[Tfug] Poor man's GUI

[Freeman, Don]

One issue you may want to think about is when I do a saveas on a webpage,
the user gets to specify the file type, html, txt, or mht. You will need to
tell him in advance what file type to choose as the results are very
different. Also, how will you trigger the saveas? If it's from the browser
menu, many users have that menu hidden and would be without a clue how to
"show" it.

- Don



-----Original Message-----
From: tfug [mailto:tfug-bounces at tfug.org] On Behalf Of Bexley Hall
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 12:44 PM
To: Tucson Free Unix Group
Subject: Re: [Tfug] Poor man's GUI

Hi Don,

On 3/11/2014 9:00 AM, Freeman, Don wrote:
> I take it the "little application" is yours also and that you are the 
> one who will teach it how to parse the saved file.

Yes.  I'm more interested in the application than all the cruft that goes
into building a UI to make using it easier.  CLI would be a dreadful UX.
But, throwing lots of hours (and megabytes!) into a bunch of code that
*just* "asks questions" (in effect) is a dreadful DEVELOPER experience!  :-/

So, I'm looking for ways to cheat on the UI to come up with a better balance
between developer effort and user inconvenience.

For small/interactive/iterative UI's, I can fall back on some "text GUI"
interface libraries I've built over the years.  But, when you have hundreds
of "controls", you really want scrollable screens, mouse input, etc.  Having
to "tab" to each field gets old REALLY fast!

> If that is true, then doing
> it right the first time within the web page should be a whole lot easier.

Yes.  Assuming the browsers "cooperate" (and I discipline myself to not try
anything too esoteric)

> That way you won't have to worry about what the various browsers may 
> or may not do both now and in the future.<grin>

That was the nature of my question... trying to think of how they
*could* violate my assumptions.

E.g., I can't see how they can change the menu entries to fred, barney,
pebbles, etc. when they were originally A, B, C, D -- the resulting saved
web page would OBVIOUSLY be different!

And, while a browser may opt to display a menu differently than some other
browser, the order of the "controls" on the form still has (?) to be
preserved --otherwise the form (page) is noticeably different, etc.

I guess the only real changes I can see a browser making would be to store
the page in some "proprietary" format (not HTML) that *it* can parse but
that other browsers (and my application!) can't!

> Good luck.

If it works, it should be a simple way to dress up the front end of an app
without taking on lots of extra "cost" or complexity.

--don

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