Browser configuration not intuitive

[cday]

Configuring the browser components displayed by right-clicking on an empty area of the toolbar isn't intuitive, and often leads to confusion restoring a desired layout after a displayed component has been closed.

Maybe a menu item such as View > Browser configuration or Edit > Browser configuration... or something similar would be more intuitive?

It would have better 'discoverability' as it could be found by exploring the Toolbar menus, whereas the present 'right-click on the toolbar' method has to be learned, it is not intuitive.

Screenshot.png

[xnview]

you can click on any panel's title too

[cday]

you can click on any panel's title too

Well, that does also work, but to my mind also not intuitive or easily discoverable...

The View menu provides a way of configuring many other display options.

I'm thinking of other users, I hardly use the browser options myself.

[xnview]

something like that?

c1.jpg

[helmut]

XnView MP 0.99.6

In XnView MP v0.99.4 a new menu "View > Panels" was introduced. What's the difference between new "Panels" and "Date pane" and "Info pane"? I'm not quite sure but to me it seems that there are duplicate menu entries, now.

[xnview]

Right, Panels is a duplicate, there is all in Data/Info pane
@cday, there is no need to add 'Panels', right?

[cday]

Configuring the browser components displayed by right-clicking on an empty area of the toolbar isn't intuitive, and often leads to confusion restoring a desired layout after a displayed component has been closed.

Maybe a menu item such as View > Browser configuration or Edit > Browser configuration... or something similar would be more intuitive?

It would have better 'discoverability' as it could be found by exploring the Toolbar menus, whereas the present 'right-click on the toolbar' method has to be learned, it is not intuitive.

In XnView MP v0.99.4 a new menu "View > Panels" was introduced. What's the difference between new "Panels" and "Date pane" and "Info pane"? I'm not quite sure but to me it seems that there are duplicate menu entries, now.

Right, Panels is a duplicate, there is all in Data/Info pane
@cday, there is no need to add 'Panels', right?

I made the suggestion after responding to two posts where a user could not see how to restore their previous configuration, so 'discoverability' seemed to be the issue. I hardly use the browser myself, so input from browser users, particularly inexperienced users, would be more useful...

[helmut]

Thank you, Pierre and cday for your replies.

If I understand right, the main issue of user is to reset visibility of panels(?) (preview, ...) to default.
ATM, I see to ways to achieve this:
(1) When coosing a specific layout visibility of panels(?) (preview, ...) could be reset to default. But my current understanding of XnView MP is that layout of areas and visibility of info (preview, ...) are two pair of shoes and are supposed to work and be controlled independently. So this might be not a good idea.
(2) Menu items "View > Info pane > Reset visibility to default" and "View > Data pane > Reset visibility to default".

But before changing XnView the requirement of the user should be clear.

[cday]

But before changing XnView the requirement of the user should be clear.

I recall two cases within the last year or two, but I don't think I could easily find them.

From memory, in each case the user had lost display of something basic in their browser configuration, was frustrated, and could not find a way of restoring their previous configuration -- the 'discoverabillity' issue, where a feature exists but can't easily be found...

[xnview]

so 'Panels' is not needed, i remove it. But what could be made to simplify it?

[cday]

so 'Panels' is not needed, i remove it. But what could be made to simplify it?

My view is that if duplication is considered a problem, the menu item View > Panels which can be found by looking at the interface, is preferable to the existing right-click on the browser Menu or Toolbar area, which does not seem intuitive.

This is one of the earlier user posts I referred to above Le panneau "Catégories" a été fermé accidentellement :

"Comment affiche-t-on le panneau catégories ?"

Est-ce une question saugrenue ? Toute la doc présuppose que le panneau est ouvert (cf. copies d'écran)

Malheureusement mon problème est probablement qu'il a été fermé accidentellement et que je cherche désespérément depuis plusieurs jours comment le réouvrir. Je n'ai rien trouvé après de nombreuses heures de lecture de doc (la seule chose que j'ai trouvé qui s'en rapproche est, dans les paramètres, l'option qui supprime le double click pour fermer un onglet).

Ma question devient "Où sont les options ou icones permettant d'ouvrir et fermer les onglets", l'onglet "Catégories" a été accidentellement fermé, je n'arrive pas à l'ouvrir à nouveau et je n'ai pas trouvé l'information dans les docs.

If the settings are moved to a menu item, during a transition period couldn't the existing 'right-click on a toolbar' display a message that the configuration settings have been moved?

As I hardly use the browser myself, input from others could be useful: michel038 ?

[xnview]

so 'Panels' is not needed, i remove it. But what could be made to simplify it?

My view is that if duplication is considered a problem, the menu item View > Panels which can be found by looking at the interface, is preferable to the existing right-click on the browser Menu or Toolbar area, which does not seem intuitive.

You have a duplicate in menu too, 'View>Panels' can be found in 'View>Data Pane' & 'View>Info pane'

[helmut]

@cday: Thank you for this extra information. Several ways to trigger the same functionality is not a problem. E.g. you can exit XnView using "File > Exit" menu or the "[X]" in the top right corner. Here, we have duplicate menu items which trigger same functionality. Menu items "Panels" and "Data pane" / "Info pane" are duplicate. This is superfluous and irritating and is supposed to be fixed by removing the "Panels" menu, again.

Making XnView MP a bit simpler and easier to handle is a good idea. There is a lot of flexiblity and configurabilty in XnView MP while my guess is that 95% of the XnView users are 100% happy with XnView MP's default layout.

Some ideas and possible ways to make things simpler:

• Add "Reset user interface" button which resets the whole user interface to the default configuration.
• By default disallow configuring the visibilty of panels and add a setting that must be set to allow for different layouts and visibility of panes.
• Add default layout to the list of layouts ("View > Layout > ....") and name it in a way that the user knows that this is the default layout.
• Make things more consistent and thus simpler. Example: To me it is unclear what a "Date pane" and an "Info pane" is and why some panels/panes/area are listed in "Data pane" and not in "Info pane" and vice versa. And the new (duplicate) menu "View > Panel" has less entries than the menus "Date pane" and "Info pane". My guess is that the menu items are supposed to be plural and not singular, i.e. "Data panes" and "Info panes". And perhaps "Panels" instead of "Pane" (never heard of a "Pane" before in user interfaces). But I'm really guessing here. Perhaps someone more familiar with XnView MP and its concepts can shed light into this.

[cday]

Thank you helmut for your observations and thoughts.

After seeing two or three urgent requests for help on restoring the default panel layout, and learning one way to do it, I twice provided the right-click solution without being familiar with the menu options, which the posters evidently also hadn't discovered.

I think, as you suggest, it could be beneficial to review the current design of the interface and the text used, to see if it could be made clearer and more intuitive.