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[darichman]

Other discussion threads:
   Discussion: Interface, Views & Tagging (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=45758.0)
   Discussion: Photo Handling (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=45759.0)
   Discussion: Classical Music (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=45824.0)

Just throwing some ideas around and wanted to put them all in one place...

My favourite changes recently have by far been nested panes, grouping and stacks. While stacks are quite popular in the hardcore photo programs (version edits etc) I honestly don't think I've seen nested panes or grouping in any other media software. J River has done some really great work with these!

Nested panes has totally changed the way I've tagged my images. While I used to have multiple fields for many things, I've been able to consolidate the information into one or two fields. It's also a nice way to navigate your files once it's set up!

Grouping is really nice, but definitely needs some work as far as functionality goes... While I haven't fiddled round with stacks yet, I certainly will be... there's a lot of potential here for cleaning up views where there are lots of redundant images.

What do you like about about MC's current interface? And what do you think needs changing/work/upgrading?
I'll post some of my ideas, more as a launchpad for discussion than as a request

[darichman]

VIEW SCHEMES
Have different pane setups / split views in different view schemes
   - At the moment, if I change a view scheme to “Panes on Left”, it is applied to all view schemes
   - It would be nice if this was done on an individual basis for view schemes

More Grouping Functionality
   - We should be able to interact with the group header in some way!
   - Double click: Play files under that group
   - Single click: Select all files in that group
   - Right Click: Bring up a menu – expand collapse groups, sort groups by...
   - Speaking of which... ability to sort groups!

Stacks
I must admit, I haven’t played around with stacks that much yet...
Watch this space!

THE TREE
Customisation of Tree Root items
   - Personally, I would like more control over the tree. We all use MC for different reasons and I often find myself wanting things that aren’t there or wishing some things weren’t there...
   - It would be good to change the order of what appears in the tree. This could either be done from the tree itself (drag and drop or a separate menu) or from within the options menu.
   - I use custom tree root items extensively (see screen below)...
   - I would like to be able to remove the standard “audio” , “video” and “image” tiles... current workarounds are discussed here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=44525.0
   - I think customisability in this area is really important, as the standard categories used traditionally simply don’t apply anymore. To me, music videos should appear under music, for example. Others might disagree, which is why we need configurability
   - In its ultimate evolution, I can see us being able to specify custom icons for tree items and whether they display as tiles or text or both

Allow tree root items in theatre view
   - As mentioned above, a lot of us don’t use the standard “audio” , “video” and “image” tiles, and it is only these which show up in theatre view. Consequently, I don’t use theatre view nearly as much as I should...
   - For custom view schemes, I can select “show in theatre view” in the edit view scheme menu, but it isn’t honoured... shame. Theatre View would be awesome if I could use some of these schemes!

[darichman]

NESTED PANES
Checkboxes in Tagging Mode
   - Say I set up a field showing in a nested pane in the form   Level A\Level B\Level C
   - There is no way to tag a file as belonging to Level A\Level B using the pane checkboxes in tagging mode, as there is no checkbox next to  Level A\Level B   (see image)
   - It would be great if checkboxes were shown all the way down, so we could tag files at any level in the pane. Sometimes we don’t know the value of the more specific level, or it doesn’t apply


Click to enlarge.

Using Nested Panes to Rename Files
    - The “less specific to more specific” nature of nested panes makes them perfect for creating directory structures
    -  Once we decide to use a field as a nested field, at the moment we can no longer use it in rename expressions, as MC turns the “\” into  a “_”
    - Would love for MC use the “\” in a field as a directory mark, not an illegal character

If a file is tagged as belonging to a more subordinate level than current level, remove entry for previous level
    - Mentioned here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=43975.msg307311#msg307311
    - This is what really alienated me from nested panes to begin with. Using the above example, I have a nested pane in the form   Level A\Level B\Level C
    - If I have a file tagged at  Level A\Level B   and use the panes to tick  Level A\Level B\Level C   MC should know to remove the entry for Level A\Level B   as it’s no longer needed (we know the more specific level)
   - If this doesn’t happen, your field becomes really messy... for lots of files, I had entries at levels A and B and C and this confused the hell out of me for ages. It seems more intuitive to me to remove upper levels if we know the lower ones, as once the lower one’s filled out, the file will naturally show if you click on the upper levels anyway... hard to explain, but if you play around a bit it makes a lot of sense.

Referring to a particular level in a nested field
   - It would be good to be able to refer to a particular level in a nested field for use in expressions and rename functions.
   - For example, how can I output [Level B] in an expression? Maybe something like =[Field]!2 or similar to refer to the second level

“This Folder”
   - Sorry, but still not a big fan of how “This Folder” looks in the pane.
   - I would like something that visually separates it from an actual entry... even “(This Folder)” would be better...

[darichman]

EXPRESSIONS & RENAMING
Ability to Save Expressions
   - While it’s nice that MC remembers expressions used recently, the execution of this is a bit clumsy
       - If I get an expression wrong, it stays in the list...
       - There is no way to tell which expression is which
       - It looks really messy when you have a big long expression
   - It would be great if MC would allow us to save expressions (with a name) eg: “Rename Popular Music” or “Rename Classical Music”... MC could then allow us to pick these by name from anywhere we can enter expressions
   - Also, ability to save expressions along with a library backup would be fantastic

New Expressions
Some expressions I’d like to see:
   - Calculations:  we might not see this unless MC moves to a relational database
   - Find and Replace: I’d like to be able to perform a “Find and Replace” in view scheme expressions (eg Find & Replace “ & “ with “;”)

Rename File From Properties Window
   - Please let us resize the window... for long directory structures, the preview window isn’t much use
   - Have a “clear” option next to the Rule frame for those long expressions