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List of problems and suggestions
Hi,
I sent an email to komodo-feedback@activestate.com, and
Shane Caraveo suggested me to post these lists here.
I started using Komodo Edit 4.0.2 a few days ago, and I listed every problems I encountered, and suggestions I could think of.
I didn't check the forum, the bugzilla (it would have taken me far too much time), the beta version, nor even the list of known bugs (I will read this list, soon, to avoid too much redundancy), so there is certainly quite a number of known problems and suggestions, in my lists.
I you are a Komodo developer, feel free to contact me, either by private message, or email, if you cannot reproduce a problem (I generally didn't try to reproduce the problems myself, and I couldn't reproduce some of the problems I tried to reproduce), or if you need more details. If you check duplicates on your bugzilla, thanks to add me to the CC list. Note, however, that I won't have enough time to test beta versions of Komodo.
The lists include some informations about my system (again, if you need more details, don't hesitate to ask me).
Thanks for Komodo (and the freeware Edit version). It sure is the best editor I tested in the past few years (and I tested quite a number of them), so I think I'll keep it, but there sure are quite a number of small bugs to solve, and other things which could be improved, so I hope Komodo will continue to improve more and more.
I'll probably post a third list, in a few days/weeks, after having worked on my projects, with Komodo, for some time.
Bye.
[Edit: Added new 2007-04-11 bug and suggestion list -again, these are all new items, that is I didn't merge it with the previous lists, and, again, I didn't check if there was already reports on your bugzilla. I started a fourth list, though there probably isn't that many more things to report... I'll post it in a few weeks, I guess.]
[Edit2: Added Production_annotation_manager_for_Komodo.txt, a file describing some ideas for a production annotation manager extension, for Komodo. I wanted to create this extension for the Komodo extensibility challenge, but I didn't have enough free time, and too much things to learn, without much documentation -and I find XUL too complicated anyway- :) If anyone wants to create it, feel free to use any or all of the ideas contained in this file, without mentioning me.]
[Edit3: Added new 2007-04-12 (well, 2007-05-31, I forgot to rename it) list. It will be the last, as there is probably not many more problems I would encounter, and, more importantly, because I think I'll go back to a more simple editor... As I said multiple times, Komodo feels better than all other editors I tested, but there are quite a number of problems -sure, it is proportional to the number of functionalities-, and, as I don't use advanced functions that much, I think I should better use a more simple editor ;) It was interesting, to list all these problems and suggestions (as I wish to work in the testing/usability/accessibility/ergonomy/research field), and I hope it did and will help (do not hesitate to contact me, about any problem or suggestion I listed, although I will not be able to test anything). Best wishes, for the future of Komodo. Bye!]
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There's a lot to go on there. We on the Komodo team will address
some of the issues directly here, others will end up in the bugzilla
database. And since this is a public forum, anyone else is welcome
to join in. Mathieu's two posts are definitely worth reading for
anyone who's been thinking about how Komodo can be improved, not
just those of us who work on it daily.
If you feel strongly about an issue, it's worth adding an item in
bugzilla. Don't worry if it's a duplicate of an existing bug -- if
it is, we'll mark it as such. I can understand how you'd rather not
spend an average of even 1 minute per search to see if over 140 issues(!)
have already been reported. Thanks for spending that time instead writing
them up and reporting them here.
When we moved to 4.0, we replaced the old PHP colorizer
with a streamlined one based on our new UDL technology.
UDL languages are currently limited to 64 different styles,
and we have to differentiate a PHP string from an HTML
string, for example. So we haven't had enough styles to
allow one style for PHP double-quoted strings, and one
for single-quoted, although it's easy to see why some
people would want to see them different.
Eventually we'll be moving to an updated editor where
the 64-style limit is broken.
Ok, I read the list of known problems from RELNOTES.txt (from Komodo Edit 4.0.2).
Here are the problems from my 2007-03-24 list, which are also listed in RELNOTES.txt:
- By default, there was "Bitstream Vera Sans Mono", for the fixed-space font, but also for the proportional-space font (instead of "Bitstream Vera Sans"). =====>>> Bug #27206 (though your bugzilla says "Permission denied. Sorry; you do not have the permissions necessary to see bug 27206"... -it also does it for some of the other bugs listed in RELNOTES.txt, which is a problem if someone want to follow something).
From my 2007-03-25 list:
- The line and column coordinates, in he status bar are update far too slowly. It should be updated immediately. When you are searching a specific line/column, it is very annoying to have to wait nearly one second, before the coordinates are updated. =====>>> Bug #65606.
- When changing keyboard shortcuts, a warning states we have to reset Komodo in order for them to work... Isn't there anyway not to restart Komodo? While it keep sessions, it is still annoying to have to restart a graphical application, for a change to be taken into account (and notably if it takes a few seconds to load, and we want to test multiple things). [I tested, and new shortcuts seem to work without restarting... does the warning only apply to some functions? It seems there is something with shortcuts being shown in menus... if this is only this, and you really cannot do it without restarting, then you should remove the warning dialog... just write a small warning in the preferences, saying that shortcuts won't be shown in menus before restarting...] =====>>> Bug #36710.
Bye.
The key bindings take effect immediately, but the menus don't
get updated until a restart.
As for permissions, any bug mentioned in our documentation should
be publicly accessible. We also use bugzilla as a planning tool,
and use the default that any items we report internally are closed.
I've added a bug on this:
http://bugs.activestate.com/show_bug.cgi?id=68501 (yes, it's
public).
Please feel free to list other bugs that we've overlooked in
this bug.
In case you subscribed to this topic, but the forum does not send notices for post modifications, then note that I attached the 2007-04-11 list, to my first post (see the edit note, at the bottom of the post).
Just like the previous update, in case you are subscribed to this topic, and the forum does not send notices for post modifications, then note that I attached the Production_annotation_manager_for_Komodo.txt file to my first post (see the second edit note, at the bottom of the post).
To me, this annotation manager seems like a cross between source code control and a review system. Is that roughly the idea?
Yeah, except the notes are mainly relative to the text/code (and integrated accordingly), instead of updates/changes. Both can have notes relative to files/directories/projects.
Yeah, if it is fully integrated into the editor, and oriented to everyday QA (that is, coders would be the main target, though QA people could revalidate code -possibly using different statuses depending on who validated the code-, set specific QA statuses, etc.). It could of course be used for global QA (statistics on file statuses, problems blocking a release, prioritized todo lists, etc.), but the annotation process starts during coding, and helps with everyday work (I guess this could be a great tool for extreme programming QA people -well, I only watched a few Google videos about testing in XP projects, so I don't know what kind of tool they use, beside automated tests and reports, to communicate with programmers (well, except talking to them after the tests :))).
This sure does add some overhead, and I'm pretty sure quite a lot of coders won't like it, and would consider it a waste of their coding time, but I'm quite fond of metadata, strict validation, and things like this, and I'm equally confident some people would use it extensively :)
I added a fourth (and last ;)) list of problems and suggestions (see fourth edit note).