I know xnview for a very long time but it happened two days ago that i discovered xnview mp. It took just few minutes to see the improvements on the ui and many dialogues: xnview mp looks much cleaner and userfriendlier. Thanks for your work, xnview!
However there remains one ui element that i always considered as ugly in xnview: the tab containers, especially that one which includes the browse mode and the view. Not only that it looks ugly in my opinion it also causes a fluttered appearance. I have some minor suggestions and one more important one. Let me start with the minor suggestions. I know that for someone that might seem pedantic because it is only about visual appearance but on the other side i think that a clean and pleasant look has its eligibility.
Smaller suggestions
- In the folder/favorite/categories tab container i don't like the tabs which appear on the side. In some layouts normal tabs on the top of the container are appearing. Maybe i overlooked an option but it would be nice to have in all layouts the latter tabs which appear on top.
- In the info tab container the tabs itself doesn't have a border on their top. Also the empty container in case of no selection doesn't have the upper border. (I am aware how minimal that "issue" is, but however! )
In my eyes the worst part of the ui are the main tabs that switch between browse mode and view mode. Using the options related to these tabs even cause a more horrible look: if you place these tabs on the bottom a part of the status bar will be hidden and on the upper part remains an empty and useless space. My suggestion is now to use that type of tab container that is already used for the info tabs: i know these type of tabs from foobar2000 and the advantage of them are that they are drawing a border around the contained window so that a clean and calm look&feel can be achieved. Last but not least imo the main menu should be placed (like in xnview) above the tabs: that matches more the expectations and conventions inside window programs.
I produced a mockup with foobar2000 that mimics xnview to show how it would/could loook like if these type of tab containers would be used at all parts and not only on info tabs:
What do you think? At least i would give it a try!