"Folder View Settings" vs "Column Layouts" vs UX

[Brano]

Hi,
I think this is a great feature but usability-wise would need improvements. Until now it was just a bit clunky but now I've already got frustrated.

1) Column Layouts (CL) as presets do not seem to be saved within the Folder View Setting (FVS). The column layout saved in the FVS is hard-set, not a dynamic preset of CL. So if I have an Audio CL defined and some FVSs defined that I want to follow this CL, when I update the CL I need to go also to FVS, remember and find which FVS does contain this required layout and save it again. Do the same thing twice. So FVS should remember CLs as presets.

2) The logic of applying FVS to overlapping patterns.
I have FVSs:

Code: Select all

*\Audio\

Code: Select all

*\Studio\*\

I have a path

Code: Select all

 "D:\Studio\ABand\SomeProject\SomeSong\Audio"

In the above path, the "*\Studio\*\" FVS gets applied. This could be sorted out with a priority order that would be easily managed in "Manage folder views...".

3) The left-click action of the toolbar FVS button is to completely delete (!) the FVS. The action should toggle "Enable FVS". If there is no FVS added to the current folder, then it would save the new one (with a prompt maybe).

4) It might be beneficial to show which folder view actually gets applied in the right click menu of the FVS button and in the View->FVS.

5) Here could be a mention of a "." and ".." as ways to define levels. There is no button for wildcard help and searching this put some more frustration onto me. Generally there could be some more wildcard help. (BTW the searching in the Help could be better as well, especially for scripting).

[admin]

Moved the topic to Wishes and added it to the idea pipeline.

By the way, did I get it right that you don't know the * and ? wildcards without looking them up in the help? No offense, but I need to understand what to expect from users today.

[Brano]

When I searched the dots in the help I realized that this follows the path wildcards. I don't use them that much in general.

The confusing thing is that in the line bellow the path field some wildcards are mentioned while the others are not. So it creates questions. And there is no immediate help so it raises the confusion level.

Another problem with my general software usage is that I use other softwares that may define "wildcards" in other ways, maybe not as path wildcards specifically but more as variables, e.g. in a recording sofware a variable of a project name.

So yes, expect less. :-)

[admin]

OK, thanks.

Pressing F1 in the Edit Folder View dialog will take you to the corresponding help page. This works for many XYplorer dialogs.

[Brano]

Thanks. I've already remapped F1 to Copy. When I assign F12 to Help / Contents and Index it does open the Help when in the list view but not when in the Edit Folder View dialog.

EDIT: Ahh, ok, it is hardcoded to F1.

[Brano]

That's maybe another thing that could be more obvious. Maybe just a "F1 for help" in each window where this takes effect.

[admin]

I assumed "F1 for help" was a given.

But "F1 for copy"? Where does that come from? TC?

[Brano]

A personal thing. In a previous file manager (Multi Commander) it was on F5. But since F5 is refresh in many other programs that I use, I chose F1 because it is the easiest to reach, I do not have to look down, do not have to [search with touch] (don't know the english word :-)). I also very very frequently use F1-F5 in my other most used software, for recording, to select specific groups of tracks, a custom function, so it's well in the muscle memory.

It's "Copy to other pane". And I am not using dual panes anywhere else.