Square or triangle?

[Michael Cecil]

I'm wondering how many folks here prefer the little sideways triangle used
in Explorer and Regedit to indicate tree branches that can be opened, as
opposed to the old square with a plus inside. I much prefer the latter
since it's larger and easier to click upon.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Whichever it is, it should magnify when you mouse over it.

 

[Bernie]

Yes I agree but still prefer the + sign that changed immediately giving
the feedback that your mouse click had executed. At the moment I'm not
sure if the click event has fired or if I should do a double click.

In fact I'm not much impressed with the new look explorer and have
installed xplorer2 (a free file manager) which is a lot more intuitive
considering I'd never used it before installing Vista.

Whichever it is, it should magnify when you mouse over it.

 

[Mark D. VandenBerg]

Agreed.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

I'm wondering how many folks here prefer the little sideways triangle used
in Explorer and Regedit to indicate tree branches that can be opened, as
opposed to the old square with a plus inside. I much prefer the latter
since it's larger and easier to click upon.

Square with a plus, mostly because it was bigger and easier to see.

 

[DavidJ726]

I agree, I certainly like the old tree style with the plus's.

I also like the ability to enter parameters when starting Explorer, I need
to do a little searching and see what, if any, parameters can be passed on
when opening Explorer,

This is what I currently pass in the "Target" section of the shortcut
properties;
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,/n,

David

Yes I agree but still prefer the + sign that changed immediately giving
the feedback that your mouse click had executed. At the moment I'm not
sure if the click event has fired or if I should do a double click.

In fact I'm not much impressed with the new look explorer and have
installed xplorer2 (a free file manager) which is a lot more intuitive
considering I'd never used it before installing Vista.

 

[Michael Cecil]

Whichever it is, it should magnify when you mouse over it.

I'm not getting that at all. It changes orientation when I do manage to
click on it, but that's it. This is with Aero and the default settings
for everything. nVidia 6800 video card.

 

[Bones]

Well the folder expanding would be the first clue that the mouse click
executed.
The second clue would be the triangle now pointing down after you click to
expand it (or back to the right if you clicked to collapse it)
I dont really care which symbol they use, square with a plus sign,
triangles, green clover or yellow moons.

Yes I agree but still prefer the + sign that changed immediately giving
the feedback that your mouse click had executed. At the moment I'm not
sure if the click event has fired or if I should do a double click.

In fact I'm not much impressed with the new look explorer and have
installed xplorer2 (a free file manager) which is a lot more intuitive
considering I'd never used it before installing Vista.

 

[Bernie]

You think?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I'm not saying it magnifies now. I am saying I wished it did. Feature
gripe.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

And hit. What about accessibility issues here?

Square with a plus, mostly because it was bigger and easier to see.

 

[Chris Game]

In fact I'm not much impressed with the new look explorer and have
installed xplorer2 (a free file manager) which is a lot more
intuitive considering I'd never used it before installing Vista.

Why didn't they add an extra pane to Windows Explorer whilst they
were updating it, much easier to compare files and move them around
if you can have two folders open in different panes.

 

[dotcom]

Yeah, I don't like it either.
It's toooooo small.
dotcom

 

[Bernie]

Explorer has been essentially unchanged since 95. The differences in
Vista apart from it's look have made it harder to use. I think something
like Directory Opus would have been way over the top for most users but
they could have made things pretty and kept all the dangerous bits under
cover for power users and/or administrators.

But I don't know the philosophy or politics at MS. I'm sure there are
developers who would love to add more sophisticated features but maybe
they are overruled by Marketing or just plain deadlines keep the less
popular features shut out.

 

[Leo]

Whatever symbol they use, there are those who will not like it. That's
human nature.

 

[Mark D. VandenBeg]

Any suggestion you have should be reported to Microsoft using the proper
feedback channels. This is not a Microsoft-managed newsgroup and it is
unlikely that they will see your suggestion here.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

yourself!

Oh that one has been bugged many times over in TechBeta. There is no plan
to change it.

 

[Mark D. VandenBerg]

I know, but I had to with the first (and probably only) chance I got to
mention that to you...

 

[Jimmy Brush]

Sorry Colin, I had to laugh at this one as well

- JB

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Oh I know.

Seriously, there have been a few persistent things like the squares vs
triangles (can't you make them easier to see) discussions over in TechBeta.
Another one is the tiny triangle to the right of the Hibernate and
Lock-This-Compuer buttons on the Start Menu.

The bottom line is that while the TechBeta testers all are pretty
sophisticated users who use the various shutdown methods listed, the target
for Vista is actually more of a Consumer on the one hand and a Knowledge
Worker in an Enterprise on the other. Neither of which, according to MS's
logic, ever does much other than hibernate or lock his computer. MS would
not make the triangle bigger or even make it a button that said "Options."

While that discussion continues, it is now all about how it will work on
Vienna, not Vista, since such feature changes are now locked out for Vista.
It's now fait accompli.

The same for the squares and triangles. The window for design changes is
closed for Vista. It's on to Vienna.