How do I get rid of Labels spacing? (Style: Label column - caption)

[medder]

How does one bring back the previous look and feel of Label column?

GOOD (build 25.10): BAD (build 25.80):

I see there are new options for Customization of spacing in the XYplorer GUI. Line spacing, Overall Spacing, etc.

Overall spacing = 0 brought my old Toolbar look back. But playing with new options didn't restore the look of Label column.
I always loved that XYplorer fills the whole table cell with Labels' background color (the labels touch each other).

Now there's some unnecessary vertical spacing between Labels when Label style: Label column (caption) is selected. Looks awful.

Surprisingly other "Label style" modes (Whole row, Name column) still fill the whole height of each row (full table cell) with color.


Playing with other options (Line spacing = -9, Overal Spacing = -4, Customize List > Show Grid > Off) doesn't help.

Here's a screenshot. How do I make the Labels in the Label column (on the left) look like the Labels in Configuration dialog (on the right)?
How do I get rid of this strange new vertical spacing? (in other words: I need labels touch each other, without any margin and padding)
.

screen-240329-221400.png (29.6 KiB) Viewed 373 times

Another question. When discovering the "Line spacing" option I thought, that it is a GUI representation of the other feature: Ctrl+Shift+Scroll.
But surprisingly I've found out that Line spacing changes ListsLineSpacing Config option, and Ctrl+Shift+Scroll changes ListItemDistY.

And they both seem to do the same. Why the need for two identical settings?

These three combinations give the identical look (but one is changed using Configuration GUI, the other one is changed using mouse zoom):

Code: Select all

ListsLineSpacing=0
ListItemDistY=0

ListsLineSpacing=-5
ListItemDistY=5

ListsLineSpacing=5
ListItemDistY=-5

Naming seems strange too:

Code: Select all

ListDetailsColumnsSpacing=0
ListDetailsColumnsSpacingLeft=0
ListsLineSpacing=0 <------------------ Why plural? ListS
ListItemDistY=0

Anyway neither one of them helps with my Labels spacing problem.

And even when setting these three options to negative (making the interface unusable):

Code: Select all

AirPixels=-4 <------------- what a strange name for Styles > Overall spacing
ListsLineSpacing=-4 <---- Styles > Line spacing
ListItemDistY=-4 <------ Ctrl+Shift+Scroll zoom

The Labels text (or large dot symbols in my case) doesn't fit, but padding is still there

screen-240330-003826.png (1.24 KiB) Viewed 360 times

Build: 25.80

[highend]

v25.20.0106 - 2023-11-30 10:14
* Configuration | Information | Tags | Label style: In style "Label column (caption)"
the texts are now drawn horizontally centered. And the height of the labels is
derived from the font height, not the row height.

[medder]

I don't understand.
Earlier XYPlorer just filled all the Details table cell.

screen-240330-013256.png (4.4 KiB) Viewed 350 times

Now it just adds some padding to the same color rectangles. In style "Label column (caption)". Which is ridiculous:

screen-240330-013918.png (4.35 KiB) Viewed 350 times

Now when using styles "Name column" and "Whole row". XYplorer fills every cell beautifully, EXCEPT Label.
This looks bad, with weird spacing:

screen-240330-015346.png (4.3 KiB) Viewed 350 times

I cannot confirm that the height of the labels is derived from the font height.
When I change the font size Using Ctrl+Scroll zoom or using Configuration dialog, the font size increases,
but the padding stays the same. The Name cell is filled and looks neat. The label cell looks odd.
Like the buttons from some 90-ies homepage web design.

screen-240330-015830.png (10.6 KiB) Viewed 350 times

[medder]

I don't understand the logic. There's such thing as Grid.
If needed there could be an Option in Settings to draw the grid line Over or Under the Label cell (which is filled with color). That way the user will have the choice (to see labels with or without gaps). Why move the Grid function inside a particular element?

Hardcoding some strange padding/margin to a well polished element (airy and smooth) seems at odds with that "airiness and smoothness" (mentioned in the Changelog).

Using Labels is crucial in my XYplorer workflow, thouthands of files are tagged and documented. Color coded SMOOTH lines of Labels help finding the right file faster.

So I can't imagine the reasoning behind this downgrade. Why make this for all users, and not just add some tweak or setting for select few users who need such thing (like LabelPadding in PX, or GridLinesPosition - below or above colored cells).

Instead large gaps are introduced. With no user control.

Take a look at the last two screenshots from my previous post. (Case: label style - name column, both Name and Label columns are visible.) These different approaches to filling table cells are visually incompatible. Name column looks natural. Label column doesn't match the modern appearance (especially airiness and smoothness).

[medder]

Nah, the new Label Design killed the ease of use for me.

I will probably have to downgrade to 25.20.0103 and stay on the old version.

I can't get used to the ugly gaps in the color flow in the Label column (label column Caption style).
The text centering kills my mix of Rating and Notes with Color coding (comparing 6 and 5 dots is faster when the text is aligned to the left).
And interrupted color coding is not pleasant to use and not visually appealing.

LABEL PADDING and TEXT CENTERING should have been optional features or tweeks.
These features work well if the user has up to 5 labeled files in one folder, and his Labels use Pastel colors
(and when a Label represents some extra unnecessary information).
Then please enjoy the look of your infrequent cute Pastel Labels, padded and centered.

But when you have hundreds of labeled files in each folder, all this Padding and Centering
makes Labels visually unappealing and difficult to compare.

1 2 3 4

1 - 25.20 - (style: Label Caption) - CLASSIC - good for color coding, good for comparing
2 - 25.80 - (style: No coloring) - at least the quick comparison option is still here (text aligned to the left)
3/4 - 25.80 - (style: Label Caption) - MODERN - messy for color coding (when all files are labeled), useless for fast comparison, works with pastels only


Please add an Option or a Tweak to bring back the Original Label Design
(when the whole Label cells were filed with color, the labels were touching each other, no gaps, and when the text was aligned to the left)

[admin]

No problem, tweaks will come with the next beta.

[medder]

What a wonderful news! Thank you very much!

[admin]

Check out the new beta. Hope you know how to tweak: https://www.xyplorer.com/faq-topic.php?id=tweak

[medder]

Thank you. Everything looks nearly identical to the way it did before. Nearly.

The only thing missing is an offset on the left side of the Label column (when using LabelTouchGrid=1, LabelLeftAlign=1).
If I try to restore it using ListDetailsColumnsSpacingLeft=2, all other cells get this 2px extra offset (not an ideal solution).

Here's what I mean (Using: LabelTouchGrid=1, LabelLeftAlign=1).
I've added red guide lines to the left edges of Label and Ext column text:

Screenshots, from top to bottom:
- v25.20.0103 - classic appearance (text spacing in columns is balanced)
- v25.80.0007 - ListDetailsColumnsSpacingLeft=0 - the content of the "Label" column is shifted to the left
- v25.80.0007 - ListDetailsColumnsSpacingLeft=2 - Labels as before, but everything else is shifted to the right




I've made some test files and labels (with the word Label) and enabled the vertical grid lines to illustrate the issue (zoomed image):

Code: Select all

LabelTouchGrid=1
LabelLeftAlign=1
ListDetailsColumnsSpacingLeft=0

Here you can see:
- The letter L in the right column is on the same vertical line as the Ext column name (regular column)
- But the letter L in the left column is 2 pixels to the left of the Label column name
- The left padding in the Label column is different from regular columns (-2px)
- The width of the Label column was auto-calculated, and you can see that the left padding is different from the right padding (LONG TEXT label)

[admin]

Yes. Will be fixed in next beta.

[medder]

Perfect. You’re a lifesaver!

Last question: What is the difference between:
ListsLineSpacing (can be changed here: Configuration > Styles > Line Spacing)
and
ListItemDistY (can be changed by Ctrl+Shift+Scroll, to use, text Zoom must be enabled here: Configuration > Fonts)

These settings make the same changes to UI (down to the pixel) and can reverse each other's effects:

When applying each of these three combinations we get the same List/Details layout:

Code: Select all

ListsLineSpacing=0
ListItemDistY=0

ListsLineSpacing=-5
ListItemDistY=5

ListsLineSpacing=5
ListItemDistY=-5

[admin]

ListsLineSpacing applies to all lists in the GUI.
ListItemDistY applies to just the file list (in both panes).

[medder]

Wow. I was so focused on the List/Details area that I didn't even look at the Tree. Now I fully understand the concept.

There is a global line spacing setting (Configuration > Styles > Line Spacing, or ListsLineSpacing),
and there are individual settings for List, Tree and Catalog (Ctrl+Shift+Scroll, or ListItemDistY, TreeItemDistY, CatalogItemDistY).

This makes it easy to balance white space and text density to suit each daily task.

Thank you for your time.