Let's talk about Favs

[admin]

OK, let's design the best ever Favorites solution. Up to now we have (resp. I see) the following [possible] features:

1) Be able to define friendly names. - "Images" instead of "C:\Documents and Settings\Justin\My Documents\My Pictures"

2) Be able to have nested levels, or at the very least, one level of grouping.
Comment: I'm currently not inclined to do a tree solution. I want it flatter/faster. A tree is also wasting horizontal space.
However, a one-level deep grouping could nicely be done as kind of grouped list (with max. 1 group open at a time):

State 1:
Topic 1
Topic 2
item 2a
item 2b

State 2:
Topic 1
item 1a
item 1b
Topic 2

3) Be able to have the favorites always on screen.

4) [optionally] clicking a favorite will simply fill/update the file list, but without synchronizing the tree. Advantages: faster browsing, and your previous tree position does not scroll out of view so you can easily switch back to it.

5) Visual grip: favorites can be individually colored.

6) throw an eye to this old idea from 2004!: http://www.xyplorer.com/xed/newfavs.htm
I re-like it a lot! See old discussion here: http://www.xyplorer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29

So far so good, now you.
Don

[jacky]

This obviously depends a lot of what each of us intend to do with favs and how we use them. So we're prett much all gonna have our ideas/needs about his I guess

For example I know that as far as I'm concerned, having favorites always on screen does not interrest me at all !

Basicly I use favorites to either go there, or copy/move files into them. And to me the way it used to work in v4.40 was almost as good as it could be
The only things that i'd like to see would be 1/ be able to use custom/friendly names, and 2/ a groupping (one level would be enough for me)

But the way i'd see this, ideally for me, would be through menus as it was/is. Simply with the custom names, and submenus for groups, ie. a group Music would make a submenu Music with (on tree right-click) :
Open all favorites
Add current path here
----
Fav 1
Fav 2
Fav 3

"Add current path here" would add the current path in this group; and obviously on the menus for Copy/Move operations no need for thoose. (or for Copy, to copy one file in all places at once; even though I don't think I'd have any use for this atm )

As I said, that way I can go wherever I want in no time with the ctxt menu that would, and God I miss this, have the favorites, but also 2 submenus on top: Special Folders & Fav Files.
(oh and I'd still love to see the toggle fav file on the ctxt menu of a file! )


Now, I understand people want to have them all the time; so you could indeed add this option like you describe, whether it would be in place of the treeview, or with it (Favorites on top, Tree on the bottom, both on the side), but nothing says you can't make it an addition to the way I describe

And I do like the idea that it would only updates the file list but not change the tree; that can be pretty cool!

As for colors, I'm not sure what you mean there We can already use colors for files/folders (boxed and/or highlight) without regards of their fav status, so...??

Anyways, that was me
Next!

[admin]

Thanks for your elaborate statement!

As for me, I could live alright with menu-based favs, but I know I will very quickly get used to ever-visible favs. Quite often the tree is just sitting (ok, standing) there wasting space. Most of the tree information is most of the time totally irrelevant.

As for colors, I'm not sure what you mean there We can already use colors for files/folders (boxed and/or highlight) without regards of their fav status, so...??

If favs are listed in a list or tree controls (anything but a menu) the individual captions could have individual colors. Just an additional helper for quick spotting. If I know my "XYcode" favorite is bright-green I will quickly find it even in a long list of favs. We could also have bold, italics, different fonts... you know since I write all my controls myself from scratch, everything is possible. So, everybody, detach yourself from the favorites interfaces you might have seen in other apps; free your mind and your (new revolutionary) favs will follow!

[JustinF]

And now for my comments ...

1) Perfect.

2) That seems like a good solution. It would be nice when you hover your mouse over a closed group with a drag operation in progress (see #6) the group will spring open so the file(s) can be dropped in what was previously a closed group.

3) In the screenshot you have the favorites as a tab. I can't decide if I personally like the tabbed idea, or the "docked below the treeview" idea better. I suppose as long as there's an easy keyboard shortcut to toggle the favorites, I don't care either way.

4) You had mentioned in a previous thread that single-clicking a favorite would not synchronize the tree, but double-clicking would. That seems like a pretty good solution/feature to me.

5) I'm not sure I'd use this feature, but who knows.

6) As I mentioned in #2, in the description in your link you say that the favorites can be drop targets, will that still hold true? If so, very cool!

That's my take,
Justin

[admin]

Ok, thanks. Drop targets, yes!

And I forgot to mention:

7) Favorites are not ordered alphabetically but you can drag them to new position independent of their caption.

[JustinF]

And I forgot to mention:

7) Favorites are not ordered alphabetically but you can drag them to new position independent of their caption.

Perfect! I'm excited.

[admin]

And I add another couple:

8 ) since the coming fav panel will show file-type-icons with each item, I don't see any good reason anymore why to separate fav folders from fav files, so: both will be thrown into the same bucket (and organized by user-defined categories and user-defined positions within each category).

9 ) drag-drop to panel will work like this:
- drop onto category header, will add dropped item to this category (append to last position)
- drop onto fav item will copy/move dropped items to that path (if fav item is a folder, of course)

[phatmankerr]

Excellent, the new implementation of Favourites will complete XYplorers functionality for me.

Just slightly worried about the no sorting - drag and drop ordering is great for flexibility but an option to sort (within Categories) would be useful.

[admin]

Excellent, the new implementation of Favourites will complete XYplorers functionality for me.

Just slightly worried about the no sorting - drag and drop ordering is great for flexibility but an option to sort (within Categories) would be useful.

No worries. The new fav panel will have an optional sort within Categories and much more. It's gonna be the ultimate killer feature! It's all made up in my head and soon in XYplorer.

[JustinF]

It's all made up in my head and soon in XYplorer.

You haven't started on it yet? Here I thought we'd be seeing "sneak peeks" by now.

[j_c_hallgren]

8 ) since the coming fav panel will show file-type-icons with each item, I don't see any good reason anymore why to separate fav folders from fav files

I'll admit that I'm still somewhat new to XY, and thus have not used all the features to their max, but I have used Fav's a bit... and I DO like having folders separate from files. Because I know if I want a folder OR file and unless they are clearly and easily separate, I'd find this a regression.

The present way that I can pick from Fav menu item whether I want a folder, system item or file, works very well for my needs. Having some way to nest within that makes sense, but since I have a small number of Fav's for now, it wouldn't do that much for me...

Also, I don't know that I'd ever have enough screen space to show a Fav's "panel" somewhere..I have Info Panel at bottom open 95% or so of the time, and in tree, I often have up to 6 folder levels expanded from one folder to work with my most used stuff, and like to have a similar one on another drive open also, so where I'd put a Fav's panel, I don't know...

The tree view is quite revelant for my needs, because I'm often traversing from one set of exploded folders to another, and working with them as much as possible together...that's why I have to resort to X2plorer (a dual-pane pgm) to do a number of functions, like sync'ing the contents...

[admin]

... and I DO like having folders separate from files. Because I know if I want a folder OR file and unless they are clearly and easily separate, I'd find this a regression.

No worries!
(a) the old fav folders and files will stay alive unchanged
(b) if you want to have files separate in the fav panel, simply create a category "files" put your file favs there
(c) the fav panel can be hidden, of course, so it won't bother anybody who don't needs it.
(d) I will offer a new layout where the tree touches the bottom and the list and info panel are right of it. So more vertical space for the fav panel...

[surrender]

No worries!
(a) the old fav folders and files will stay alive unchanged
(b) if you want to have files separate in the fav panel, simply create a category "files" put your file favs there
(c) the fav panel can be hidden, of course, so it won't bother anybody who don't needs it.
(d) I will offer a new layout where the tree touches the bottom and the list and info panel are right of it. So more vertical space for the fav panel...

Cooool. Eager see those features.

[j_c_hallgren]

Now IF the Fav's panel will/could occupy the lower left corner of screen where Info Panel and Tree dividers intersect, that would be just fine! Given that typically on I-P, there is a fair amount of grey space that goes unused...

Updated: I just now looked at XED sample...that tab idea would be GREAT!

[phatmankerr]

Probably just being impatient but has the development of new Favs functionality been put on the back burner. Or is it just so radical that Donald is spending more time developing it ?