Why?
Recently I changed style which is from previously attaching a sample, the tool itself, or the class itself; into a per request basis. Is it easier for me? No, it is harder as I have to manually answer requests and manually send the requested files. Not to mention that I have a very slow connection most of the time (53.6kbps) and I am paying for prepaid loads for an internet connection just to give those classes to anybody who requested from me.
So why then do those unnecessary steps? Below are a very good comment, observation and suggestion from Cesar in my SSDTPicker Class which I originally planned to answer as well there but this will be long so..…
Hi Jun,
You said in this post:
>>... "to avoid having that ugly feeling again, in my end, I decided to “know” who is really interested in any of my new ideas ..."
Please don't do that !!!
Look, it took me about almost a week till I decided to ask you directly to send me the ssCalendar class from a previous post. Just because I did not want to publish my email in a blog comment. When you take that attitude, believe me, you are limiting the quantity of people that will appreciate your work.
Another thing is that people do always recommend some links, and doing that people will share those files directly.
I suggest that you can upload your files to a separate server, that will allow you to have a downloads counter.
Please understand that these files need to be very easy to be accessed, and tested. You have great ideas, and a very nice eye for design.
FYI: I've adapted the ssCal class and it's already in my app.
It's really fantastic to have feedback, but sometimes it does not happen, for many reasons, and believe me, zero feedback does not mean that people did not apreciate your work. Suddenly you'll find references to some posts of you on the web !!!
I am not an expert nor did I claim to be one. The reason I am doing blogs, aside from sharing and trying to teach others how certain things can be done is I want to influence others like me to do the same, that they can do it too. The reason why my blogs are sort of informal is those are actually geared mostly towards the newbies or to those in need, not only to those who are already experts or who consider themselves as one.
Lately, I decided to conduct this little experiment called who's who? Who has the guts to openly request from me, a non-expert, those classes and not be ashamed of doing it and who despite having an interest finds it hard to do it.
Sure, there are several reasons why someone will hesitate to post an open request like Cesar's consideration about his email address which is very understandable, but anybody can likewise put a message that instructs me to delete the email link before I finally approve for the comment/request to appear on my blogs. Or they can email me straight which, despite my notes here, some still do anyway; and honestly it is just fine with me also.
To those who cannot request from me because they are ashamed to do so, then as I have said it is their losses not mine. What is so hard about posting a request here or in my emails? Is it harder than us preparing things for you to simply use? What is so shameful in asking? I myself have been doing it.
I will tell you why it can be hard, pride! It is very hard if a person thinks high of him/herself because doing that is a sort of admission to one's self that he/she is not that better in some aspect to some whom he/she considers less of his/her stature. It is very hard to swallow pride if you have one and that is what I am likewise trying to teach here. Not swallowing in a sense but admitting that sometimes we really need something even from some whom arguably is less skilled than us. I have been doing that as well, listening to guys with lesser experiences than me or is younger than me.
That thing about seeing the number of downloads is my first phase in knowing how many initially take interest in my ideas, when it is free to download anytime they choose. The 2nd and final phase is this, knowing who has the guts to admit to him/herself that they can request from me openly or through my email.
Do I loose respect on those who request from me? Absolutely not! On the contrary I admire them more because I am just like them. I can't see anything wrong in doing it! Unless if a person has an ego that whispers, it is shameful to request from someone whom they feel is lesser than them. There are people like that, believe me.
Cesar is among the people who have been contributing a lot without asking for anything in return. He is among the people I respect and in fact he is the one who showed faith in me before by suggesting I blog to share further my ideas. Yet he requested for the class openly after a bit of hesitation due to a very valid reason which everyone can understand. And that put my level of respect to him higher. Actually it comes as a no surprise to me because I have known him to be a highly skilled yet good and a humble guy. But that is him. I want to see though how many more will/can be like him, a highly skilled and experienced guy yet who never let pride get in the way. A very commendable action in my eyes and I believe in the eyes of many as well.
I am not saying though that if you don’t request, you are automatically among those I am saying that pride is getting in the way. Of course it can be simply because it really never appealed to you. The person who will know the real reason is that person him/herself.
Upcoming:I will share two more classes I am currently working that can hugely affect the GUI of a VFP exe. I will post those next week or after that. I will create first a tutorial on how to transmorph switchbox into an
OptionSwitch.
Those 2 upcoming class combined with the last 3 class I have shared will really help beautify the appearances of VFP apps whether under version 9 or lower. Here is a normal VFP appearance taking into account Theme is already supported:
And here is what we can do by using only 3 of my classes, i.e.,
SSTitleBar NextGen (upcoming),
SSCal (already shared), and
SSButton (upcoming):
These 5 classes (including the upcoming 2 new ones) will not tie you up with a single design which software like WindowBlinds and similar others do which is tying your GUI with a single theme. I made those very flexible that you can come up with your own unique styles and combinations out of those 5 classes very fast and easy and still create something unique and cool.
Those are just samples of what can be. These last few days, I made SSTitleBar NextGen with 7 colors and SSButton class with 4 themes and 7 colors, not to mention some other more features I will not mention here yet. But I have thought more things to do on those two and unlike before where I say to myself “this is enough to get them going”, now I am trying my best to give you better ones. So I will be releasing those when I have implemented those other more things I still have in mind.
With those you will be an instant GUI expert in the eyes of your clients, in absolutely no time at all! To anyone who will show an immediate interest in any or all of those, just request here in weblogs or direct on my email, preferably on my gmail and not on the yahoo one.
For those who cannot request due to the reasons I have said here, out of respect to Cesar, I will be posting all 5 classes as attachment in CoderIsland and Foxite Download Section later next year. But I will not do it early. So either you can wait until that time for you to have those or.... you can request from me immediately after I post. It is your choice.
The experiment will soon stop but for now allow me to continue doing it still with the next 2 classes. Cheers!
Update: December 26, 2009
I already have submitted the classes for free and easy download to Eric
for the download section of foxite, so you will see those pending the
decision of Eric. In addition, I have created a thread in coderisland
to have the same available for download. Please click on the link
below:
http://www.coderisland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=254