Images & Videos thumbnails: Visual differentiator

[helmut]

Currently, when browsing folder with images and videos, it's not easy to tell the videos from the images. I'd like a clear visual indicator in thumbnails that allows me to differentiate videos from images.

Nowadays most digital cameras allow for taking photos and videos, so I'd rate this request as "important".

Other opinions?

[oops66]

Hello Helmut,
I agree but this is already done since the v1.92.2 beta1.
This is possible by a custom setting into the xnviex.ini file, if needed for example:

BColorFilter01=jpeg, 30 30 30
.....
BColorFilter26=jp2, 237 237 202
....
BColorFilter27=avi, 237 0 202

and

ColorFilter01=jpeg, 0 160 0
...
ColorFilter26=jp2, 237 0 202
....
ColorFilter27=avi, 237 0 202

topic but in French:
http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.p ... hlight=avi

But maybe as default for all common video files ????

[helmut]

Thank you for the hint & link, oops66.

Hmm, the colours are for the labels only - isn't it? Currently I don't look at the colouring and would expect / suggest a symbol or somthing that identifies the movies (e.g. the border could look like a film strip).

[xnview]

Ok, but which symbol?

[XnTriq]

Pierre, could we please have the same for animations and multi-page documents as well?

Animated cursors are easily distinguishable from regular cursors: They have different file extensions (ANI vs. CUR). With formats like GIF you won't know unless you view the file. The same goes for TIFFs or PSDs: Only when a document is opened will XnView tell the user that “this image contains multiple pages. Please use ‘Previous page’ and ‘Next page’ to navigate between the pages.”

XnView needs an animation overlay icon and/or multi-page indicator.

[xnview]

Pierre, could we please have the same for animations and multi-page documents as well?

Yes but which symbol?

[Clo]

Pierre

Hello !

• Like helmut suggests above, maybe something like this :     ?

- With the current height of the <info1.bmp> strip (11 pixels), it's difficult to draw a nice film-strip…
- Another version, a bit wider :    

KR
Claude
Clo

[mostly harmless]

a particularly nice one:

from
http://www.iconbulk.com/icons_new.asp?strt=100
dl link: http://www.iconbulk.com/rate_new.asp?pa ... =iconefree



this includedes one icon for movies:

...dl at: http://voogee.deviantart.com/art/Grzank ... s-13897976


and a particularly nice film roll:

...dl at:
http://jrdn88.deviantart.com/art/Vista- ... s-47710081



and another one:

...dl at:
http://iconzworld.com/



http://www.iconsfree.org/free-icons/lan ... /id/65028/


http://www.iconsfree.org/free-icons/lan ... /id/81047/



http://www.iconsfree.org/free-icons/lan ... e/id/6427/
a fe

[JohnFredC]

IMHO all of these icons are too complicated and, unless placed in a border of the thumbnail, would merge visually with the thumb's image. Plus, they all scale poorly.

The symbol should be just that: a symbol, a flag, an indicator... and not a narrative subsitute.

Photorealistic icons are more about the narrative that occurs in the mind of the user. They tend to slow interaction down because the recognition process (in the mind) for complex symbology is much slower and more ambiguous.

Something based on these symbols (scroll down) would be more appropriate, I think.

The simpler, the better. Two highly-contrasting colors only.

A right arrow symbol would work for me, but then I personally would expect that if I clicked the arrow, the movie would play in the thumbnail!!!

Hmmmm....

[JohnFredC]

OK, maybe not "two highly-contrasting colors"

What about something like this example I borrowed from one of the "mostly harmless" symbols (see above) and modified:



It still needs a little fine-tuning at the pixel level, but here are some perspectives:

Simple
Culturally neutral
Familiar shape
Contrasts with dark backgrounds
Can be inverted/tweaked for light backgrounds
OK rescaled to smaller sizes:

OK at 256 and 16 colors, even binary (try it!)
Easily adapted to other color schemes

[xnview]

I like it

[XnTriq]

These monochrome overlay icons are 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 pixels wide (from left to right) and between 10 and 12 pixels in height:

• 

I wasn't sure if Pierre is planning to have different indicators for different categories, so I made separate icons.

• Movies (AVI, FLV, MPEG, ...)
• Animations (ANI, FLC/FLI, aGIF, aPNG, SWF, ...)
• Presentations (PPT, ...)
• Multi-page (PDF, TIFF, ...)
• Layers (PSD, PSP, ...)
• Multi-resolution (ICO, ...)

[JohnFredC]

I like those a lot!

[mostly harmless]

I would go for the Play-button with a rounded square around it. In black and white.
I find that would be even better than the black & white camera symbols.


I was originally thinking about the clapperboards when I posted those icons.
So I searched pics for clapperboard instead of icons and found a few interesting things.
I also searched for play symbols and camera symbols:


The first on was a camera which would work pretty well as an inspiration I think:


clapperboard:












play symbols:





















carmera symbols (includes photo carmas since those could be interesting aswell):


...would work in black & white.






...would be nice without the legs





























projectors:






when looking for "movie symbol" I got cameras, film rolls, projectors and this one:




more search results for

"clapperboard":

http://uk.ask.com/pictures?l=dir&o=0&q= ... 112&page=5

http://www.picsearch.com/search.cgi?q=C ... &thumbs=20


"camera symbol":

http://www.picsearch.com/search.cgi?q=c ... =421&navnx


"play symbol":

http://www.picsearch.com/search.cgi?q=p ... =541&navnx

[JohnFredC]

A great collection!

There are at least two categories of symbols in iconic GUIs: notifier symbols and action symbols. Sometimes a symbol serves both purposes.

The problem with the "Play"-styled symbols is that they can be confused for interactive controls/buttons.

The initial request in this post implied a notifier symbol.

If Pierre implemented a "Play" action behind the movie-file-type notifier symbol/icon shown in the thumbnail, then great, no problem. Otherwise you'll have quite a few users clicking that little play symbol (because it means "Play movie" in most circumstances) and being confused when the movie doesn't play.

The camera-based and film-strip-based symbols are good as notifiers, though the film strip is an increasingly archaic reference in many cultures. Also, the clapboard symbol implies a modicum of a priori knowledge of the film/video production business... not necessarily a common thing.