There are six icons at the top of the screen on the main Settings tab. I believe I am describing them correctly as follow. The icons for Program Settings and Folder settings appear when no database is open, and all six icons appear if a database is open.
Program Settings for all databases
Folder Settings for all databases
General Settings for this database
Display Settings for all databases
WebHint Settings for this database
Latter-day Saints Settings for this database
Question: given that Display Settings appears to be for all databases, why does the icon not appear when no databases are open as do Program Settings and Folder Settings icons?
Feature requests: 1) The Display Settings icon should appear when no databases are open, and 2) the āfor all databasesā or āfor this databaseā text should be added to the title bar for each of the six icons.
I realize that the design of the Settings controls in RM8 must have been influenced by all the questions from users in RM7 and previous versions about what the difference is between Program Settings and File Settings. A user had to go down a different path in the menu tree depending on whether the setting they wanted to change was a Program Setting or a File Setting. I think that combining the settings into a single menu tree as RM8 has done is a significant improvement in that regard because the user doesnāt have to know which kind of setting it is to find the setting. But having found the setting, I think itās important for the user to understand whether the scope of the setting is just for this database or if it is for all databases.
By the way, if two databases are open and if you are changing Display => Theme Color, then the screen starts blinking like crazy - like RM is trying to display different colors for each screen and is not able to do so. Or maybe itās just trying to warn you that the Theme Color change is going to affect both databases. Iām just guessing about the intent.
I would guess that, without a database open, the user cannot really observe the effect(s) of a display settings change on āthe most usedā screens/views of the program
.
Here is a link to a 31 second video of the screen flashing like crazy. The only way I have found so far to get out of the situation is to close down one of the RM8 windows.
I had to think about your question a little bit, but I think my Windows 10 setup is pretty vanilla. You are seeing a solid blue background on the desktop and not a background picture. And you are seeing icons for objects that are pinned to the desktop. I think the icons are easier to see with a solid background than with a background picture.
But I donāt really use those icons in the Windows 10 desktop very much very much. Instead, I use objects that I have pinned to the Windows 10 taskbar. What you may be sensing is that I have turned off all the Windows 8 style tiles that are still available in Windows 10. I disliked Windows 8 as much as anybody else, and I even deferred purchasing a new computer that I needed very much until Windows 10 was available. I simply was never going to use Windows 8. Then in Windows 10 I turned off all the tiles to make it look as make it look as much like Windows 7 as possible instead of making it look like Windows 8. But itās all just standard Windows 10 settings. I am not using any special software to get it look like that.
I normally run one RM8 window in full screen. When I post screencasts from that environment you canāt even see the Windows 10 background. But I got to thinking about the nitty gritty of how program settings and file settings worked in RM8, even though RM8 doesnāt call them that any more. And I thought the easiest way to test the settings was to do so with two RM8 windows open at the same time side by side. You canāt do that with the RM8 windows in full screen, and the Windows 10 background bled around the edges of the two RM8 windows. I wasnāt planning any kind of screencast until the colors started flashing at me.
I get the same problem on 8.2.5.0 so it may not have been fixed since the Community Preview or there has been a relapse in the code that controls it. Itās as though a Theme colour selection in one window is being sent to the other which sends it back as the beginning of colour ping-pong. I think it only happens if both windows are on Display Settings. Selecting another view in the originating window ends the game and it does not resume on returning to Display Settings unless the Theme colour is changed in one of the windows. With four databases open, itās āring around the rosieā, even spread across two screens.
Finally got it to flash. You have to change the theme on both open databases. After changing the theme on the 2nd database it will make it flash. I have it reported now.
Thatās interesting. In my screencast, I only had to change it on one database. I donāt know what the difference is. But I suppose it doesnāt matter as long as the problem can be reproduced.