? I dislike ANY flash but have never eliminated it entirely. I instead design around it. My point about the stacking order is when placing multiple object/fields (even on plain background). If you synchronize them, the flash is reduced AND I rarely allow objects to even touch each other. Example: A standard data-entry field and merge field - if they touch, they jump (flash) but if moved apart they don't. I won't even let a field label touch a field (and I even color label backgrounds to match layout backgrounds). I'm willing to help you fine-tune further. It appears to almost be an art instead of science.

I can spend 2 hours reducing flash on a layout. One move of ONE field can settle a whole layout! Truth! I would go with solid background only and the lighter the better. It's really amazing ... we can put men on the moon but can't design computers that don't flash - or that don't all have a tangle of cords behind them (another pet peeve).

LaRetta

[grantwood]

LaRetta,

I'll play with my original sample file some more, as well as that FlashArrest file. The frustrating thing is that the Mac doesn't produce any flashes, and I'm not technical enough to know if the problems lies with how Windows handles graphics, or how FileMaker for Windows handles graphics.

You would think the issue would have been fixed in version 7. I feel penalized for trying to develop a visually appealing solution.

Thanks again,

Sean

[LaRetta]

" I feel penalized for trying to develop a visually appealing solution."

Don't go there. When you can't change something (Windows flash), work sideways instead. You can produce some knockout layouts using alternate methods. Fool the User eye; draw attention elsewhere, unstack, simplify ...

Mac users can get flash also but not like Windows does!! I see some runtime apps that are so darned pretty they make me shake! But those same apps (if un-runtimed) run across a network would crawl to dawg-speed and flash like fools. Not worth it. Users are there to see the DATA and to work. A beautiful multi background will tire a User's eyes after two hours of looking at it and most will stare at it for eight! Fine for splash screens ... not working in. I am saying this as much for me as for you ... I must constantly remind myself to tone it down.

My backgrounds are usually neutral solid color. I use strategically placed (small) engraved colored rectangles to draw the User to *pretty* and *important* stuff. I use graphics only in small icon sets. You've heard the phrase that women like to hang out with someone uglier? It's because it makes them look even prettier! Same goes for layouts. When something pretty is placed on a neutral layout, it becomes prettier!! :

Now ... if I worked only in a Mac world not networked, I might change my tune a bit ... but not by much.

LaRetta

[grantwood]

I was just venting LOL

Anyway, fwiw, I only implemented someone else's design (I have a hard time drawing a stick figure), so I'll have to coordinate with him in terms of any redesign.

Your point about network performance is well taken, although I feel you can still have an appealing design with lightweight graphics (the ones I'm currently using aren't that big, plus they're in container fields, which makes a difference). Anyway, I digress.

fyi, the flashes I do get on a Mac can be resolved by inserting a Freeze Window step, but that seems to have little impact on a PC.

I'll experiment a bit more this weekend and keep you posted.

Sean