power filtering

[akahige]

I'm a new convert to XnView. After a decade of loyal service, I finally decided to retire my faithful version 2.4 of ACDSee. One of the reasons that I stayed with that version for so long (aside from the fact that it kept working) was that the succeeding versions just got hugely bloated as they tried to cover every single media type imaginable. XnV will also preview a number of media types, but it does it without the bloat.

So coming from an application that only deals with one type (images) to an app that can handle almost everything is a bit of an abrupt shift in functionality. I keep looking for ways of blending what I'm used to -- and what I'm used to doing -- with the new tools at my disposal. I think that there's room for XnV to improve in the way users can have at their files. Some of this refers back to features that I've seen discussed in previous threads, but haven't yet materialized in the application, but I'd still be interested in hearing if anyone thinks there's value in my suggestion.

First, XnV desperately needs the ability to customize the toolbars. Not just rearranging them, but adding and removing things from them.

Next: there's potentially a LOT of power to be had in filtering file types, but the current implementation needs improvement:
1) The funnel icon does not immediately scream "filter" (but that could just be me). I would prefer to see (meaning I'd use this if the option were available) a drop-down list of available filters sitting on the toolbar -- easy to see at a glance what you're looking at.
2) Custom filters. I've read some posts explaining how this is supposed to work, but I haven't figured out how to make this useful for me. A much better approach would be to allow users to create tags (i.e. names) and then assign them definitions.

Code: Select all

Some random examples:
pdf = *.pdf
docs = *.pdf, *.txt, *.NFO, *.doc, *.ps
big pix = *.jpg, *.tiff, *.bmp; >256k
fonts = *.ttf, *.otf

There might even be a way to show, in the browser view, all files, but grey out things that don't match the current filter (as an option, not as permanent behavior). That way you could see what's in a directory, without having to necessarily preview it.

Going along with the ability to see the contents of a directory and preview everything (or a subset of it), the window layout with folder tree, thumbnails and previews all visible behaves in such a way that the mouse cursor is hot tracked so that if it's over the thumbnails or folder tree, those panes scroll based on where the cursor is. It would be really nice if you were over the preview, if that would scroll as well -- kind of like it does in the full window preview mode (whatever that's officially called).

Anyway... just a few thoughts. XnV is an awesome app. I'm happy to have found it.