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Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 29 Mar 2011 22:56
by highend
admin wrote:It's not the time to dive into further polishing here, because I have to finalize XYcopy 2.0 quickly...
Can you show us a few screenshots, how XYcopy will look like / is integreated in the ui of XYplorer (I hope it's a bit like the Show Panel Function (F12))?

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 08:02
by admin
highend wrote:
admin wrote:It's not the time to dive into further polishing here, because I have to finalize XYcopy 2.0 quickly...
Can you show us a few screenshots, how XYcopy will look like / is integreated in the ui of XYplorer (I hope it's a bit like the Show Panel Function (F12))?
Not much UI with this feature: A progress window and some checkboxes configuration. The main checkbox decides whether you want to use it instead of shell copy.

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 15:11
by zer0
admin wrote:Not much UI with this feature: A progress window and some checkboxes configuration. The main checkbox decides whether you want to use it instead of shell copy.
Please don't underestimate the importance of good UI for this feature. This is especially true as you no longer have to rely on shell's progress window, which varies according to host OS.

I am not thrilled at reading that we will be getting more checkboxes, so I will be looking at suggesting potential improvements. What I would like to see -- and this somewhat echoes what highend said -- is for the progress window to be optionally integrated into the status bar's right-most section with details on mouseover. This functionality is definitely desired as a Firefox add-on called Download Statusbar is in the top 10 with about quarter of a million weekly downloads.

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 15:19
by admin
zer0 wrote:
admin wrote:Not much UI with this feature: A progress window and some checkboxes configuration. The main checkbox decides whether you want to use it instead of shell copy.
Please don't underestimate the importance of good UI for this feature. This is especially true as you no longer have to rely on shell's progress window, which varies according to host OS.

I am not thrilled at reading that we will be getting more checkboxes, so I will be looking at suggesting potential improvements. What I would like to see -- and this somewhat echoes what highend said -- is for the progress window to be optionally integrated into the status bar's right-most section with details on mouseover. This functionality is definitely desired as a Firefox add-on called Download Statusbar is in the top 10 with about quarter of a million weekly downloads.
If XYcopy runs in the foreground it will modally block the app. If it runs in the background, there is no statusbar. So a usual copy progress as in teracopy is the natural choice.

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 15:42
by nas8e9
admin wrote:
zer0 wrote:
admin wrote:Not much UI with this feature: A progress window and some checkboxes configuration. The main checkbox decides whether you want to use it instead of shell copy.
Please don't underestimate the importance of good UI for this feature. This is especially true as you no longer have to rely on shell's progress window, which varies according to host OS.

I am not thrilled at reading that we will be getting more checkboxes, so I will be looking at suggesting potential improvements. What I would like to see -- and this somewhat echoes what highend said -- is for the progress window to be optionally integrated into the status bar's right-most section with details on mouseover. This functionality is definitely desired as a Firefox add-on called Download Statusbar is in the top 10 with about quarter of a million weekly downloads.
If XYcopy runs in the foreground it will modally block the app. If it runs in the background, there is no statusbar. So a usual copy progress as in teracopy is the natural choice.
XYcopy.exe 1.0 on Windows 7, currently benefits from the host OS's shell file functions displaying progress in its statusbar icon. I realize that not everyone is on Windows 7 yet, but it would be great if XYcopy.exe 2.0 could offer this as well.

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 15:49
by zer0
admin wrote:If XYcopy runs in the foreground it will modally block the app. If it runs in the background, there is no statusbar. So a usual copy progress as in teracopy is the natural choice.
Do you mean that, if we will have XYcopy's window on top of XYplorer, we will not be able to switch to the main app by minimising XYcopy's window or simply clicking somewhere in the main app?

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 15:58
by admin
zer0 wrote:
admin wrote:If XYcopy runs in the foreground it will modally block the app. If it runs in the background, there is no statusbar. So a usual copy progress as in teracopy is the natural choice.
Do you mean that, if we will have XYcopy's window on top of XYplorer, we will not be able to switch to the main app by minimising XYcopy's window or simply clicking somewhere in the main app?
Yep, that's the definition of foreground. If you don't like it chose background.

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 16:51
by zer0
admin wrote:Yep, that's the definition of foreground. If you don't like it chose background.
So we won't even be able to minimise the window to the task bar? If that is correct, I do not think that gives us good options: either see copy process and interact with it but can't use the main app or use the main app but no visibility of the progress. Or am I missing something?

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 17:09
by nas8e9
zer0 wrote:
admin wrote:Yep, that's the definition of foreground. If you don't like it chose background.
So we won't even be able to minimise the window to the task bar? If that is correct, I do not think that gives us good options: either see copy process and interact with it but can't use the main app or use the main app but no visibility of the progress. Or am I missing something?
It's probably to do with single- vs. multi-process: if not backgrounded, file operations are handled by XYplorer.exe itself which on Vista and later, means that for long operations the UI blocks (please speak up if you've heard this before :wink:). If backgrounded, a separate process (currently XYcopy.exe) does the heavy lifting *and* provides the progress indication and control UI for the file operation, which is probably what Don meant with the TeraCopy reference (also a separate window).

For backgrounded operations, I hope that on Windows 7 the new XYcopy.exe will support the progress indication in its taskbar icon, which for me would be sufficient feedback when working in the main XYplorer window.

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 17:28
by zer0
nas8e9 wrote:
zer0 wrote:
admin wrote:Yep, that's the definition of foreground. If you don't like it chose background.
So we won't even be able to minimise the window to the task bar? If that is correct, I do not think that gives us good options: either see copy process and interact with it but can't use the main app or use the main app but no visibility of the progress. Or am I missing something?
It's probably to do with single- vs. multi-process: if not backgrounded, file operations are handled by XYplorer.exe itself which on Vista and later, means that for long operations the UI blocks (please speak up if you've heard this before :wink:). If backgrounded, a separate process (currently XYcopy.exe) does the heavy lifting *and* provides the progress indication and control UI for the file operation, which is probably what Don meant with the TeraCopy reference (also a separate window).

For backgrounded operations, I hope that on Windows 7 the new XYcopy.exe will support the progress indication in its taskbar icon, which for me would be sufficient feedback when working in the main XYplorer window.
Ah, ok.

What interpreted from Don's words was that this new process -- XYcopy2.exe or whatever -- will show up as a modal window unless we specify otherwise in the settings. Am I wrong or will this kernel-based copy functionality be integrated into current XYcopy.exe with an addition of its own non-modal progress window? Let's not forget that XYcopy 2.0 will only be available to Pro licensees ;)

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 18:37
by admin
zer0 wrote:
nas8e9 wrote:
zer0 wrote:
admin wrote:Yep, that's the definition of foreground. If you don't like it chose background.
So we won't even be able to minimise the window to the task bar? If that is correct, I do not think that gives us good options: either see copy process and interact with it but can't use the main app or use the main app but no visibility of the progress. Or am I missing something?
It's probably to do with single- vs. multi-process: if not backgrounded, file operations are handled by XYplorer.exe itself which on Vista and later, means that for long operations the UI blocks (please speak up if you've heard this before :wink:). If backgrounded, a separate process (currently XYcopy.exe) does the heavy lifting *and* provides the progress indication and control UI for the file operation, which is probably what Don meant with the TeraCopy reference (also a separate window).

For backgrounded operations, I hope that on Windows 7 the new XYcopy.exe will support the progress indication in its taskbar icon, which for me would be sufficient feedback when working in the main XYplorer window.
Ah, ok.

What interpreted from Don's words was that this new process -- XYcopy2.exe or whatever -- will show up as a modal window unless we specify otherwise in the settings. Am I wrong or will this kernel-based copy functionality be integrated into current XYcopy.exe with an addition of its own non-modal progress window? Let's not forget that XYcopy 2.0 will only be available to Pro licensees ;)
Yes, kernel-based copy functionality will be integrated in XYplorer.exe AND in XYcopy.exe. You can chose whether you want Shell Copy or Kernel Copy when you do a file Copy/Move operation in XY, and whether you want it foregrounded or backgrounded.

...will only be available to Pro licensees? Hmmm... was that a joke? Did I say that somewhere?

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 18:38
by admin
nas8e9 wrote:For backgrounded operations, I hope that on Windows 7 the new XYcopy.exe will support the progress indication in its taskbar icon, which for me would be sufficient feedback when working in the main XYplorer window.
If I find an API for this, OK.

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 18:42
by nas8e9
admin wrote:...will only be available to Pro licensees? Hmmm... was that a joke? Did I say that somewhere?
Per the roadmap:
- XYcopy 2.0: Kernel based copy with live progress and verification [Pro Version Only]

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 18:45
by admin
nas8e9 wrote:
admin wrote:...will only be available to Pro licensees? Hmmm... was that a joke? Did I say that somewhere?
Per the roadmap:
- XYcopy 2.0: Kernel based copy with live progress and verification [Pro Version Only]
Huh, wow. :roll: Well, ok, then it shall be so. :)

Re: Tough words about GUI

Posted: 30 Mar 2011 18:59
by nas8e9
admin wrote:
nas8e9 wrote:For backgrounded operations, I hope that on Windows 7 the new XYcopy.exe will support the progress indication in its taskbar icon, which for me would be sufficient feedback when working in the main XYplorer window.
If I find an API for this, OK.
Google returns many hits for this, but these two seem a decent primer.