New menu "View > Explorer pane"

[helmut]

In XnView 1.90 browser there are new menu items:

Code: Select all

View > 
    ...
    Explorer pane > 
       Folders
       Favorites
       ----------------
       Show
       Use tab
    
    Preview > 
       Preview
       Use tab

Instead, I suggest the following menu structure:

Code: Select all

View > 
    ...
    Tree pane > 
       Show
       Use tabs
       ----------------
       Folders
       Favorites
    
    Preview > 
       Show
       Use tabs
       ------------------
       Preview
       Histogram
       Properties
       EXIF 

Reasons for the changes are:

- Inconsistent naming
"Show" and "Preview" are used for showing the panes, this is inconsistent. It should say "Show" in both cases or "Explorer" and "Preview", respectively.

- Menu items for choosing tabs: Missing
There are menu items "Folder" and "Favorites" for choosing the tab in the Explorer pane, but there are no such menu items in the Preview sub menu.

- Menu items for choosing tabs: Position
Instead of listing the menu items for switching tabs at the top, I'd list them at the bottom. Advantage is that the menu items at the top are the same for both submenus.

- Mnemonics and/or shortcuts
I doubt that the menu items for choosing tabs are often used via mouse. For this reason we should provide shortcuts (Ctrl+<key>) and/or mnemonics. (Not so sure about this one).

- Explorer pane vs. Tree pane
When using the term "Explorer" you might run into licence problems and trials with a large software company. Also, the Explorer pane does not really allow for exploring, it's the combination of folder tree/favourites and file list. (Not so sure about this one, either).

- Use tab*s*
While we are at it: A minor bug in the translation (I'll report it here for the alpha but will repeat it for the beta). It should say "Use tabs" rather than "Use tab".

[JohnFredC]

I personally don't care for either "Explorer pane" or "Tree pane" nomenclature.

How about this:

Code: Select all

View > 
    ... 
    Navigator > 
       Show 
       Use tabs 
       ---------------- 
       Folder Tree
       Favorites 

"Navigator" would not conflict with functionality offered by possible/future subpanels, such as a new subpanel to filter the file/thumbnail list based on Tags/Categories.

[klumy]

I think

Folder Tree
Favorites

should be removed from the menu. Because these commands are easier to access via the normal interface than with the menu commands.

[helmut]

I think

Folder Tree
Favorites

should be removed from the menu. Because these commands are easier to access via the normal interface than with the menu commands.

Yes and no: I don't like the two menu items, either. In "View > Preview >" menu there will be even four of them.
But these menu items are needed in case you have deactivated "Use tabs", they will be the only way to switch inbetween panels.

Perhaps these menu items could be in quotes to indicate that these are labels of panels (Not quite sure whether this would make things clearer):

Code: Select all

View > 
    ...
    Tree pane > 
       Show
       Use tabs
       ----------------
       Folders
       Favorites
    
    Preview > 
       Show
       Use tabs
       ------------------
       'Preview'
       'Histogram'
       'Properties'
       'EXIF'

Adding a prefix like "Switch to" would be too heavy, I think.

[helmut]

...
How about this:

Code: Select all

View > 
    ... 
    Navigator > 
       Show 
       Use tabs 
       ---------------- 
       Folder Tree
       Favorites 

"Navigator" would not conflict with functionality offered by possible/future subpanels, such as a new subpanel to filter the file/thumbnail list based on Tags/Categories.

"Explorer" or "Navigator", I think both are good. The user explores or navigates in the folder structure, favourites, or what ever.

[Olivier_G]

All previous suggestions have been implemented, there is only the Preview selector (in red) to implement:

Preview>
- Show
- Use tabs
------------------
- Preview
*Properties
- Histogram
- EXIF
- IPTC

[Olivier_G]

- Preview
*Properties
- Histogram
- IPTC
- EXIF
- XMP

Implemented in Beta 6.

Note: I would prefer "EXIF" just before "IPTC" because it's more frequent and IPTC & XMP are quite close.
-> Confirmed... as the fix should be easy.
Same order should apply to Preview tabs too, ie: Preview|Properties|Histogram|EXIF|IPTC|XMP.

[helmut]

From what I can see, all changes have been made in RC1.

Now that I see what the menus look like, I'd suggest to change the order of the menu items, again. Currently we have:

Code: Select all

View > 
    ...
    Tree pane > 
       Show
       Use tabs
       ----------------
       Folders
       Favorites
    
    Preview > 
       Show
       Use tabs
       ------------------
       Preview
       Histogram
       Properties
       EXIF 

The menu items most often used are the ones for switching the tabs. The other ones are settings which are not changed that often. The menu items most often used should be listed first, so I suggest:

Code: Select all

View > 
    ...
    Tree pane > 
       Folders
       Favorites
       Categories
       ----------------
       Show
       Use tabs
    
    Preview > 
       Preview
       Histogram
       Properties
       EXIF 
       ------------------
       Show
       Use tabs

If possible I'd like to see this both briefly discussed and implemented in 1.90.

[JohnFredC]

In addition, the reuse of the word "Preview" might be a little confusing.

Maybe the word "Image" or words "Image Preview" would be better:

Code: Select all

Preview > 
       Show 
       Use tabs 
       ------------------ 
       Image 
       Histogram 
       Properties 
       EXIF

[helmut]

...
Maybe the word "Image" or words "Image Preview" would be better:

Preview > Preview is really a bit strange - but not to bad.

Perhaps "Preview pane" > Preview would be better. "Pane" is short and lightweight in English, but translators in other language might have long translations. E.g. in German it could be "Vorschaubereich". So I think it's better to stick to "Preview".

[JohnFredC]

Yet another example where the TC approach to menu configuration would make this a non-issue for XnView users. TC uses a menu definition in a text file that users can edit to make the menus anything they wish.

IMHO, Pierre's efforts would be better spent in creating generic methods and structures (such as a mechanism that would display a menu from a text file) than in trying to decide what menu sequence is optimum (no such thing!) and then hard-coding it.

Once the generic method is completed, menu definition and maintenance becomes a trivial effort.

Of course, such a schema requires a "cmd_" command for every single program action. I know that is a big task.

A worthy goal for some future version, anyway.

[Danny]

I don't like using the main menu at all, no matter what program. I'm a fan of context menus.

P.S.: Wrong forum, this is no bug.

[ouistiti]

JohnFredC

I agree totally, menus as texts ARE the only good solution…

Paul (TC user for ages)

[helmut]

I still would like to see the order of the menus changed (see above).

This topic is very much in discussion stage, so as Danny suggested I move it back to Info & Feedback.

-> Info & Feedback

[helmut]

In RC2 Pierre has changed again the order of the menu items as proposed above. Now, the menu items for switching the tabs are listed. I think it's good this way. Thanks, Pierre!