Dual Pane - Formal Proposal Thread

[admin]

Yes, "Panes" was my first idea, too. I still find it better personally... I just wonder what a newbie might make of it?

Since you had the idea of configurable menu yourself, how about having Dual panes (DP) in menu "Window". When a user checks it then the menu grows and a new menu item called "DP" or "Panes" or whatever gets added between "Tools" and "Window". That way newbie never sees any additional menu, out of curiosity if he clicks Dual pane then a menu gets added and he knows what it means.
Similarly you can hide other menus like Scripting and User under tools or somewhere else. Like you say, simple is better.

I cannot explain why, but I'm not a fan of a smart chameleon-like top menu. It should be fixed unless you explicitly configure it to look different.

[serendipity]

Yes, "Panes" was my first idea, too. I still find it better personally... I just wonder what a newbie might make of it?

Since you had the idea of configurable menu yourself, how about having Dual panes (DP) in menu "Window". When a user checks it then the menu grows and a new menu item called "DP" or "Panes" or whatever gets added between "Tools" and "Window". That way newbie never sees any additional menu, out of curiosity if he clicks Dual pane then a menu gets added and he knows what it means.
Similarly you can hide other menus like Scripting and User under tools or somewhere else. Like you say, simple is better.

I cannot explain why, but I'm not a fan of a smart chameleon-like top menu. It should be fixed unless you explicitly configure it to look different.

Yes, i thought about it too and I retract from my idea. I would be annoyed to see my top menus grow without my prior consent. So maybe a simple interface to configure menus should be OK. And "Panes" is OK because the first option in it will be "Dual pane" which is self-explanatory.

[Mesh]

So I ask the English speakers: Does "Panes" make sense as a top menu caption in this context? It certainly would look better that the clumsy "Dual Pane".

Well, the plural is the better form, regardless of whether you use "Panes" or "Dual Panes". Beyond that, I'm fine with either.

However, one advantage of setting it to "Panes" is if you ever get drunk enough to add support for three panes.

[ale]

Yes, "Panes" was my first idea, too. I still find it better personally... I just wonder what a newbie might make of it?

You didn't find my message as nitpicking so I can say I think a single word is better, I know in UI design they usually recommend not using multiple words as a menu bar title. I didn't write before but the other problem with the choice "Dual Pane" is that a menu bar title shouldn't have the same name as a menu choice item and the first item actually is again "Dual Pane". So you might change menu bar title or the menu choice item to something like "Activate Dual Pane". I added an edit note before because any changes here should be double checked with toolbar button and the configuration dialogue wording so that everything is coherent

[PeterH]

Sorry: I don't remember the reason for the new "Dual Pane" menu bar entry...

From my point of view it's entries have functions as those of "Window" menu - so why not add the dual-pane items as a group under the "Window"-menu? In "Window" you can select if and how other elements of XY are shown, like "Show Tree", "Show Info Panel" and "Wide Info Panel" - for me "(Show) Dual Pane" etc would fit here, too.
(And it would not become higher than the first 4 menu items...)

[admin]

Sorry: I don't remember the reason for the new "Dual Pane" menu bar entry...

From my point of view it's entries have functions as those of "Window" menu - so why not add the dual-pane items as a group under the "Window"-menu? In "Window" you can select if and how other elements of XY are shown, like "Show Tree", "Show Info Panel" and "Wide Info Panel" - for me "(Show) Dual Pane" etc would fit here, too.
(And it would not become higher than the first 4 menu items...)

More commands will follow soon. All these commands will only make sense when both panes are visible resp. are actively used. As I know that many users will never use DP, and others swear by it (2 philosophies...) I think it's a good idea to pack DP into one place.

[Darwin]

Yes, "Panes" was my first idea, too. I still find it better personally... I just wonder what a newbie might make of it?

So I ask the English speakers: Does "Panes" make sense as a top menu caption in this context? It certainly would look better that the clumsy "Dual Pane".

Yes, I think this sounds fine - and sensible.

[Mesh]

Thanks for adding the Auto Refresh for the inactive pane in build 407. The tree still needs Auto Refresh, however.

[admin]

Thanks for adding the Auto Refresh for the inactive pane in build 407. The tree still needs Auto Refresh, however.

Tree is difficult! What particular situation is not satisfying?

[Mesh]

Tree is difficult! What particular situation is not satisfying?

If, for example, I right click a zip file (where the contents include subdirectories), and extract it to another folder... When it's done and I go to that destination folder, the subdirectories show up in the file list, but that destination parent directory is not expandable (i.e. there is no plus sign next to it). So, I can't hit the right arrow or asterisk keys in order to expand it out. I always have to hit F5 first (which I have configured to refresh both the tree and list), so that the Tree refreshes and recognizes that there are subfolders that can be opened.

I encounter this situation extremely frequently, and it just seems that it shouldn't be necessary to refresh the Tree manually in this circumstance. Ideally, it would show the plus indicator showing it has subdirectories even before I jumped to the destination parent folder - but it certainly should show it once I'm there.

Am I mistaken - is this not an Auto Refresh issue?

[jjk]

Hello,

v 0408
1) I found no way to assign keyboard shorcut to Copy/Move to other pane.

2) And neither alert before or after file is copied/moved to other pane. For this point I think it would be useful to set an option for that, even if an alert prevents to overwrite any already existing file.

3) Also, I wonder why not to add the option "the other pane" to menu File > copy/move/backup to in case of DP.

Anyway, DP is progressing, that is the main thing.

[Demset]

Tree is difficult! What particular situation is not satisfying?

I've got something to add to mesh's response. If the destination parent folder is expanded already in the tree, you don't see the new directories appear as they are created - you have to refresh the Tree manually in order to get them to show up.

[admin]

Tree is difficult! What particular situation is not satisfying?

I've got something to add to mesh's response. If the destination parent folder is expanded already in the tree, you don't see the new directories appear as they are created - you have to refresh the Tree manually in order to get them to show up.

After you do what?

[admin]

Hello,

v 0408
1) I found no way to assign keyboard shorcut to Copy/Move to other pane.

2) And neither alert before or after file is copied/moved to other pane. For this point I think it would be useful to set an option for that, even if an alert prevents to overwrite any already existing file.

3) Also, I wonder why not to add the option "the other pane" to menu File > copy/move/backup to in case of DP.

Anyway, DP is progressing, that is the main thing.

1) comes of course
2) there is the usual shell overwrite prompt; what else di you want?
3) hm, maybe

[jjk]

admin wrote
2) there is the usual shell overwrite prompt; what else di you want?

Just, as an option, a msgbox to warn I am copying/moving to other pane. OK, it is my act. But I like to get a warning before doing such actions, in case I was wrong.