Catalog vs Favorites

Walrez · Post by **Walrez** » 05 May 2008 17:13

Hi,
I'm currently evaluating XY. I'm beginning to understand the praising about functionality and details, even when other products offer ftp and other things. In some areas, it reminds me of ZTree, my favorite, (but that lacks unicode :-( )

The new scripting engine makes the product very attractive to me and ahead of others.

I'm just a bit confused about the catalog and different favorites list. Isn't the catalog already capable of holding folders and also files?
Another thing that confused me at first: "Toggle favorite folder" is outside the "Favorite Folders" menu, while "Toggle favorite file" is inside "Favorite Files". Mh.. I just noticed that I can also define a folder as a "Favorite File"! What's the purpose of keeping three lists?

Other than that, the program is pretty much nice to use, and very well thought.

Walter

Post by **j_c_hallgren** » 05 May 2008 18:39

Hi and welcome to the XY forums!

I don't have much time to fully reply, but I'll give a quick shot:

The Catalog is a more recent innovation and thus it somewhat duplicates what was previously only available via the Favorites...but those were retained, and some of us find them useful to store additional lesser used items outside of the Catalog.

There is a reason why toggle for files and folders is in different menus, but I can't recall it presently...

Post by **admin** » 05 May 2008 20:43

j_c_hallgren wrote:The Catalog is a more recent innovation and thus it somewhat duplicates what was previously only available via the Favorites...but those were retained, and some of us find them useful to store additional lesser used items outside of the Catalog.

Yes, true. There is some functional overlapping here but also subtle differences. The Catalog is of course much more powerful than the Favs menu, but it takes screen space... I know users that want all the space for the tree.

The difference between fav folders and file is very subtle but useful I think: the "fav folder" will be selected in the tree, its contents listed in the list. The "fav file" (even if it is a folder) will be selected in the list.

Walrez · Post by **Walrez** » 05 May 2008 21:03

Hi, and thanks for answering.

I'm not in front of the program now, so I'll ask: is it the same database? Meaning, if I add a favorite folder/file, will it appear on the catalog and vice-versa?

If so, it's great, cause it lets users decide how to see their locations/programs. I'll check it later.

Post by **admin** » 05 May 2008 21:27

Walrez wrote:Hi, and thanks for answering.

I'm not in front of the program now, so I'll ask: is it the same database? Meaning, if I add a favorite folder/file, will it appear on the catalog and vice-versa?

If so, it's great, cause it lets users decide how to see their locations/programs. I'll check it later.

No, it's not. And that's great, too!

You'll see...

Walrez · Post by **Walrez** » 05 May 2008 22:29

I don't really know why you're saying that, but you're kind of funny (in a good way)

It's weird, all the rest of the program >screams< economy/coherence. Go on, kill'em favorites!

Hey, no big deal (though if there was an option "hide favorites" I'd certainly check it)

Mostly convinced. A few more days...

Post by **j_c_hallgren** » 06 May 2008 01:00

The other thing about Favorites is that you can thus highlight them in the tree, which doesn't happen when then are in the Catalog...and...no one is forcing you to use them...it's your choice!

Post by **admin** » 06 May 2008 07:29

Walrez wrote:I don't really know why you're saying that, but you're kind of funny (in a good way)

I'd say Favorites Folders are a supplement to the Tree, like bookmarks in the Tree. Whereas the Catalog is a substitute for the Tree, it's your personal custom Tree (plus a lot more...).

Walrez · Post by **Walrez** » 06 May 2008 13:21

admin wrote: The difference between fav folders and file is very subtle but useful I think: the "fav folder" will be selected in the tree, its contents listed in the list. The "fav file" (even if it is a folder) will be selected in the list.

I just tried that and got a different behavior.

I bookmarked a folder as a "favorite file", and that folder was selected on the tree exactly as if it was stored as "favorite folder".

I assume it should be selected on the file list (among other files/folders) and it's parent folder selected on the tree.

Maybe there's a setting?

Walrez · Post by **Walrez** » 06 May 2008 14:08

j_c_hallgren wrote:The other thing about Favorites is that you can thus highlight them in the tree, which doesn't happen when then are in the Catalog

When I read this it suddenly made sense, but then I realized that there are also "Highlighted Folders"! (with no relation to favorites)

j_c_hallgren wrote:and...no one is forcing you to use them...it's your choice!

Sure... though I'm a bit surprised, since from what I read on the forums, xyplorer's users are very wary about keeping the program as light as possible (bloat-less)

No big deal anyway. I hope I'm not sounding rude or something.

Post by **admin** » 06 May 2008 14:55

Walrez wrote:
admin wrote: The difference between fav folders and file is very subtle but useful I think: the "fav folder" will be selected in the tree, its contents listed in the list. The "fav file" (even if it is a folder) will be selected in the list.
I just tried that and got a different behavior.

I bookmarked a folder as a "favorite file", and that folder was selected on the tree exactly as if it was stored as "favorite folder".

I assume it should be selected on the file list (among other files/folders) and it's parent folder selected on the tree.

Maybe there's a setting?

You are right! Hmmm... I have to confess that I do not use Favorite Files myself at all (I just use the Catalog for it

) -- so I was reporting this from (illusional/wishful) memory...

I'm willing to make a quick P-O-L-L out of this: Should I drop Favorite Files??? ... I'll put this to a new thread to make it more visible... here: http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?t=2457

Post by **j_c_hallgren** » 06 May 2008 18:20

Walrez wrote:
j_c_hallgren wrote:The other thing about Favorites is that you can thus highlight them in the tree, which doesn't happen when then are in the Catalog
When I read this it suddenly made sense, but then I realized that there are also "Highlighted Folders"! (with no relation to favorites)

No big deal anyway. I hope I'm not sounding rude or something.

I realize now that my choice of terms wasn't maybe the best...what I meant was that by making them Favorites, they get indentified in tree just a bit differently than other normal folders.

And don't worry about sounding rude! You're not even close to that, IMO, you're just a new user having some learning pains as we all did at one time! And that can even help the product out, as we no longer sometimes see things from a newbie point of view., ok?