My GUI requests and feedback on XnView MP

[budz45]

hi,

some GUI feedback mixed with likely bugs, please read:

1. I think there should be a tab colour strip on the active tab being used like the way Notepad++ has, look here to see what I added; http://i46.tinypic.com/speq86.png - after the first release of mp, you could later make the tab strip colour configurable

2. When I have two tabs open and I drag-slide the tab to the right there is some unsightly behaviour that can be fixed; http://i50.tinypic.com/29m946v.png - Instead I think the tab should just be locked from dragging at the very end right of the tab bar at whichever window size just as it is on the left side

3. You could eventually make the tabs drag n drop capable which could when dropped make a copy of a file in which particular folder directory, just an idea.

4. I think 'Settings' could be better renamed to "Preferences" in the final; http://i49.tinypic.com/5w0493.png but this is not a big issue


5. I think the first tab should have some spacing from the far left corner and also from the upper so that tabs are better distinguished; http://i48.tinypic.com/2ekpr2s.png , this is an example of tabs on Yahoo news; http://i46.tinypic.com/6svptj.png can you see the better spacing?


6. Please attempt to add a bottom thin borderline as in this picture; http://i53.tinypic.com/26449cp.png

7. I like the fullscreen controller. I can say that it maybe still lacking more controls like my two most desired of 'slideshow speed' and 'slideshow effects'. What you can also easily add is some hover tooltip info which would display the names of each control; http://i47.tinypic.com/1zf0v2a.png

8. There SHOULD be options in the settings to set a 'maximum tab width' so tabs don't become too wide; http://i48.tinypic.com/fllcnn.png and by default the max tab width should the same length as of the current first tab now

9. In my opinion the default background colour of the viewer should be at a neutral colour and not black, like in the default Vista image viewer; http://i48.tinypic.com/nxs2ds.png It is fine by me if clear intentions want to keep it black, but it's just my feedback on taste

[xnview]

1. I think there should be a tab colour strip on the active tab being used like the way Notepad++ has, look here to see what I added; http://i46.tinypic.com/speq86.png - after the first release of mp, you could later make the tab strip colour configurable

But there is already a colour line on active tab...

2. When I have two tabs open and I drag-slide the tab to the right there is some unsightly behaviour that can be fixed; http://i50.tinypic.com/29m946v.png - Instead I think the tab should just be locked from dragging at the very end right of the tab bar at whichever window size just as it is on the left side

It's a bug in QT

4. I think 'Settings' could be better renamed to "Preferences" in the final; http://i49.tinypic.com/5w0493.png but this is not a big issue

I don't know. 'Settings' or 'Preferences'???

5. I think the first tab should have some spacing from the far left corner and also from the upper so that tabs are better distinguished; http://i48.tinypic.com/2ekpr2s.png , this is an example of tabs on Yahoo news; http://i46.tinypic.com/6svptj.png can you see the better spacing?

I don't want to remake the Tab widget...

6. Please attempt to add a bottom thin borderline as in this picture; http://i47.tinypic.com/2elv59w.png

Ok

7. I like the fullscreen controller. I can say that it maybe still lacking more controls like my two most desired of 'slideshow speed' and 'slideshow effects'. What you can also easily add is some hover tooltip info which would display the names of each control; http://i47.tinypic.com/1zf0v2a.png

Right

8. There SHOULD be options in the settings to set a 'maximum tab width' so tabs don't become too wide; http://i48.tinypic.com/fllcnn.png and by default the max tab width should the same length as of the current first tab now

Yes like 1.97

9. In my opinion the default background colour of the viewer should be at a neutral colour and not black, like in the default Vista image viewer; http://i48.tinypic.com/nxs2ds.png It is fine by me if clear intentions want to keep it black, but it's just my feedback on taste

What other users think?

[thibaud]

9. In my opinion the default background colour of the viewer should be at a neutral colour and not black, like in the default Vista image viewer; http://i48.tinypic.com/nxs2ds.png It is fine by me if clear intentions want to keep it black, but it's just my feedback on taste

What other users think?

As long as it's user configurable i'd say it's not a big deal. I'm ok for a default neutral grey shade.
Be careful, your screenshot is NOT showing a neutral color. (it has a blue tint - microsoft is probably the last company to get inspiration from when it comes to imaging).
what I really miss, is a configurable background color for the browser. would it be possible to add that Pierre ?

[budz45]

Thank you for responses

But there is already a colour line on active tab...

I can't see a particular colour line http://i47.tinypic.com/14u9esi.png but I can see that the active tab is white and the others aren't which is good. It would still be nice if you could eventually make it like Notepad++ little colour line on the active tab, like this IMO; http://i48.tinypic.com/2ljkmlt.png

It's a bug in QT

OK, I didn't know

I don't know. 'Settings' or 'Preferences'???

OK I understand let the other users decide, but I'm thinking in English 'Preferences' sounds more professional, but it doesn't matter a lot really.

5. I think the first tab should have some spacing from the far left corner and also from the upper so that tabs are better distinguished; http://i48.tinypic.com/2ekpr2s.png , this is an example of tabs on Yahoo news; http://i46.tinypic.com/6svptj.png can you see the better spacing?

I don't want to remake the Tab widget...

Sounds like it took you a lot of time, ok but it's just that first tab, I'm using a skin on Opera called 'winvista_le_classic' and I adore the way the skin maker made the shape of the tabs http://i45.tinypic.com/2441xqd.png , ok this could wait at your decision

6. Please attempt to add a bottom thin borderline as in this picture; http://i47.tinypic.com/2elv59w.png

Ok

Thank you for agreeing on this ever so easy one

7. I like the fullscreen controller. I can say that it maybe still lacking more controls like my two most desired of 'slideshow speed' and 'slideshow effects'. What you can also easily add is some hover tooltip info which would display the names of each control; http://i47.tinypic.com/1zf0v2a.png

Right

Glad you agree on the Tooltip info in fullscreen and the wants of those two more buttons "speed" and "effects", in future you could add many flashy effects with Open GL etc but I won't request until another time

9. In my opinion the default background colour of the viewer should be at a neutral colour and not black, like in the default Vista image viewer; http://i48.tinypic.com/nxs2ds.png It is fine by me if clear intentions want to keep it black, but it's just my feedback on taste

What other users think?

It was my own opinion. Goes in line with general GUI colour. But yes it does matter what other users (consensus) think should the default background colour. If you keep the colour 'black' then I will still live

9. In my opinion the default background colour of the viewer should be at a neutral colour and not black, like in the default Vista image viewer; http://i48.tinypic.com/nxs2ds.png It is fine by me if clear intentions want to keep it black, but it's just my feedback on taste

What other users think?

As long as it's user configurable i'd say it's not a big deal. I'm ok for a default neutral grey shade.
Be careful, your screenshot is NOT showing a neutral color. (it has a blue tint - microsoft is probably the last company to get inspiration from when it comes to imaging).
what I really miss, is a configurable background color for the browser. would it be possible to add that Pierre ?

yes Microsoft is least admirable in that department. Thank you for the agreement on some neutral colour.

I agree on an eventual configurable background colour for the browser also.

8. There SHOULD be options in the settings to set a 'maximum tab width' so tabs don't become too wide; http://i48.tinypic.com/fllcnn.png and by default the max tab width should the same length as of the current first tab now

Yes like 1.97

Yes yes sir. And you could set a default max tab width too.

In the Firefox addon I use a great tab extension, you might already know, called Tab Mix Plus. This is what you can add eventually to XnView MP:

very simple min & max tab width and tab-to-title fit


And here is another tab feature request you would like Multi-Row tabs that is also in Tab Mix Plus I have enabled. You could add this to XnView MP (if it don't involve rewirte of tab widget for you) and settings for the max amount of rows. Multi-Row could be (perhaps) enabled by default


You could add the Multi-Row option as a quick-access here in the menu or just put in the general Settings


Currently when I open lot's of tabs in XnView MP I have to use the little buttons; http://i47.tinypic.com/8wdwt4.png which is ok but less visually productive, please consider Multi-Row also

[xnview]

As long as it's user configurable i'd say it's not a big deal. I'm ok for a default neutral grey shade.
Be careful, your screenshot is NOT showing a neutral color. (it has a blue tint - microsoft is probably the last company to get inspiration from when it comes to imaging).

Which color will be the best?

what I really miss, is a configurable background color for the browser. would it be possible to add that Pierre ?

You means a different setting for background color of View AND Preview?

[xnview]

But there is already a colour line on active tab...

I can't see a particular colour line http://i47.tinypic.com/14u9esi.png but I can see that the active tab is white and the others aren't which is good. It would still be nice if you could eventually make it like Notepad++ little colour line on the active tab, like this IMO; http://i48.tinypic.com/2ljkmlt.png

Strange, on Xp i have it. Perhaps a problem in QT

8. There SHOULD be options in the settings to set a 'maximum tab width' so tabs don't become too wide; http://i48.tinypic.com/fllcnn.png and by default the max tab width should the same length as of the current first tab now

Yes like 1.97

Yes yes sir. And you could set a default max tab width too.

very simple min & max tab width and tab-to-title fit

Ok

And here is another tab feature request you would like Multi-Row tabs that is also in Tab Mix Plus I have enabled. You could add this to XnView MP (if it don't involve rewirte of tab widget for you) and settings for the max amount of rows. Multi-Row could be (perhaps) enabled by default

Multi-row is not yet possible with Qt...

[budz45]

But there is already a colour line on active tab...

I can't see a particular colour line http://i47.tinypic.com/14u9esi.png but I can see that the active tab is white and the others aren't which is good. It would still be nice if you could eventually make it like Notepad++ little colour line on the active tab, like this IMO; http://i48.tinypic.com/2ljkmlt.png

Strange, on Xp i have it. Perhaps a problem in QT

Could you post a screenshot for me from your Win XP box showing me? I'm on Vista at the moment and unable to switch

And here is another tab feature request you would like Multi-Row tabs that is also in Tab Mix Plus I have enabled. You could add this to XnView MP (if it don't involve rewirte of tab widget for you) and settings for the max amount of rows. Multi-Row could be (perhaps) enabled by default

Multi-row is not yet possible with Qt...

2. When I have two tabs open and I drag-slide the tab to the right there is some unsightly behaviour that can be fixed; http://i50.tinypic.com/29m946v.png - Instead I think the tab should just be locked from dragging at the very end right of the tab bar at whichever window size just as it is on the left side

It's a bug in QT

OK both are limitations in the QT interface... It's a shame, best thing I could do is make a request to QT. Thanks Pierre.

As long as it's user configurable i'd say it's not a big deal. I'm ok for a default neutral grey shade.
Be careful, your screenshot is NOT showing a neutral color. (it has a blue tint - microsoft is probably the last company to get inspiration from when it comes to imaging).

Which color will be the best?

Edited 20th Dec, 2009

[thibaud]

You means a different setting for background color of View AND Preview?

YES Please.

[xnview]

Could you post a screenshot for me from your Win XP box showing me? I'm on Vista at the moment and unable to switch

[budz45]

sorry for the late reply Pierre,

Ok I was on XP recently and tested and saw that it is there, but sadly not the orange tab highlighter on Vista
http://i46.tinypic.com/mvm7mo.png
Either this may be another dreaded QT bug or somehing that you can take a look at. It's a small enhancement that I would like to enjoy visually on Vista/7 too

OK here is another idea (idea over request):

How about a option to have Google Chrome style shaped tabs in XnView MP? It could be an option to add that can be enabled/disabled

XnView MP tabs already have the drag and slide animation and for Chrome style tabs they could also incorporate the colour look, I can draw a mock-up later

[llamaX]

Just a quick note - the lack of the orange strip under Vista is a feature, not a bug. See the Qt Widget Gallery for examples.

[budz45]

Just a quick note - the lack of the orange strip under Vista is a feature, not a bug. See the Qt Widget Gallery for examples.

thanks for this info

[Danny]

8. There SHOULD be options in the settings to set a 'maximum tab width' so tabs don't become too wide; http://i48.tinypic.com/fllcnn.png and by default the max tab width should the same length as of the current first tab now

Why? If there's enough space (as in: not many tabs open), why not make use of it? Truncating the title just to save space that isn't being used yet doesn't make sense to me.

Oh, and a neutral gray to me would have an RGB value of 128.

[budz45]

8. There SHOULD be options in the settings to set a 'maximum tab width' so tabs don't become too wide; http://i48.tinypic.com/fllcnn.png and by default the max tab width should the same length as of the current first tab now

Why? If there's enough space (as in: not many tabs open), why not make use of it? Truncating the title just to save space that isn't being used yet doesn't make sense to me.

Oh, and a neutral gray to me would have an RGB value of 128.

Thanks for replying and taking interest in the topic.

Well look at browser tabs like Opera, Firefox etc and the way they appropriately truncate title length because you know many sites out there like to go OTT with long webpage descriptions. Certainly I know XnView MP is not a web browser but since it's still an MDI tabbed interface with file name reading then truncation should be taken into practice. I'm sorry to sound persistent, but look at this pic of my Opera skinned and tell me would you like Xnview MP to have overbloated tab lengths like this (click on pic):

And 128,128,128 is NOT a neutral grey at all, it's a dark grey, look:
http://www.pixhost.org/show/390/1159563 ... 011520.png

Sorry about that earlier post showing the wrong rgb codes, I now just editted that post above. This is the correct neutral grey I mean at 244,244,244 :


I removed the pic I posted in the earlier post above showing rgb 0,0,241 I admit that was not correct and was posted in quick haste.

A neutral grey, as another poster agreed, on this topic, would look best pleasant and more multi-OS for XnView MP.

[JohnFredC]

I think all grays where the 3 rgb values are equal are considered neutral. They have no chroma content, only luminosity.

Now if you are looking for "gray card" neutral, that's different.

Also, I don't necessarily agree about the "best" gray, either. I prefer darker.