Suggestion: Did You Know...? Window

TerranRich · Thu 20/05/2004 16:29:37

In the Beginners' Forum we have a thread with dozens upon dozens of miscellaneous "did ya know" type of facts that have no real home. What if AGS started up every time with a "Did You Know...?" window that displayed a random facts out of this bunch? It could pop up by default and the user could have the ability to set whether or not it pops up or not. I think it would be a great resource for new users who don't know about the more obscure features of the engine, such as the "%0#d" placeholder adding leading zeroes to a variable, or char's have the ability of using = and ==.

The user would also be able to scroll through the different Tips is (s)he so chose, or close the window for good altogether. Either I could compile the list of Tips into one file that fits the "Did You Know...?" format, or you could just take the sticky thread in the BegTech Forum yourself, CJ. What do you guys think?

Kweepa · Thu 20/05/2004 19:11:07

I think that's a great idea!
Some more advanced tips would be good too.

Maybe some context sensitive tips (depending on the selection from the tree on the left) could appear in the bar that just says "Ready" at the bottom of the window.

.. · Thu 20/05/2004 19:16:28

I like it.

AGSers should get to contribute a lot though. Something that we can do to be included

There would soon be hundreds of tips.

CJ could update with all the tips in that post thingy in each new version :!

Scorpiorus · Thu 20/05/2004 19:33:53

I like the idea. I think there could be a layouted text file with all tips included, thus the AGS editor could access it to show a certain hint. Strazer did a great work collecting useful tips&hints around the technical forums.

Gilbert · Fri 21/05/2004 02:42:08

Quote from: terranRICH on Thu 20/05/2004 16:29:37
... such as the "%0#d" placeholder adding leading zeroes to a variable ...

What? You can do that?

I never know that and wrote a function to format the string...

* Gilbot V7000a burns the other AGSers to cover up his ignorance.

ElectricMonk · Fri 21/05/2004 03:54:39

Heh... that sounds very familiar, Gilbot...

stuh505 · Fri 21/05/2004 05:23:06

I think it would be best if any forum member had a place to just submit their tidbits, so that a moderator could at their leisure peruse them to make sure they aren't lude or just jokes. Maybe if there was just a thread where people listed the comments...and in their spare time, any moderator (not just CJ) could add it to the overall tips database.

Scummbuddy · Fri 21/05/2004 19:20:57

there is a tips page on the beginners forum ready for submissions.

Pumaman · Fri 21/05/2004 20:01:30

Personally, I can't stand "Tip of the Day" windows, but I can see how it would be useful. I'll add it to my list.

Ben · Fri 21/05/2004 21:18:56

As long as it has a big "Don't show me this thing EVER AGAIN" checkkbox, I'll be happy

Pet Terry · Fri 21/05/2004 21:23:54

Quote from: Ben on Fri 21/05/2004 21:18:56
As long as it has a big "Don't show me this thing EVER AGAIN" checkkbox, I'll be happy

Exactly the same thing I was going to say

Scorpiorus · Fri 21/05/2004 23:09:52

Hmm, if everyone will have disabled it then there is no reason to implement it at all. Personally, I think it would be really useful to learn (refresh one's memory) some very handy tips like these leading zeros or how to have actions executed after the dialog was finished or that you can only have one script executed at time (thus explaning why the run script's code is always executed last if the event was triggered with the ProcessClick function etc. It would be really useful. Of course, I would too disable that window if it told me how I can set character's speed from the characters pane every time I start up the editor...

auhsor · Sat 22/05/2004 04:02:26

Maybe intead of having a 'Tips' window, cos I know I would turn it off, have a page in the manual reseerved for all these tips. I think that that would be of alot more use.

TerranRich · Sat 22/05/2004 05:39:02

These tips would be worth gleaning from a Tip of the Day window, things that either aren't covered in the manual or are obscure pieces of information unknown to most. A separate manual page woud be nice too, but it would have to be advertised or displayed somehow.

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Sat 22/05/2004 06:39:48

Personally, I'd disable it... but first, I'd read it through. And I'd know that I could open it anytime and read those things again. So I'm all for it.

Ishmael · Thu 27/05/2004 12:31:01

Add a checkbox to the AGS welcome window..?

Any good?

TerranRich · Thu 27/05/2004 19:48:51

There you go! That'd be cool, in addition to the Tips window itself.

Ishmael · Thu 27/05/2004 19:55:47

I would be good, if the checkbox be there, that the tips window pops up after the welcome window, so experienced users can disable it the first time the start the new version adding this. Another thing would be that if AGS has not been started on the computer before, the checkbox would be greyed out the first time, so beginners would have to read it, and therefore know one exists... just an idea

Relight · Thu 27/05/2004 23:13:19

This is an excellent idea, I hope it is implemented. There are tons of little things that just aren't documented (or that you'd find quickly in the documentation) that would be helpful to have in such a list, available just to read and in a Did You Know window.