New view mode: Gallery

[ksarnelli]

I'd like to propose a new view mode called "Gallery" - it is basically a dedicated thumbnail view with the following settings forced: no padding, no captions, no borders, zoom to fill ON. This mode would have a single, configurable width/height.

The file manager I use for Android has this type of view mode (along with the usual thumbnail grid modes) and it looks really, really good.

It would be great if XY could support this new view mode in addition to the current thumbnail views. This way we can leave captions/padding/borders how we want on our main thumbnail views and still be able to quickly switch back and forth to a cleaner gallery mode.

Thanks!

[klownboy]

That's actually an interesting concept or idea as long as Don was able to accomplish this new "Gallery Mode" using the same existing thumbnail cache or database files (dbit and dat2 files) that are presently used. I don't see why not since they're based on the folder name and thumbnail size. The only difference in the "Gallery Mode" would be having the thumbnail settings locked in "0" padding, no caption lines, Zoom to fill on, and the thumbnail style set to "plain". This would be regardless or totally independent of the users normal thumbnail settings such that if you elected to change to the gallery mode, you'd simply hit a hotkey or menu item and all the captions and padding etc. would be gone. It could be a decent feature. Viewing the thumbnails sans the captions and padding could be a big plus especially if you were only viewing and at that moment not interested in copying or moving files. If you wanted to exit the gallery mode you'd hit the gallery key or toolbar button again and your filename captions, padding and normal thumbnail viewing modes would be back. As it stands now, all those adjustable thumbnail features are locked in to all the thumbnail view modes.

[ksarnelli]

That's actually an interesting concept or idea as long as Don was able to accomplish this new "Gallery Mode" using the same existing thumbnail cache or database files (dbit and dat2 files) that are presently used. I don't see why not since they're based on the folder name and thumbnail size. The only difference in the "Gallery Mode" would be having the thumbnail settings locked in "0" padding, no caption lines, Zoom to fill on, and the thumbnail style set to "plain". This would be regardless or totally independent of the users normal thumbnail settings such that if you elected to change to the gallery mode, you'd simply hit a hotkey or menu item and all the captions and padding etc. would be gone. It could be a decent feature. Viewing the thumbnails sans the captions and padding could be a big plus especially if you were only viewing and at that moment not interested in copying or moving files. If you wanted to exit the gallery mode you'd hit the gallery key or toolbar button again and your filename captions, padding and normal thumbnail viewing modes would be back. As it stands now, all those adjustable thumbnail features are locked in to all the thumbnail view modes.

Yea, like you mentioned, the problem with the existing thumbnail settings is that they are applied to all thumbnail view modes.

I was thinking Gallery could just be a new option under the Views menu.

I was wondering how Don could deal with the thumbnail cache. I suppose if the user already has zoom to fill enabled then there would be no issues. If the user does not have zoom to fill enabled then maybe this view mode just ignores the thumbnail cache altogether. Or perhaps add an option to tell XY to always create 2 styles of thumbnails in the cache (non-zoomed and zoomed), in which case the Gallery mode would not need to ignore the cached version.

I really do think this would be a great feature for XY that separates it from other file managers. Some file managers on other platforms are already doing this, so why not have XY lead the way on Windows.

Thanks!

[klownboy]

Honestly last night, I forgot about the Zoom to Fill option as to how it affects the thumbnails cache (duh). Obviously yes, though each folder's cache file names are derived from the hash of the folder name and thumbnail size, the resultant cache will change with the zoom to fill option setting.

In running some quick tests, what I found is the cache "dat2" file has the same contents - no change occurs with a change to the "Zoom to Fill " option since it only lists the folder name and thumbnail size combination and the list of image files in the folder. Only the cache "dbits" file changed with a change to the zoom to fill setting. However, and that's a big however, that was based on having a thumbnail size that was the same for the Gallery Mode and the Normal mode.

I think if this was implemented most users would want the capability of having the thumbnail cached to disk for speed of viewing. To minimize further differences, maybe the Gallery Mode would be tied to the user's largest thumbnail size settings and if Zoom to Fill was invoked as the users's normal setting then potentially no additional cache would be necessary at all. Implementing this Gallery Mode without having to change the cache files or add an additional cache files would, without a doubt, be best as far as work for Don and as far as minimizing the size of the thumbnail database.

For much easier implementation, what I think might be best as a start, would be to have the Gallery Mode not tied to "Zoom to Fill" option at all and have Gallery Mode only take padding to zero, turn captions off and set thumbnail style to plain (no border), and leave it up to the user whether they want to "Zoom to Fill". But, of course in this case, "Zoom to Fill" would still be implemented across the board. When the user entered Gallery Mode, the settings for viewing (e.g., caption, padding, border, etc.) would be turned off or to zero, just as if you went to the configuration and changed them, but the thumbnail cache would remain the same. It's not all you wanted ksarnelli, but at least then you could have a hot key set to quickly go to a Gallery mode, albeit not necessarily with "Zoom to Fill" on unless you specifically had it on across the board, but at least it would give users a quick way to reduce padding to zero, turn off captions and go borderless. I doubt Don would want to change the format of existing cache files at this time or have another separate database of thumbnails for a gallery mode. The next step for the Gallery Mode would be to have a separate "Zoom to Fill" cache if/when needed or maybe have the Zoom to Fill option configurable per folder.

[admin]

Sorry folks, but I have many other plans for 2016...

[klownboy]

No problem Don, maybe this will give me the push I need to script someway to accomplish a Gallery Mode. I may have to do it using a second instance of XY using different XY "ini" file which points to a separate Thumbnails folder holding a thumbnail cache with thumbs in "Zoom to Fill" mode along with "0" padding, no border, and no captions.

Though something you may want to ponder regardless of this, it might be a nice addition to XY to have a Command ID which will toggle thumbnail captions on and off such that we can accomplish this on the fly. It makes sense that we could do this without having to get into configuration. Thanks.
Edit: I noticed that you can also turn captions on and off from the right click on the view menu in thumbnail mode, but it would be nice to be able to do this via a CID.

[admin]

Yes, that can be done later.

[klownboy]

Hi ksarnelli, you may want to take a look at the Thumbnail Viewer Gallery mode script I posted in the Script section here. Please don't let the lengthy discussion scare you off, it's easy to set it up with a few minutes of work and once you do, it's quite nice to have. Thanks for the idea.
Ken