XYplorer Beta Club

With the introduction of Dual Panes, I'm sure we'll see some new interest in XY, and probably a bunch of small feature requests.

Let's try to use this thread for small dual pane requests instead of creating a whole bunch of new threads; we can always split it off to a new thread if it requires a more focused discussion.

Thought this might be better than continuing in the Proposal thread.

1) Drag and drop tabs between panes. Normal action would move the tab, Ctrl+Action would copy/duplicate the tab.

2) A way to assume the properties (view, sort, etc.) of one pane in the other. Or an easy way to set the tabs up so that they are the same.

EDIT 1:
3) The Tabs list menu needs a separator and an "Inactive Pane" submenu. Or a similar way to see the tabs for the inactive pane.

EDIT 2:
4) When first enabled, I think the new pane should inherit the style properties, and perhaps also the location, of the active tab.

It would be nice (and ease my mind) if the Move and Copy menu items under Panes updated to show the pane number that is the destination.

So with Pane 2 active it would say:
"Move To Pane 1"
"Copy To Pane 1"


As an alternative, though it becomes a bigger wish, if XY gave the menu items captions that were shown in the status bar, and for these it shows the destination pane number, that would be acceptable. But as I said it becomes a bigger wish as none of the main menu items display captions, and that would then open the can on wanting to have captions in script files and UDCs as well.

TheQwerty wrote:It would be nice (and ease my mind) if the Move and Copy menu items under Panes updated to show the pane number that is the destination.

Why? Does it really matter with only two panes? If we had more than two, I could see this, but given that the only choice is the OTHER pane so I'm sorry but I think this is not needed at all...Of course, I have the TB icon showing where I am, and background of inactive marked so it's really obvious where the destination is.

j_c_hallgren wrote:

TheQwerty wrote:It would be nice (and ease my mind) if the Move and Copy menu items under Panes updated to show the pane number that is the destination.

Why? Does it really matter with only two panes? If we had more than two, I could see this, but given that the only choice is the OTHER pane so I'm sorry but I think this is not needed at all...Of course, I have the TB icon showing where I am, and background of inactive marked so it's really obvious where the destination is.

Just to ease my mind. It should be abundantly clear, but I still get a bit nervous every time I click the menu item and have to double check. So if it were a bit less ambiguous it would be good.

I think part of the problem for me is I have become very accustomed to using the background color to signify list mode and branch boxing, so the inactive pane color has been easy for me to overlook.

EDIT: The other part of my problem is I'm usually coming back to XY just to perform this copy, so the last state isn't always fresh in my mind when I activate the window.

TheQwerty wrote: so the inactive pane color has been easy for me to overlook.

Maybe you just need a different inactive pane color in that case? Like shocking pink...

j_c_hallgren wrote:

TheQwerty wrote: so the inactive pane color has been easy for me to overlook.

Maybe you just need a different inactive pane color in that case? Like shocking pink...

Possibly, I've been trying to experiment with it a bit. I'm just afraid of what my coworkers will think!

TheQwerty wrote:

j_c_hallgren wrote:

TheQwerty wrote: so the inactive pane color has been easy for me to overlook.

Maybe you just need a different inactive pane color in that case? Like shocking pink...

Possibly, I've been trying to experiment with it a bit. I'm just afraid of what my coworkers will think!

Given that a "Swap Panes" command is a future possibility (if only a small one), "Move to Pane 1" would be rather confusing since Pane 1 could be the left or the right one... I really think "Other" is perfect in this context. You really should try the pink...

admin wrote:Given that a "Swap Panes" command is a future possibility (if only a small one), "Move to Pane 1" would be rather confusing since Pane 1 could be the left or the right one... I really think "Other" is perfect in this context. You really should try the pink...

Even with a "Swap Panes" command I do believe it would be unwise to ever refer to the right/bottom pane as number 1, and the other as 2. As long as we have only two panes the left/top should be 1 and the right/bottom should be 2. From the user's perspective Swap Panes should only swap the content of the panes.

At which point "Pane 1" and "Pane 2" are much better labels than "Other" as they aren't ambiguous at all. It's a small thing but it adds a nice polish.

TheQwerty wrote:

admin wrote:Given that a "Swap Panes" command is a future possibility (if only a small one), "Move to Pane 1" would be rather confusing since Pane 1 could be the left or the right one... I really think "Other" is perfect in this context. You really should try the pink...

Even with a "Swap Panes" command I do believe it would be unwise to ever refer to the right/bottom pane as number 1, and the other as 2. As long as we have only two panes the left/top should be 1 and the right/bottom should be 2. From the user's perspective Swap Panes should only swap the content of the panes.

At which point "Pane 1" and "Pane 2" are much better labels than "Other" as they aren't ambiguous at all. It's a small thing but it adds a nice polish.

Hmm, but these command aren't meant for the mouse/eye anyway. They are just there for the newbie to see they exist and learn the shortcuts. Then the mousy man will drag'n'drop, and the key man will press the right keys.
And, the commands also work in SP mode, where the other pane is the hidden pane. Number would be just confusing here.

admin wrote:Hmm, but these command aren't meant for the mouse/eye anyway. They are just there for the newbie to see they exist and learn the shortcuts. Then the mousy man will drag'n'drop, and the key man will press the right keys.

You're the one who included them on the menu!

admin wrote:And, the commands also work in SP mode, where the other pane is the hidden pane. Number would be just confusing here.

It should be trivial to determine if that's the case and use "Hidden" or "Other" then.

TheQwerty wrote:

admin wrote:Hmm, but these command aren't meant for the mouse/eye anyway. They are just there for the newbie to see they exist and learn the shortcuts. Then the mousy man will drag'n'drop, and the key man will press the right keys.

You're the one who included them on the menu!

admin wrote:And, the commands also work in SP mode, where the other pane is the hidden pane. Number would be just confusing here.

It should be trivial to determine if that's the case and use "Hidden" or "Other" then.

Give it up, I dig "Other".

admin wrote:Give it up, I dig "Other".

BTW, x2 uses "opposite"...

admin wrote:Give it up, I dig "Other".

Ugh.. you would!

Seems to me this thread has been somewhat hijacked into a bit of a cul-de-sac debate on a minor terminology issue.

Also, there was a previous thread with some dual-pane wishes - why not continue that one as 'the main one'? (Or create a sticky, moderated thread where admin zaps anything quarrelsome / irrelevant.)

Dual pane is a fantastic enhancement for XY but the initial release is clearly missing some desirable features which are worth capturing. That's not a criticism of the initial release - you have to start somewhere, and what's there already adds value and is robust. The core additional DP requirements (for me) have already come up in the previous thread and at the start of the current one.

Directionally I think DP needs to be integrated more into the way XY works in SP mode. So, for example, if you can drag tabs in an SP view you should be able to drag tabs between panes etc.. Integration functionality between panes is just drag and drop files/folders in the initial release - but obviously there's loads of opportunity for getting value from DP and it must be hard to prioritise.

I would urge that DP, now its here, gets its potential fully exploited rather than moving development on to the next 'new' idea.

Pete