Question about "Open in Other Pane" in v9.60.0007

[highstream]

Ah, something we agree on... ;-) Thanks, that's very good.

Now, what do you think of taking it a step further and making it a toggle, so that Alt-Click on the folder in the Tree closes the opened pane and the command in the right-click (Context?) menu switches to Close the Other Pane? The latter's text has the potential to be confusing, depending on what the user is doing at the moment, but if the application recognized which folder panes were open, then it could be something like Close this Pane in that context. But at least turning it into a keyboard toggle would be nice addition.

[admin]

Yes, I agree. That's why I said above:

And my decision is: Open 2nd pane if necessary.

Ah, I am sorry, I misunderstood .

Oh, now I see how I could be misunderstood.

Anyway, I'm happy this feature is now in the context menu where it can show the shortcut Alt+Click - another hidden little jewel has come to the surface.

[admin]

Ah, something we agree on... ;-) Thanks, that's very good.

Now, what do you think of taking it a step further and making it a toggle, so that Alt-Click on the folder in the Tree closes the opened pane and the command in the right-click (Context?) menu switches to Close the Other Pane? The latter's text has the potential to be confusing, depending on what the user is doing at the moment, but if the application recognized which folder panes were open, then it could be something like Close this Pane in that context. But at least turning it into a keyboard toggle would be nice addition.

Hmmm... not bad... not sure. Other opinions?

[SkyFrontier]

Switches and toggles - sounds like a siren to me! (I'm all for automation, each and every time it does not has potential damages involved)
I like the concept - count me in.

[serendipity]

Ah, something we agree on... ;-) Thanks, that's very good.

Now, what do you think of taking it a step further and making it a toggle, so that Alt-Click on the folder in the Tree closes the opened pane and the command in the right-click (Context?) menu switches to Close the Other Pane? The latter's text has the potential to be confusing, depending on what the user is doing at the moment, but if the application recognized which folder panes were open, then it could be something like Close this Pane in that context. But at least turning it into a keyboard toggle would be nice addition.

Hmmm... not bad... not sure. Other opinions?

Makes sense that DP opens if in SP mode when alt+clicking from tree. And alt+clicking again on the same folder in the tree will close the DP? Hmmm not sure, seems like too much trouble just to close a pane.

Also, if I was already in DP mode while alt-clicking to open a location in other pane, then the context menu (close this pane) has no meaning. I know you said it has to be in the right context.
So XY has to show the context menu "close this pane" in tree assuming that:
-User switched on DP mode using this context menu
-The "Other" pane is the active pane now (else "close this pane" will close the wrong pane)
-The other pane has already been closed by other methods.
plus there might be other things like should the location in the other pane be the same one you are right-clicking in the tree?

Too confusing if you ask me, especially if your goal is to just close the pane.

[highstream]

serendipity, my post speaks to this issue and possible solutions. However, as I understand what you're saying, it seems that you've made things more complicated than they are. I'm no expert in this, but my working assumption is that if the application recognizes and can correlate which panes are open to which one is right-clicked on in the tree, then it can adjust the message accordingly. At the same time, does it really matter which pane closes as long as its contents are the ones you want to close? Presumably, the screen formatting will adjust appropriately; i.e., if you close the left pane the right takes over the whole space. All one has to do is Alt-click or right click on the desired folder.

[calude]

for me the most clear and useful would be:
when 2 panes present (already opened)
simple click open a new tab in left pane
alt+click open a new tab in other pane ( the right most one)

Alt+click is a great feature BTW

Calude

[serendipity]

serendipity, my post speaks to this issue and possible solutions. However, as I understand what you're saying, it seems that you've made things more complicated than they are. I'm no expert in this, but my working assumption is that if the application recognizes and can correlate which panes are open to which one is right-clicked on in the tree, then it can adjust the message accordingly. At the same time, does it really matter which pane closes as long as its contents are the ones you want to close? Presumably, the screen formatting will adjust appropriately; i.e., if you close the left pane the right takes over the whole space. All one has to do is Alt-click or right click on the desired folder.

OK, let me try again.
If the goal of alt-click/right-click on tree is to close the other pane, then there already several ways to do it: menu Panes>Dual pane, DP Toolbar button, Keyboard shortcut F10 (default). Why should anyone use alt+click or right-click from tree to close pane? Sorry, but it does seem more complicated to me, unless I've missed something here.
Also, intuitively, if I point and click on a particular folder, I'd expect an action related to that folder.

[highstream]

Now I get your point, thanks. Simple answer: all things being equal, toggles are easy to remember and use quickly. All the more so if one wants to toggle the pane on and off. Plus, the keyboard combo Alt-click is right under one's fingers.

[serendipity]

Now I get your point, thanks. Simple answer: all things being equal, toggles are easy to remember and use quickly. All the more so if one wants to toggle the pane on and off. Plus, the keyboard combo Alt-click is right under one's fingers.

Sorry, I am still not convinced as to why Alt-clicking a folder in tree should close the pane. I can give you many situations where this will be difficult to deal with, to name a few:
1) Which pane should close if there is same folder in both panes?
2) I opened a folder (using alt-click) 2 days back and forgotten about it, if i open same folder again then my other pane will close? I will have no clue why.
I am not making it complicated, there will eventually be users who will report these things as bugs.

Sorry, i edited my previous post after you replied, so re-phrasing that again:
When i click on a folder i expect an action which has something to do with that folder. Closing a pane has nothing to do with the folder i am clicking on.

[highstream]

You raise a good question in scenario 1), which speaks to the implementation of closing a pane this way. The simplest solution is making it close the pane on the right, the same one that Alt-Click opens, i.e., having a straight toggle. A broader or more flexible solution is defining the "other" pane as the one out of focus. I would like the latter were the pane currently in focus unmistakenly clear visually, such as by color or shading at the top or within. But so far I haven't figured out how to do that (is it possible?). Failing that, the simplest solution remains making it a simple toggle, opening and closing the pane on the right. What that pane contains depends on what in the tree the user chooses to click on.

I think your scenario 2) is solved in part by the new beta, which no longer hides a pane; i.e., everything is visible. The rest then comes down to the discussion above.

[serendipity]

You raise a good question in scenario 1), which speaks to the implementation of closing a pane this way. The simplest solution is making it close the pane on the right, the same one that Alt-Click opens, i.e., having a straight toggle. A broader or more flexible solution is defining the "other" pane as the one out of focus. I would like the latter were the pane currently in focus unmistakenly clear visually, such as by color or shading at the top or within. But so far I haven't figured out how to do that (is it possible?). Failing that, the simplest solution remains making it a simple toggle, opening and closing the pane on the right. What that pane contains depends on what in the tree the user chooses to click on.

I think your scenario 2) is solved in part by the new beta, which no longer hides a pane; i.e., everything is visible. The rest then comes down to the discussion above.

Well, you said it, simplest is to close the inactive pane. This is how its done currently if you use Panes>Dual Pane.
As to how to make active pane unmistakenly clear: go to Configuration>Colors & Styles and in the "list" section change the "background" color to something more visible and in "other" section change the "Inactive pane" color to something dull like grey. Hope that helps.

[highstream]

I do the same thing, but prefer keys to mouse. Easier on my shoulder.

As for colors, changing the List Background to another color has the barest of effects here, just a thin vertical line to the left of the entries. What I'm looking for is the setting that allows the visible background of one pane to be a different color than the other pane. Once, changing the Focused Portion I got the hidden part of the left pane into another color, but can't even repeat that. Most of what I do under List seems to have no or minimal effect. Changing the Inactive Pane works every time.

[serendipity]

I do the same thing, but prefer keys to mouse. Easier on my shoulder.

As for colors, changing the List Background to another color has the barest of effects here, just a thin vertical line to the left of the entries. What I'm looking for is the setting that allows the visible background of one pane to be a different color than the other pane. Once, changing the Focused Portion I got the hidden part of the left pane into another color, but can't even repeat that. Most of what I do under List seems to have no or minimal effect. Changing the Inactive Pane works every time.

Thats very strange, I am sure its to do with your other colors which are interfering here. If you play around with other colors its easy to achieve a clear visibility of active pane.
In fact i was playing around in the default XY to see what works best, and seems like just by changing background color and sorted column color one can achieve decent amount of visibility of active pane.

[highstream]

Hmm, seems to work now, tho one thing I did this time was close the second pane until making an initial color change. If that had anything to do with it. In any case, from what I can tell the operative key here, at least in terms of this discussion, is not Background but changing the Sorted Column color. Changing Background color, which also highlights Text in List, seems to effect the unsorted columns to the right. Btw, changing Text alone seems to cause weird things to happen in Config's List area.