Fab's AutoBackup 7 Pro - a must have tool for techs

[britechguy]

Should I feel insulted by this?

No. Who among us who is a coder has not been guilty of same?

But with any luck we disabused ourselves of the notions that concision is more important than clarity and that "note taking" in the form of comments is for weak minds.

 

[britechguy]

But then I used to do this for money.

So did I, for over a decade. But, unfortunately, I cannot claim to not have been guilty of either, just reformed.

 

[fabs]

Well,
I'm looking at my UI right now and I'm struggling A LOT. A simple clickable label does not have anything like a "tab stop" feature, so, they cannot get keyboard focus. Same thing for clickable images (the ones in th upper right corner for example that are used to open user's manual, about box, input license informations…).
I have to replace any of these in the UI if I want to make it screen reader compliant and it will take a huge amount of time. Indeed, while I'm doing this, I cannot develop anything new.

 

[HCHTech]

Most of the coders who create screen readers themselves have never seen their own code in the literal sense of "see."

That's fascinating! I suppose it makes sense (necessity is the mother of invention and all that), but still surprising.

 

[fabs]

Adapting Fab's 7 for screen readers is definitely a lost cause as I did not design it for accessibility at all. There is way too much work to do on this one as there are dozens of graphical controls that I would have to change and adapt behavior.
Fab's 8 is currently in development and I'm almost rewriting it from scratch. At least, I can do this work on what I've already done with it. Since it's at its very beginning, it's not as painful as adapting V7 is.
No, don't ask me when I would release it, I just don't know each day if I'll be able to write a single code line, so, I can't tell !

 

[britechguy]

Adapting Fab's 7 for screen readers is definitely a lost cause as I did not design it for accessibility at all.

The following is not aimed at you, specifically, but that is the problem when it comes to accessibility: retrofitting it is an absolute nightmare in almost every case.

It really does need to be baked-in from the outset, and it's not that hard to bake-in if you're aware of the basic techniques and use them, consistently. That's certainly what's going on in "the majors" at the moment as they've insisted on using the design and coding idioms necessary to have accessibility as part and parcel of what's being produced. And, even then, there's the occasional unlabeled control or similar because someone was in a rush. But fixing something like that is trivial when the entire accessibility infrastructure is in place and you have to add something to that infrastructure that you forgot, not add the infrastructure itself.

It's no shock that this is something that can't be done until a major rewrite or a "start from scratch for the next version" situation. I never intended for this to become an immediate, and fast, pursuit. The seed, however, has now been planted.

There are also PR benefits from being able to state that one's software is fully accessible, too.

 

[fabs]

Hello,
Fab's AutoBackup 7 Pro and Fab's AutoBackup 7 Home & Office 7.12.4.6097 have just been released.

Here is the change log for both versions:

Added :
1- Built-in HTTP connections to fpnet.fr domain have been replaced with secured HTTPS connections.
2- New command line switches to limit backed up files ages to copy. They have to be used with regular command line parameters. Example /DOWNLOADS /DOWNLOADSMAXDAYS=120 to backup downloaded files only less than 120 days old. Here's the supported items list:
/DESKTOPMAXDAYS=xx
/MYDOCUMENTSMAXDAYS=xx
/MYVIDEOSMAXDAYS=xx
/MYPICTURESMAXDAYS=xx
/MYMUSICMAXDAYS=xx
/DOWNLOADSMAXDAYS=xx
/3DOBJECTSMAXDAYS=xx
/COMMONDOCUMENTSMAXDAYS=xx
/COMMONDESKTOPMAXDAYS=xx
/COMMONPICTURESMAXDAYS=xx
/COMMONMUSICMAXDAYS=xx
/COMMONVIDEOSMAXDAYS=xx
/PUBLICDOWNLOADSMAXDAYS=xx


Grab it from your orders history's details on the shop's website at https://archive.fpnet.fr/account.php (ordered before May 1st 2022) or https://store.fpnet.fr/en/order-history for newer orders. You can also use the bundled updater tool (click the "Download Fab's AutoBackup 7.X" link within the program and get the updated files).

 

[sapphirescales]

Yes I know I'm not really a high level skilled designer. At least it's functional. I'll do my best to make this better looking for V8

Literally just hire someone on Fiverr to make a few designs. For less than $100 you can get a kickass design. I'm terrible at design too and I do websites for people! I just hire someone on Fiverr to make the website look pretty and then I build it.

 

[fabs]

Literally just hire someone on Fiverr to make a few designs. For less than $100 you can get a kickass design. I'm terrible at design too and I do websites for people! I just hire someone on Fiverr to make the website look pretty and then I build it.

Well, so far V8 design looks like this:




I guess it is not so bad is it ?

 

[GTP]

Looks great. Looks very modern, smart and easy to read.
I love the colour palette, layout and icon design.
Great job @fabs, well done.

 

[fabs]

Hello,
Fab's AutoBackup 7 Pro and Fab's AutoBackup 7 Home & Office 7.12.4.6099 have just been released.

Here is the change log for both versions:

Fixed:
- It was not possible to set a backup scheduled task with the Command Line Builder tool when there was more than one additional folder, additional file or excluded folder selected. Windows task scheduler did not allow the separation characters pattern used between those items paths. A new pattern is used instead now and it addresses this issue. Backup scripts created for earlier versions are still functional so there is no need to edit them.
- When used in command line with the /SILENT switch, the program's tray icon was still visible even if the program had finished its task and was finally closed. Now, it first disables tray icon then closes.

Grab it from your orders history's details on the shop's website at https://archive.fpnet.fr/account.php (ordered before May 1st 2022) or https://store.fpnet.fr/en/order-history for newer orders. You can also use the bundled updater tool (click the "Download Fab's AutoBackup 7.X" link within the program and get the updated files).

 

[Porthos]

Well, so far V8 design looks like this:

A dark mode option would be nice.

 

[fabs]

A dark mode option would be nice.

If that's really necessary, then I'll have to double graphic files with dark variants. That said, I have to use regular buttons to keep the program screen reader friendly. I'm not sure how these buttons will look like in dark mode.

 

[Porthos]

If that's really necessary, then I'll have to double graphic files with dark variants. That said, I have to use regular buttons to keep the program screen reader friendly. I'm not sure how these buttons will look like in dark mode.

I have difficulty currently reading black text on a white background.
But unlesss others ask, I will deal with it. The program is too important to me.

 

[britechguy]

That said, I have to use regular buttons to keep the program screen reader friendly. I'm not sure how these buttons will look like in dark mode.

You need not worry about looks when it comes to screen reader users. That being said, you still need to care for those who are not.

Provided buttons (or any controls) are correctly labeled you're generally good. If alt-text or help text(s) are needed, then use them, but very often they're not. I mean, an "Open" button doesn't require further explanation.

 

[britechguy]

I have difficulty currently reading black text on a white background.

See if it (or anything you use) will work OK with a high contrast theme if you need to use one while using the program. Yes, it's a PITA, but if it's a bad day for vision, using a high contrast theme is often better than a dark theme, yet very similar to it.

 

[fabs]

I have difficulty currently reading black text on a white background.
But unlesss others ask, I will deal with it. The program is too important to me.

Gotcha. I've started playing a bit with IDE's built in themes. The one that's performs best with my current controls is this one:




There bitmaps are quite aliased though.

 

[Porthos]

The one that's performs best with my current controls is this one:

From my perspective, it looks great. Thanks for your efforts.

 

[fabs]

From my perspective, it looks great. Thanks for your efforts.

I've also added some piece of code that will detect if Windows is in dark mode or not and will load the UI with the correct setting. It can also change from light to dark mode (and vice versa) if it is running while switching Windows theme. I will just need some polished graphics for dark mode so they'll be more visible (and prettier by the way).

 

[fabs]

Then, here's how it looks like in dark mode with appropriate graphics (note that I've added a theme button so it's possible to switch between light and dark mode manually) :




This is way better without aliasing.
I have also had to remove automatic runtime windows theme change detection as I had it switching automatically from drak to light mode when I've received a notification. This automatic detection is not a big deal anymore since it's possible to change program theme manually with the dedicated button.

I must say that I love that theme feature. Thanks @Porthos for suggestion!

Now, I need to get back to code as there is still A LOT of work to do on this V8 project.