Dual Pane - Formal Proposal Thread

[admin]

So I would ask, if it / could it be planned that when on single-pane mode, we could get the Tabs back up with the TB ??

I have this in the back of mind. But I won't do anything until DP is completely finished. First make the rules, then break them.

[j_c_hallgren]

I do enjoy space especially when it's free. So having some "white space" in the bars is not such a bad thing for me. And having 39 rows in the list instead of 40 would not make me sick.

Just for reference, I have 23 rows in list when IP showing, because I've only got a 14" laptop...so a row or two for me makes a much bigger percentage difference.

And as to toolbar, I'm at the other extreme from jacky, as I have 35 icons on my TB and wish I could have more, but I need at least a AB of about 1.5 inches also...

[ale]

I'm not 100% happy with the result yet, but I made a couple of quick tests with a line outside the list before going to sleep (well not so quick, when you tweak these things time flies )

As Don said, we can't draw anywhere but there are some things we can do and something that are difficult or impossible to implement

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/3777 ... side05.png
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/2779 ... side04.png

[admin]

I'm not 100% happy with the result yet, but I made a couple of quick tests with a line outside the list before going to sleep (well not so quick, when you tweak these things time flies )

As Don said, we can't draw anywhere but there are some things we can do and something that are difficult or impossible to implement

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/3777 ... side05.png
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/2779 ... side04.png

Thanks. But with Horizontal Panes it will probably look disturbing having a line (resp. a missing line) below the splitter.

[ale]

I'm not 100% happy with the result yet, but I made a couple of quick tests with a line outside the list before going to sleep (well not so quick, when you tweak these things time flies )

As Don said, we can't draw anywhere but there are some things we can do and something that are difficult or impossible to implement

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/3777 ... side05.png
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/2779 ... side04.png

Thanks. But with Horizontal Panes it will probably look disturbing having a line (resp. a missing line) below the splitter.

You're right, other users also expressed the wish (and I agree) to have a clean splitter, without any sign or disturbing elements. With horizontal panes, where the vertical space for the list items is scarce, you may think drawing the sign for the active pane along a side (left?), I didn't show a shot but this was my first idea. Well I don't know technically where you're allowed to modify the interface, so maybe I'll wait for your implementation and stop drawing screenshots

[TheQwerty]

Why are we so against making this active indicator go around and framing the entire pane again?

[admin]

Why are we so against making this active indicator go around and framing the entire pane again?

I'm actually experimenting with this...

[admin]

Why are we so against making this active indicator go around and framing the entire pane again?

I'm actually experimenting with this...

Result: No, does not look good.

Question: When is it necessary to know which is the active pane?

[Gandolf]

Always!!

I switch to XY from another application, how do I know what file / path the action I take in XY is going to effect??

For example, I've copied the location of a path I want to see in XY, I use Ctrl+G (or the address bar) to paste the address in - how do I know where is it going to go if I don't know which pane is active??

For people who want to work with a single tree - they need to know which pane the tree is controlling.

Info panel - I assume there will be only one - which pane is it referring to??

I can't think of any condition when I would not want to know which is the active pane.

Under what conditions (if any) were you thinking of not showing the active / inactive pane??

[ale]

Question: When is it necessary to know which is the active pane?

Well, I guess it's needed for example when switching focus from a pane to the other or from the tree to a pane as a visual feedback and confirmation for the user action. I think it wouldn't be good for example clicking into a pane and then nothing happens in that pane as a graphical feedback, the user would be confused and might think that the click didn't work.

If we have commands which involve relationship between panes, a sign is also useful because it always remember which pane has a "source" role and which one a "target" role.

I would never use XY this way, but it's needed for those who have no address bar and tabs without the yellow mark or even for those users with no address bar and no tabs. If for example they switch to another application and then come back to XY after a few minutes, they need a way to remember and visually identify which pane they were working on without need of clicking, typing or doing any extra step

[PeterH]

Question: When is it necessary to know which is the active pane?

If not just clicking into a pane, or just knowing which pane I selected: always...

I really think there always must be a clear visual indication of the active pane.

(Sorry , Gandalf, you were faster...)

[j_c_hallgren]

Question: When is it necessary to know which is the active pane?

Only 100% of the time when panes are shown?

Having used x2 lite as alternative which makes it real obvious as to which is active (via background color), I'm used to seeing something that I can't miss, even with my vison limits, so an active tab stripe/color helps but I want to see which pane first to narrow my view.

[TheQwerty]

Question: When is it necessary to know which is the active pane?

Only on Thursdays. The rest of the week I'd prefer you show me which one is the inactive pane. This would probably need to be user configurable as I imagine someone else may not work on Thursdays and would need this information on Tuesdays.

Also if it makes you happy you may choose not to show the active pane when XY is minimized, in the tray, and sometimes even when it's not running, although this would probably break Vista/Windows 7 active thumbnails.


I made this mockup of how I think it should look on that user configurable day, nothing else should be user configurable as all users are morons.
As you can see it's very subtle, and I think it's a fair compromise between the various techniques we've been discussing.
You'll notice the soothing transparency affect ensures the user will not be distracted by this method, and will be able to see the full list contents.

[graham]

If one assumes that users have set up background colours of their choice then by modifying the brightness or simply altering the rgb values to a lessor value then this could have the effect of 'dimming' the inactive pane. The virtue of this is that the user colours are preserved - not tried this out but feel sure this can be computed by manipulating the rgb values by a standard value.

[Mesh]

If one assumes that users have set up background colours of their choice then by modifying the brightness or simply altering the rgb values to a lessor value then this could have the effect of 'dimming' the inactive pane. The virtue of this is that the user colours are preserved - not tried this out but feel sure this can be computed by manipulating the rgb values by a standard value.

That causes the same issue that's been brought up before - you end up with large patches of changing/flashing colors as you switch panes. Having worked with this type of system, I find it highly annoying.