Feature request: Mouse wheel pause during slideshow

[CucSeda2]

Hello,
I am a former ACDSee 3.0 user and now using XnView MP.
One very important behavior from ACDSee 3.0 is missing in XnView MP:
During Full Screen Slideshow:
• Scrolling the mouse wheel should pause the automatic slideshow.
• After pausing, scrolling the mouse wheel again should allow manual navigation (next / previous image).
Currently the mouse wheel always switches to the next/previous image and there is no way to quitck pause the slideshow with the mouse. You have to use the Pause/Break key (or other keyboard keys), which is much less convenient when reviewing large numbers of photos with one hand on the mouse.
This "mouse wheel = pause" behavior was extremely useful and natural in ACDSee 3.0 for quick photo culling.
Would it be possible to add an option for this?
For example: Settings → Slideshow → "Mouse wheel pauses slideshow"
Thank you for your excellent program!

[jkm]

So you asked about Slideshow, which is a distinct feature from Quick Slideshow.

What you're describing is not a good process, because there's no way to restart the animation.

Click to play/pause, while leaving wheel behavior unaffected, would make much more sense.

Or you could just bind the pause key to one of your extra mouse buttons.

But I don't see how this has any effect on culling, since you can't delete or rate during a slideshow. In fact it's the opposite: slideshow inhibits culling. If this were actually about culling, and you wanted to do that full screen, you could simply start the viewer, and use the mouse wheel to run forwards or backwards in your file list. Then you could rate or delete as needed.

Or are you actually talking about the "Quick Slideshow" feature? (That's different from Tools->Slideshow). In Quick Slideshow, you actually can perform culling, by rating and deleting files. Again, in that case, just bind the shortcut for cmd_quickSlide to one of your mouse buttons.

But still, culling? If you're culling, aren't you using the keyboard to rate or delete? So you have a hand on it, which means pressing the spacebar to play/pause is easy.

Making culling easier and more efficient in XnViewMP is very important. I just don't see how this enters into it.

[CucSeda2]

Thank you for your response and the clarifying questions.

I was indeed referring to the 'Quick Slideshow' function.
You correctly noted that I use the keyboard for selecting, deleting and tagging. However, I process between 500 and 5000 similar images daily, which involves constant stops and the need for instant back-and-forth scrubbing.
From an ergonomic standpoint this is a demanding task. To manage the physical strain, I have to redistribute the load between my hands, the keyboard and the mouse. Using the scroll wheel allows me to switch modes quickly and immediately start selecting images from a series.

Key reasons for this request:
• High-volume browsing: Navigating through a large number of images with fast forward/backward scrubbing.
• Ergonomics: Repeated mouse clicking is physically taxing and painful due to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
• Efficiency: The scroll wheel is easy to rotate and provides instant control over scrubbing.
• Current limitations: The interface does not seem to allow assigning mouse buttons (or the wheel) to commands like cmd_quickSlide.
• Hotkeys: Current settings don't allow assigning multiple keys to a single command.
• Mouse settings: There is a fixed, limited number of commands available for the mouse.

I would like to propose the following customization options to improve the user experience:
1. In the Hotkey settings, add the ability to map mouse clicks and scroll wheel actions (provided this doesn't conflict with core logic).
2. In the Mouse settings, add two options to specifically trigger the slideshow and pause it.

It’s possible I missed these options in the current interface, but I hope this information proves helpful for future improvements.

[jkm]

Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

I'd suggest two options:

1. Just use the viewer (full screen, if you desire) instead of quick slideshow. You can still scrub back and forth with the mouse wheel, and your pause problem disappears. The only difference I can see between this and what you want to do is the lack of automatic image advancement. (I'll set aside the complications of automatic image advancement that arise when you act on wrong image because the timer advanced the image just as you were about to view/rate). But you can still scrub with the mouse.

2. Assigning shortcuts to mouse buttons is not as much of a problem as you might think. Some apps, like Irfanview, notoriously do not provide any customizations of this sort and are deaf to users' appeals. In such cases, it's very easy to leverage software like XmouseButtonControl. I suggest you take a look at it. It allows you to assign any key combination (and other things) to any mouse button, on an app by app basis. (It's excellent software, and free). Coupled with XnViewMP's comprehensive keyboard shortcut customization, you'll find I think that you can assign any XnViewMP command you want to any mouse button. You could also use Logitech Options if you have a Logitech mouse. Some other mouse control softwares also offer this capability.

Using the XMouseButtonControl software (I've been using it for years; it's completely stable) you can easily assign things like Delete, or Rate5-GoToNextImage to mouse buttons as you like. It also allows multiple layers of control so you can assign 8/12/16 function to 4 buttons, if you like. You could have every function you need for a rating/culling session assigned to mouse buttons and never have to touch the keyboard.

So using this software you just assign a keyboard shortcut to cmd_quickSlide, bind that shortcut to a mouse button, and that is your play/pause if you want to keep using Quick Slideshow. Problem solved, and you can have it today for free.

Another thing to consider, if you have debilitating carpal tunnel syndrome, is to look into the use of bluetooth-based foot switches. These are basically customizable buttons you can tap with your feet. There are also remote bluetooth buttons you can hold in your hand in a more comfortable position and just squeeze, rather then the position demanded by a keyboard.

There are also products like the Logitech MX Creative Console that provide infinitely customizable keys (to have multiple keys doing the same shortcut) and there are other such devices down to about $30 that lack the built-in screens and aren't so fancy.

My point in this is that it is possible for you to achieve the functionality you need now, without needing to wait for a potential software update in the future. Both your #1 and #2 above are fully addressed by the mouse customization software.

Hopefully this helps...

[user0]

"mouse wheel = pause" behavior was extremely useful and natural in ACDSee 3.0

for clarity - its middle button, not wheel scroll up/down itself

+1
for adding Quick Slideshow (cmd_slideshow) to middle mouse options (like for Space in Settings>Keyboard)
pause functionality is not required here, its simple start/stop via same command