View mode: Folder linking (jump to next subfolder) upon reaching end of folder

[bjshnog]

The existing "Show files in subfolders" feature is NOT this, though it shares some aspects of what I'm suggesting.

Let's say I have two subfolders, with the same parent folder, called Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. I'm in View mode, and I've just reached the last file of Chapter 1. When I go to the next file (via the UI button, keyboard shortcut or whatever), the View jumps to the first file of Chapter 2. I would like an option to enable this behaviour, as an alternative to the View > Misc > "Loop on the file list" setting.

I'd suggest that you replace that setting with a new "box" of settings looking like this:

Next file after last in folder:

• Loop on the file list

• Jump to next subfolder in parent folder

...and perhaps:

• Allow navigating vertically:
  • Max levels up [ 1 ▾] and down [ 0 ▾]
  • Sort folders [ last ▾]

...to enable "escaping" the current level if desired.

The user might also want to set a limit on how many levels up are allowed to change in the file path. For example, let's say I've just opened a file in /Pictures/Photos/2025/. I reach the last file in 2025 and want to see 2026, so I click next file and it goes to /Pictures/Photos/2026/. Then, I reach the last file and click next again, and suddenly I'm in /Pictures/Private/DO NOT ENTER/. Whoops!

Letting the user set how many levels of parent folders are allowed to change would allow them to set 1, and then only the year would change. You could also just have this set to 0 each time XnView MP is launched, and then give the user a dialog asking to increase the number of levels by 1 if they reach the last file in the current scope.

However, there's something to consider. I have my XnView MP set to sort files by last modified as it is ideal for my purposes, but I want this folder linking behaviour to sort folders by name. That is, if I add a file to Chapter 1 or do anything else that changes the last modified date of the folder, I don't want it to suddenly place itself after Chapter 2 instead of before. So, I think there might need to be an extra setting just for choosing the sorting mode of this feature, independently of sorting files in the file list. But sorting folders by name by default would probably suit almost all users.

I could draw up some diagrams to explain further if needed, but otherwise, I hope this seems useful enough to add.

[user0]

I could only support this part (split to separate post):
Browser - filelist - Show files in subfolders - allow depth limit

[bjshnog]

I'd support that because the fact that you're suggesting it means it's useful to someone, however since I don't use the "Show files in subfolders" function as it actually seems to hinder my usual use of the program, it would be useless to me.

What I describe in the post seems to me like it would be far more useful to far more people: A way to natively jump from one chapter or album to the next without having to even think, let alone manually go into the browser, go up into the parent folder, go into the next subfolder, and then open the first file, and without having to enable Show files in subfolders, then having to deal with everything being re-sorted.

What you single out is probably the least valuable thing, but still worth having in.

[jkm]

I think there are apps designed for reading comic books that function like the way you suggest. You might look into that if you need the functionality.

It’s not just a question of implementing features someone will find useful, but how much development effort should be invested and how many people will it really benefit, and how much? And does it actually enable the app to do something previously impossible?

This is all to avoid clicking the “Chapter 2” folder in the folder pane. Hardly a huge time burden.

A feature like this could be a rabbit hole of complication that could soak up a lot of time serving edge cases unless it’s kept simple.

I can understand the usefulness of continuing on to the next sibling folder, but I can only support the simplest case:
- absolutely no vertical complications (like later looping back through children with selectable depth)
- absolutely no monkey business with special idiosyncratic sorts when the feature is enabled.

Sibling folders would be traversed in the order they appear with the current sort; files within them according to the current sort. No ascending, no descending.

That would keep it straightforward to implement. For everything after you said “…and perhaps”, that way lies madness.

A single option to continue to the next sibling folder instead of looping, I think that’s reasonable.

[bjshnog]

I don't have any particular need for the more "advanced" parts of my suggestion; those were more something I just tacked on because they're adjacent changes that seemed to me like they wouldn't be too complicated, would be easy to group together in the settings menu, and would be something I could maybe see myself using. But I'm not the dev, so what do I know?

I use XnView (MP) because, after trying a bunch of different options, it's so far the best I've been able to find for how I want to view, explore, manage and manipulate the images in my libraries, all on one program. It also has the biggest feature set of any such application I've seen, and >95% of its settings are useless to me outside of disabling things I don't want (for example, I don't use the folder pane because it takes up space that could be displaying an image instead), but I'm sure all of them are useful to someone else. This is not a minimalist app; it's highly flexible due to all of those settings and features, and my suggestion is not over-complicated or superfluous in any way, given the range of settings that already exist.

[mudo_j]

While I find @jkm's reply very reasonable, I would prefer to have everything mentioned left alone, as it is.

Adapting the usage is sometimes not only easier, but also more sensible than changing a well working program.

Looping the folder has already been possible for a long time, moving one folder up an down is trivial, so is showing and hiding the folders pane. Adding "all features" is a way to mutilate things.

Be well!

[user0]

since I don't use the "Show files in subfolders" function

you have to, flattening filelist is the sole responsibility of this command
1. set 'Show files in subfolders' to 1lvl deep
2. set order to Path

'Loop' functionality is unrelated to navigation between sibling folders