Suggestion to DeltaCad

[JimBrown]

My opinion of Midnight is clouded by the fact that I have submitted 3 (I think) queries via the form on their Contact Us page and via fax, and have yet to receive even an acknowledgement. That's what prompted me to look for a user group!

[Admin 1]

Well, what were those questions. Perhaps we can attempt to answer them. Although, if those topics are covered in the User's Manual or in the Help menu, then we may just refer you to those and that might also explain why they didn't respond to your queries.

Most software companies won't do personal training, or 'hand holding' as it were, when the information requested is included with the software package and is readily available. We will, to an extent, but if it becomes evident that the user hasn't made the effort to 'do their own home work', we will direct that user to refer to the User Manual and/or the Help menu.

Here's an example of such a series of questions that prompted us to refer the user to 'read the manual'.

http://www.deltacadusersgroup.org/Forums/showthread.php?tid=96

[JimBrown]

They don't even acknowledge receipt which would be simple good manners, even if they then tell me to rtfm.

One of the questions was about my "funny" with circles not copying correctly, covered here in the forum but still not working properly although my work around is ok.

I'm webmaster for a lifesaving club- I have a Contact Us form on the site, just like DC does. Mine's set up to auto email the respondent- at least then the respondent knows the query's in the system. Right now, with DC, I don't even know anyone's even seen my questions.

The only positive contact I have had with them is when they took my money.

[Admin 1]

I'm sorry you've not had a better experience with the DC people.

As for the circle copying issue, that's something they couldn't help you with as the issue is with the MS software and is not a DeltaCad issue. However, that is the type of unique problem that this group can assist with by sharing our own experiences, and perhaps, doing a bit of trial & error to help sort it out. I don't even use MS word unless I absolutely have to because, IMO, it handles things in it's own unique, and sometimes unpredictable, way. I've found that it doesn't always "play nice" with non-MS software.

I've found that to be the case with IE too. What usually works or "looks good" in all other browsers, doesn't always render-out the same in IE. As you might guess I'm not a big fan of MS software but, since it's an "established standard", compensations must be done to be MS software compatible.

I use Serif PagePlus X2 for all my publishing needs, including web pages. It's very easy to use and quite versatile too. More so than MS Word, IMO.

As for auto-responses to a "Contact us" option, I personally don't like those. Just because the software responds with some nice pleasantries doesn't necessarily mean that a real person will read or respond to any of the questions asked. In fact, in my experiences, those so called follow-up responses are usually canned (non-personal or non-human) responses, which are just pulled from a "library of standard replies".

[JimBrown]

All I meant with the auto response was at least you know your query is in the pipeline- that it hit their server, and is no guarantee that a human will read it, let alone respond...

[Admin 1]

Okay.

Maybe you could send a "follow-up" to the DeltaCad people and ask them why they haven't responded to your questions/suggestions. I Guarantee that a human does see, and respond at their discretion, to those messages. It's possible they were just very busy or somehow missed them.

Also, be sure your ISP/E-mail service/E-mail client (Outlook or whatever you're using) isn't blocking responses from them. I know you're not using either of these, but AOL and Yahoo are notorious for doing that kind of thing, sometimes without the knowledge of the intended recipient. They usually require another response from the sender (DeltaCad) to allow it to go through to the recipient. They might choose not to follow-up on that unblocking process so their reply never gets sent through.

[Scribbler]

I'm perhaps coming in a little late on this one (but then I've only just joined )

I couldn't agree more! clicking an object to find it disappearing before my eyes then clicking "Undo" has become stupidly automatic with me. I think your idea for making the behaviour of "Er" optional a good one but I'd have to think more carefully about it first. (By the way: I'd never even noticed the "select middle of line" at bottom right of screen which you mention so I'm already learning from this forum! Thanks...)

Dick.

(03-27-2009, 02:42 AM)JimBrown Wrote: Here's a change I'd like to see in a future version. I often delete things by mistake becasue the Er button in Edit remains selected if you exit Edit and come back later- I'd like to see it default to E on each return to Edit.

In fact, even better, would be to make the Er function only work once, like the select middle of line as selected in the bottom right of the screen.

Or, it could be an option somewhere- allow the user to set the Er behaviour as

• stay clicked once chosen
• default to E on each return to Edit
• one-shot
  

[AlwMVMO]

I suppose a person could train thereself to click the [E] button in the edit tab menu or press [CTRL]+[E] on the keyboard after erasing an object to get it off the Erase option.