Philly0381

Join Date 11/2004

+844

Testing the beta

Whoops, didn't even figure that I would be the first post.

Had no problem downloading and getting Fences to open.

Menus look very nice and clean, informative with just enough info.

No problems with moving the Fences around or resizing them.

I was at a slight disadventage since I don't have a desktop with lots or even a few icons. Lets see there is the trash bin and then the Fences icon and, that's it.

I did notice that it doesn't play nice with a couple of programs, Stardock Virtual Desktop, woundn't show the different wallpapers by desktop (cleared up with uninstalling). Right Click doen't show the options for Fences. Not sure if there are others.

Unless I just couldn't see it, it saw no way to close or shut down Fences.

Understanding that this is a side project, what is the estimated time for the beta and when will updates be issued?

I can see how this would or could be usefull to what you might call power users, programmers/developers or possibly even skinners. Some my say you could use ObjectDock Plus for this also. I think though the agrument could me made that ObjectDock Plus would be for more permanent items while Fences would be utilized for the short term projects that people would be working on.

Now comes the question if I would use Fences, probably not, but that does not mean that it doesn't have the potential to become a popular desktop management tool.

Looking forward to reading others comments.

fences

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Hmmm, I signed up for this but have yet to recieve an email...hope they haven't finished choosing all of the testers.

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I've also been playing around with it today. I agree with everything Philly has mentioned so far. Fences is a fantastic program, even in the beta stages.

I, too, didn't find an appropriate "Close" or "Quit" function, but I'm sure that will be in one of the updates.

It's wonderful to be able to group icons together and double-click to hide them. My only complaint is that there is no way to hide only one fence at a time. I realize that this may not be that popular of a feature, but say, for instance, that I'm working on a project and have all of said project's icons in one fence. I wish to keep this fence open and hide all of my other fences. Currently, I can't do this. I'm hoping that maybe this feature will be implemented into future updates.

From a skinner's perspective, I'd like to be able to skin this program, but, after some thought, I'm not so sure that's a good idea. Change the font, yes. Be able to adjust the size of the icons in Fences (similar to ObjectDock's way of size-adjustment), yes. I'm just afraid that skinning this wonderful tool would turn it into a system hog. With that said, if you can create a way to skin it, and keep the CPU usage down, then go for it.

All in all, Fences is a desktop tool to keep an eye on. It's sure to be the next hit from Stardock

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My favorite beta quote:

"Nothing on earth is forcing you to install the beta versions. It can get rough on the bleeding edge. "

-- Kris Kwilas, 'Essays on Mind and Matter

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Fences integrates fairly tightly into your desktop at run-time, hooking into various bits of the desktop, so there's no "close"/"unload" at this time unfortunatly....only "uninstall"

Realistically without pulling some serious strings it wouldn't be able to completely "unload" without a restart of explorer or your machine. Haha now sure, my personal copies load and unload at a flick of a hotkey... but stability isn't 100% when you pull something like that out, and particularly if you put it back in after. Or say 10 times over, like when i'm developing After like 8 times explorer just says "ahhhh too many different copies of this dll i'm confused!!" and gives way, so don't want to risk it with people loading/unloading/loading/unloading/etc. The best I'll probably have it do is pretend its not there / go dormant if you say "unload", and trigger to show and do its thing if you happen to reload. But you didn't hear me say that.

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Philly0381

Join Date 11/2004

+844

JMB1984 it maybe early in the evaluation of the beta, but I honestly believe that the potential is here for a very usefull desktop management tool.

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w00t! hehe thanks for the feedback, mirsguy as well (since i know you're reading

)

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Looks like I was invited to test this after all. Thanks.

So far, I like what I see.

I normally work off the desktop and dump all of my work into a temp directory when I'm finished for the day. I believe the quick hide feature will save me the trouble of moving them.

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DrJBHL

Join Date 04/2002

+4226

One interesting behavior: I created a shortcut to Impulse from the Start menu, and dropped it onto the desktop. I tried to move it into the "Programs Fence, but when I'd left click on it to 'drag' it, it disappeared, and would reappear if I 'let go'. Solved the problem by moving the Programs fence around it (on top of it) and then just deleting it. What was more interesting was that when I'd scroll with the side bar in the Programs Fence, the shortcut would move up and down on the desktop.

Well, I hope this is how you want info reported....if not, just let me know how you'd like me to do it.

So far so good! (like the guy going past the 33rd floor...)...

I like the new app. I wonder if it made all the Deskscapes I downloaded disappear?

I don't know if this would supplant OD/OD+ or Virtual Desktops...this is only the Beta. I think with all the input about glitches, and ideas for features, the future is good for Fences.

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mirsguy as well (since i know you're reading

I don't know if this would supplant OD/OD+

NEVER! I think this would make a great suppliment to OD+, but supplant? NEVER!

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Just signed up, can't wait to test and send in some feedback

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So I've got my copy and finally had a chance to install. I like it. I don't keep many icons on the dt but I do transfer from disk to dt and then get them placed in the proper folders. I now have a fence that is called Transit. The best thing about Fences so far...double click the dt and they're gone! I love that. This will be a great prog for all those weirdo's that don't like/use ObjectDock. Good job JB, and thanks for letting me test this.

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Although I did install the Fences beta last night, I didn't have a lot of time to play with it. What I did notice was that I couldn't get the Fences to recolor. I could make it lighter or darker but the hue and saturation sliders didn't work for me. I will take a better look at it tonight, maybe I was missing something.

I would really like to see shadowed text added if possible. The icons inside the fence had shadowed text labels which made the fence's labels look flat in comparison.

So far I really like it. I try to keep my desktop clean but I always end up accumulating some things there temporarily. I normally move the icons into groups to sort them a little but that doesn't work to well, as windows will eventually re-arrange them. That's why its useful for me. It also makes them neater looking.

Double clicking on the desktop to hide everything is awesome. Great job Jeff!

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c242

Join Date 03/2001

+382

No invitation.

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Here's your invitation!

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c242

Join Date 03/2001

+382

Been there before, done that.

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c242

Join Date 03/2001

+382

Thanks, installing at the moment.

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DrJBHL

Join Date 04/2002

+4226

I like the new app. I wonder if it made all the Deskscapes I downloaded disappear?

Anyone have any ideas what might make all the default and 2 downloaded Deskscapes disappear?
I'm not "blaming" Fences. I certainly accepted the possibility that things could get messed up with a Beta, even a Jeff Bargmann Beta.

I'm only asking to see if I have to do something special to 'fix' it. Programs all work, just missing the Dreams.

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Not seeing that here. All my dreams are in place. Did you look in the dreams folder to see if they still exist? (D:\Documents and Settings\Zubaz\Documents\Stardock\Dreams

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Did you look in the dreams folder to see if they still exist?
(D:\Documents and Settings\Zubaz\Documents\Stardock\Dreams

I'd be really suprized if Dr J0622 had a user directory named Zubaz.

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I'd be really suprized if Dr J0622 had a user directory named Zubaz

All teh cool kids do!

OK, fine. In his user directory.

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DrJBHL

Join Date 04/2002

+4226

As a Founding Member of Z.A., I not only have a Directory named Zubaz, but also a Z: Drive.
The case of my computer is striped, and I've taken fencing lessons so I can roam the Forums and put a

Z

on posts impuning the Zuper Wizop's awesome abilities. That was supposed to be a size "7" Z.

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DrJBHL

Join Date 04/2002

+4226

Not seeing that here. All my dreams are in place. Did you look in the dreams folder to see if they still exist? (D:\Documents and Settings\Zubaz\Documents\Stardock\Dreams

Zu...I'm running Vista HP. "Documents and Settings" is an XP thing, no?

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I happen to use that as my "home" drive.
Yours may be different c:\users\. . .

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Hmmm, I signed up for this but have yet to recieve an email...hope they haven't finished choosing all of the testers.

Me too...bummer.

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