Thoughts about Categories Management

[Olivier_G]

(I leave aside the XMP/IPTC thing for the time being, until I can get more support... and will concentrate on the Interface, which can be implemented along an internal DB)

Updated suggestions:
- The Tree view should only be used for 'Folders' and 'Categories' (with tabs) as it is better to manage File+Information/Preview+Organization at the same time
- 'Information' (Properties, EXIF, IPTC) should appear in Preview (separate tabs)
- Building 'Searches' should be made trough a dialog (to drag'n drop 'Folders', 'Categories', 'Information' directly into it, with logical operators)
- 'Searches' (or 'elaborate Categories') should be managed just like other 'categories' in the Tree view

The default behaviour for Categories should be to include all subcategories (ie: when you select 'Animal', you expect to see all photos in specified species as well), however it should also be easy to isolate items in a single category (either to reallocate them to more accurate sub-categories, or to answer the needs for exclusive logic: when you want to check 'Parents' alone when you added all your sisters/brothers&co under it).
Instead of my complex "+/- pop-up", I now prefer a simpler one: left click for 'Inclusive', Alt+left click for 'Exclusive'... and it would apply only to 'Categories' (Folders should keep the standard behaviour to avoid misunderstandings while actually moving files).

The multiple selection should also be avoided as it can become complex to understand (ie: "I wanted to select images that were both in A and B, not in A OR B" and vice-versa... almost equally used). The 'Search' dialog is better to understand how it actually works.

I think the updated suggestion is much more straightforward and easy to understand. I will try to present a quick summary (+simulated screenshots) in the first message soon...

Olivier

[Olivier_G]

- You can use 'Folder', 'Category' and any information field (Image and File characteristics, EXIF, IPTC, etc...) to build Searches [+using the logical: AND, OR, NOT, and () ]
- You can save and re-use 'Searches' (edit, add, combine, etc...)

...and:

PRESS RELEASE: ACDSee Pro 2.5 Accelerates Digital Asset Management, Image Editing and Sharing

Save searches
Users can build complex searches based on folder name, file name, location, custom categories, ratings and other metadata, then save time by storing custom search criteria for future use.

I'm a bit disappointed, because I felt those were interesting features and I did put quite a lot of thoughts...
...and seeing that it made its way in ACDSee is not exactly what I expected...

[xnview]

- You can use 'Folder', 'Category' and any information field (Image and File characteristics, EXIF, IPTC, etc...) to build Searches [+using the logical: AND, OR, NOT, and () ]
- You can save and re-use 'Searches' (edit, add, combine, etc...)

I work on this feature...