LETTERS
6 JANUARY2021|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE
Letters
Ifmusictrackshad alimit of threeminutes,asproposedbyMelCroucher,wemight
neverhaveheardStairwaytoHeaven.One readerthinksthat’s abad thing
Edge of darkness
Ivery much agree with
KayEwbank’s complaints
about software installing itself
without permission (‘Bossy
bootups’,Shopper392).
My experience has been of
MicrosoftEdge forcing itself
upon users.
Isuspect that if you click on the
text that accompanies the new pretty
pictures on the initial Windows 10 screen,
it tries to make Edge your default browser.
Ialso notehow the current version of
Control Panel seems not to be able to
properly change default programs.
It feelsasifweare experiencing covert
action by big software companies, carrying
out undeclared war in the absence of any
authorities stopping them.
Older readers mayremember these turf
wars from years ago.
Paul Martin
Safe cycling
Iwassurprisedbythefocus on testing
in Mike Bedford’s article,withonly a
briefreference to “quality-based activities”
(‘Software Failure’,Shopper394).
Testing has its place but, as Stuart Reid
says, it is mostly not about detecting defects.
Ihavehappened to come across a
presentation on the subject that Igaveto
the InstituteofPhysics and Engineering in
Medicine (IPEM) back in 2004. Here is a
verbatim extract:
“There is no simple recipe forsafe
software.The received wisdom is that if you
want to get software in which you can place
any real confidence,you need arigorously
controlled and documented development
process, following an identified software life
cycle.This starts with the initial concept and
it goes through requirements capture and
successivephasesofdesign,and
on to commissioning and
in-service modification.
“Safety is achieved by a
combination of techniques,
applied at every stage of the
lifecycle.”
Richard Mellish
Eyes right
Under‘Showmethelight’,you
askedforotherideasaboutmaking
computingeasierontheeyes(Letters,
Shopper393).
1.In many cases, you don’thaveto work
in black on white. Idoalot of work in
Textpad (a text editor,textpad.com). It’s very
easy in Textpad, and probably not impossible
in many other apps, to set the background to
something less harsh. It took very little time
to get used to it, and now that Iam, Ipreferit
to black on white.
Idoalot of record-keeping with notes in
text files, and writealotofraw HTML for
web pages, both jobs done with Textpad. It’s
easy to configure it to use adifferent colour
behind the text, depending on the extension
present on the file youare editing. Iuse a
different colour for.txt and .html files,and
thus have an easily absorbed cue
to prompt me with the answer to
‘what’s this?’ when Icomeback
to ascreen that already has
something on it.
2 .Font size and screen
position: it’s so very easy to
struggle on with something you
can read, but not read as easily
as you could. Do not, if you can
avoid it, use just alaptop.Use a
laptop,byall means, but get
yourself an external mouse,
keyboard and monitor.
Once you have adecentseparatemonitor,
put it where it’s easy to work with. Put the
monitor in front of you. Don’tconstantly
work with your head turned to oneside.
If desk space is limited, get a20x8in plank
and four bricks, wrapped in teatowels. Make
a‘shelf’onyour desk forthe monitor to
stand on; under it, you still have the use of
otherwise lost space.And on it, around the
stand of the monitor,you have extra space.
No-one said you have to have 5,000 words
on the screen at once.Most apps give you
easy ways to change the size of the font.
Webbrowsers? The Ctrl +, Ctrl -and Ctrl 0
shortcuts increase,decrease and return the
font size to normal. Libre Office? There’s a
slider to increase and decrease zoom.
3.Many people sit in front of awindow,
forvarious good reasons. But it is adreadful
place to work in the daytime,unlessyou have
blinds you are prepared to draw.How can
your eyes cope with reading amuch less
bright screen when it’s surrounded by
daylight, even if it isn’t the fully glory of
noontime on asummer’s day?
Don’t sit facing the wall or oppositethe
window,either,due to reflections onscreen.
Sit with the window to your leftoryourright.
Ican’t finish without saying that Mel
Croucher’s stuff is golden, his humour is
wonderful, and he imparts alot of interesting
information along the way.
Tom
Three-minutetrack limits
SogoodbyetoFreebird,Stairwayto
Heaven,SympathyfortheDevil(Stones
and Blood, Sweat &Tears versions), most of
Yesand ELP,plus many other great tracks
(Mel’sWorld,Shopper394).
My dear sir,you should have your
computing devices confiscated forthe
good of mankind.
Peter
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