Alternative RIDE icon

[FionaDyalog]

When installing both Dyalog and RIDE, the icons are identical. I appreciate that this has been discussed before and it was decided that this was a desirable outcome (more benefits than drawbacks), but I don't believe I'm alone in wishing that I had a choice. On Windows (no idea about other platforms), right-clicking the icon on the desktop and going to the properties presents a "change icon" option. Currenetly there are no alternatives offered when this is done; WIBNI there was an alternative icon included here that could be selected (even if it's the same icon in a different colour that would help!). The default icon could remain as it currently is but those who want to could then differentiate between Dyalog and the RIDE.

[abrudz]

I think a RIDE-purple coloured cube with the white Dyalog D might work well:

[aplteam]

I can see plenty of cons an no pro at all. Just saying.

Any way to tell them apart would be an improvement.

[JasonRivers]

Perhaps using an R instead of a D would be good, as it's "Ride" :-)

[dyaandys]

+1 for Jason's R - then we can stick with the Dyalog corporate orange.

Having said that, what is the icon trying to indicate? There are three usage cases that I am aware of:

1. Dyalog IDE on Windows
2. Standalone RIDE where you start RIDE and choose the action
3. RIDE used as the frontend to Dyalog - where starting RIDE takes you straight into Dyalog with no option. Is this the same as (1) or the same as (2) or is it something different ?

[mbaas2]

When thinking about these distinct use cases, it might also make sense to provide an icon for zero footprint RIDE that one could use for shortcuts to URLs that open these.

[xpqz]

This is important.

The important thing here is that RIDE != Dyalog. On the Mac, where the default installation is a bundled dyalog+Ride, the behaviour is super-confusing as it stands:

1. Start 'Dyalog' -- the menu bar says "Dyalog 19.0".
2. File > Connect and start a new session with (say) Dyalog 18.2, or whatever else you have handy.

Now menu bar STILL says Dyalog 19.0, yet the running dyalog is 18.2.

The app is Ride, not dyalog. Dyalog is what Ride connects to, even if the default install on the Mac is set to start a session and bypass the connect screen as a convenience. In @dyaandys list, 3 is the same as 2, not 1.

If a Mac user discovers that Ride is, in fact, distinct from dyalog, they might also install a stand-alone Ride to get the latest features. It now presents with exactly the same icon, yet with a different name, breaching the MacOS UI conventions, and confusing the user.

If we think of Ride as ... Ride, not Dyalog, all these problems go away: connect to a different version of Dyalog, the app is still Ride, the menu items can still be correct.

I think much of this confusion comes from the fact that the Windows version of Dyalog is not separable from its IDE. Ride, though, is by its nature a separate application.

[aplteam]

Fully supported.

[xpqz]

[mkromberg]

I agree with the conclusion, but I don't think "I think much of this confusion comes from the fact that the Windows version of Dyalog is not separable from its IDE" is correct. The cause of the current architecture is that our original Mac user John "Plea for Simplicity" Scholes didn't want a simple user to have to know about both RIDE and the APL system.

Under Windows, RIDE is always a separate application.

[mkromberg]

Oops, hit the wrong button :)

[xpqz]

I briefly had hopes for the world's fastest fix!