The KFSD Diatribe

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Some time ago, pre 8 & 7.5, I suggested it would be a handy addition to be able to set the incoming & outgoing transition times which may cut out the obvious confusion of how when & where to apply KFSD or not. The amount that has been written about it would fill 10 pages of a manual. Just out of interest I downloaded a trial copy of the oppositions basic programme & noticed the feature was included, maybe their spys picked up on my suggestion. :P/>

Yachtsman1

[PGA]

I was considering starting a new topic on this subject myself but I think the question that I have in mind fits within the existing topic title.

Show Full Slide Duration (SFSD)

Found in Settings>Preferences>Project, this is well named as it does exactly what it says it will. When working with SFSD = ON, the slide duration as shown in the bottom right-hand corner of each thumbnail in the Slide List in the Slides View, is shown as Slide Duration+Transition Duration of next slide. When working with SFSD = OFF, the slide duration on the thumbnail is shown as Slide Duration only of this slide.

There is little scope for confusion here.

Keep Full Slide Duration (KFSD)

Also found in Settings>Preferences>Project, this is confusingly named, in my opinion. "Keep" implies to me the preservation of something. Thus this setting implies to me that, once set, the Full Slide Duration cannot be changed. But this is not the case. The slide duration can be changed.

So what exactly is being "kept"? And in what way is it being "kept"? And why is it being "kept"?

If these questions could be answered here on the forum, and then incorporated into the product documentation, I am sure that everybody's understanding of KFSD would improve. They would then know what was being affected, how it was being affected and why it was necessary to have it so affected. Armed with that understanding they could use KFSD, or not, with confidence that they had made the correct decision for their situation, and that the results would be as they expected.

regards,

Peter

[Guest Yachtsman1]

In addition to the above IMO the defaults should be set to favour the beginner especially KFSD, the programme is difficult enough to learn without having choose which is correct when they are learning.

Yachtsman1.

[Barry Beckham]

At the present state of development with Slide Styles a complete newcomer to PicturesToExe should be steered well away from them, because they add a complication they don't need at that early stage. On the one hand it's tempting to demonstrate how Slide Styles could be used to make 3:2 images cover a 16:9 slide show simply and easily. (it could sidestep the usual issues of aspect ratio conflicts) However, introducing Slide Styles that early with the issues they introduce with slide timings could cause all sorts of confusions.

Slide Styles at their present development are not something that should be introduced at a basic level because they are not a basic tool

[jt49]

...

So what exactly is being "kept"? And in what way is it being "kept"? And why is it being "kept"?

...

A remark first: KFSD and Non-KFSD aren't project attributes. For each slide we can define (in slide options) if it is KFSD or not. In Settings>Preferences>Project we only predefine what newly added slide will be, we do not change existing slides.

What is kept, and in what way? Assume that slide x is set to KFSD. Then the so-called "full duration" (classical duration plus transition time of the next slide) of slide x is preserved (as long as it is possible) in the following cases: (1) We change the order of slides in the slide list; (2) We change transition times via slide options. Keeping the full duration does not always work. If slide x gets a (possibly) new successor whose incoming transition is longer than the original full duration of slide x, the situation will get out of order. Why is it being "kept"? Maybe that slide x contains a video or an animation that needs the full duration, who will know that

Regards,

jt

[PGA]

For each slide we can define (in slide options) if it is KFSD or not.

I was unaware of this until you posted. I am now asking myself: why do we need KFSD in the Settings > Preferences?

The feature adds value only for those slides whose main image is a video clip, where it ensures that the video runs smoothly from beginning of in-coming transition to end of out-going transition. Would it not benefit the user more (especially the newer user), if PTE set KFSD=ON automatically on such slides and OFF automatically on all other slides?

regards,

Peter

[davegee]

If it were not in settings then the original concept of adding a video in FSD would not exist?

DG

[Barry Beckham]

Am I the only one whose eyes glaze over and the will to live ebbs when I see the letters KFSD

[davegee]

Am I the only one whose eyes glaze over and the will to live ebbs when I see the letters KFSD

Exactly.

If you do not use it ignore it!

DG

[PGA]

Am I the only one whose eyes glaze over and the will to live ebbs when I see the letters KFSD

If you do not use it ignore it!

Believe it or not I agree with both of you!

I also believe that all software should be as simple as possible to use. It should do, automatically, those things that the user expects it to do, and not do anything that the user doesn't expect. Unfortunately PTE fails on these criteria when it comes to Keep Full Screen Duration. To understand why you get the results that you do when the option is turned on, you have to be an expert user of PTE. And some expert users hate this feature because it does what, to them, is unexpected. If expert users can struggle to get their heads around this feature, what chance has a less experienced user?

regards,

Peter

[Guest Yachtsman1]

+1 The programme was totally different to what I've been used to when trying to post process slide insertions & timings. The new user wouldn't know what is going on. Also the argument about the new user shouldn't be using the advanced programme doesn't wash, IMO anyone with pretentions to emulate the shows on here would not buy the beginners programme.

Yachtsman1 :)/>

[JEB]

Hi,

Do I detect a consensus beginning to form regarding usability?

John

[jt49]

...

Would it not benefit the user more (especially the newer user), if PTE set KFSD=ON automatically on such slides and OFF automatically on all other slides?

...

KFSD has a major disadvantage: It is responsible for unexpected shifts of time points, a mess for people who like a good synchronization with music. So I would not like to see "KFSD=ON automatically", not even for slides including video.

KFSD has a minor advantage regarding run-time of videos. But if we compare it to the problems with time points and compare it to whole lot of confusion that we have seen among most users in this forum, the overall benefit of KFSD is (IMO) negative. We could have lived without it. The overall amount of confusion would be much less (even regarding styles and videos).

Regards,

jt

[Guest Yachtsman1]

There have been a number of comments on this thread, but nothing from the management (Wnsoft). I have just started a new project in 8.1 from scratch. The slide time I left at the default of 7 seconds, inserted a PTE generated slide to start & 2 picture slides.

If you check the screen shot, the 3 slides have different times, now if that isn't confusion I'll be blowed. If I was a newcomer I would wonder what the heck was going on. As a fairly experienced PTE user, IMO opinion this cannot be correct :blink:/>/> :blink:/>/> :blink:/>/>

Yachtsman1.

PS I suppose the time on the last slide is due to there not being a fourth slide in the list :blink: