Undocumented Improvement in FMP 11

[Ian (InTime)]

Is it really worth upgrading to FMP11? The answer is YES - not for the new features that come with FMP11 but for this totally awesome undocumented improvement.

I haven't read through all of the FMP11 documentation but I think that what I will discuss below has not been documented - or maybe it has? Please let me know if it's the case and where I can find information about this...

The greatest thing about FMP11 is what I call "layout and field immobility". With previous versions of FMP (including FMP 10), fields that don't have a matching background or overlapping fields flash when navigating from record to record resulting in a very poor experience for the end user. The only way to avoid this was to match the field fill color with the background color (so white on white for example). But that didn't always work especially if you had several fields that acted as labels (i.e., in a multi-lingual db) in which case everything flashes as soon as the users changes records.

With FM11, it is now possible to have all fields (including label fields) transparent and, even better, fields can be placed on top of a gradient button or gradient menu bar without any flashing when changing records.

Even better, the layout itself seems to be locked and doesn't refresh when changing layouts. If you have a UI design where every layout is identical (header, footer, sidebar, menu bar), moving from layout to layout is 100% seamless. So it's like your entire db is build on 1 single layout.

I don't know how FM programmers managed to achieve this, but they did an outstanding job! I have been toying around for years trying to avoid field flash and finally I no longer need to spend countless hours to achieve "UI immobility".

If you're a FMP11 user and still have an earlier version of FMP, try navigating in FMP11 and you will notice that everything is still when changing layouts or navigating records - you could almost say the FM is in "Silent Mode". Now open the same database in an earlier version of FMP and you will notice right away that everything flashes and bounces when changing records or layouts - this is what I call "Flash Mode" and it's not good!

Hats off! FileMaker 11 is awesome and I do in fact like the new features such as the Inspector, Quick Search and the fantastic Charting Tool.

Let's hope that "Field and Layout Immobility" will still be available in future releases of FMP.

It's a must and by far the greatest thing about FMP11.

If anybody noticed this, please comment.

Thanks for reading this post,

Edited March 24, 2010 by Guest

[Cazito]

"It's a must and by far the greatest thing about FMP11."

Totally agree. Funny how no one else commented on this.

[Ian (InTime)]

Thanks for your comment! Even more incredible is the fact that you can change modes without a single flash - including Find mode. Funny enough, it's sometimes difficult to realize that the UI has changed from browse to layout mode. But that's really not a big deal.

Simply incredible!

P.S. Currently, only the portals flash. I hope that they will fix this sometime soon... Worst case, in FMP12.

[LaRetta]

Thank you for bringing this to everyone's attention! :smile2:

[Ian (InTime)]

My pleasure! Working in a flash free environment is so great! Well worth downloading the FMP 11 trial...

[Zcast]

Yes, I did notice that the irritable "flash" was gone, but just thought it was an intentional bug fix, but yes you are right, makes using FM11 a charm to work with now.

[Ian (InTime)]

Whether it was intentional or not, I am really glad that they got this resolved. I've been using FMP since version 3.0 so it's been a long time coming for veteran developers!

I simply hope that they will keep it this way and that the "flashing" won't be back in future versions...

I guess FM decided not to document this since it would be admitting that the UI was not top quality all of these years.

I still think it's the biggest improvement in years!

Edited March 25, 2010 by Guest

[BrentHedden]

I noticed this too, and brought it up to Alexei Folger (one of the engineers at FileMaker) at a recent usergroup meeting. She mentioned that it had to do more with the O.S. compatibility (now that Windows 7 is out) than the FileMaker program itself.

Either way, it's a great improvement that didn't really get mentioned upon release.

[Ian (InTime)]

Funny she should say that... I'm currently using this on Windows XP. I am wondering if making it more compatible with Windows 7 made it more compatible with XP. Very weird! Why couldn't they get this working before?

Anyways, if anybody out there is using FMP on a Mac system, was the flashing an issue before FMP 11? Or was this only a Windows bug?

[IdealData]

The Mac has always been much better with visual - no noticeable screen flashing here.

[Ian (InTime)]

Even with prior versions of FMP? Nice! But it's understandable since FM is a Mac company. And, I know, Macs do handle graphics much better than Windows ever could...

[Genx]

Macs do handle graphics much better than Windows ever could...

... Give me the $2,000 you pay for an iMac and I'll build you a windows box that handles graphics just as well if not better than the iMac.

[Ian (InTime)]

Well, I don't own a Mac, never did, never will. I only know that a lot of graphic experts have Macs. But I guess it is possible to achieve similar results on Windows. You just have to be good...

[Genx]

I just bought a mac because i like the hardware, run's windows

In any case, that used to be true about mac's but now that Windows has switched to 64bit and handles colors better there's not that much of an argument for the OS itself -- the hardware just comes configured for that sort of thing and the HD screen's don't hurt either.

Plus graphics designer's just like them cause the hardware itself is stylish.

[Ian (InTime)]

Nice! Furthermore, Mac's now use Intel processors so both worlds are definitely closer than ever.

So are you running Mac or Windows OS or are you dual-booting?

[Perren]

Wow - it gets even better!!

The redraw issue also goes away in Terminal Services / Citrix environments. It was impossible to eliminate screen redraw for any action the user took in FM - even simple button clicks.

Woo!!

[Ian (InTime)]

Great stuff! I now know how to get the portals to not flash but it's not a 100% fix. I will post a topic on that issue sometime soon...