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Re: Classic Mode

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:00 pm
by darek
Moonrak, hi! XTreeGold -- man, I've been through this phase :) Somewhere between Norton Commander and Dos Navigator, I think :)

Anyway, I think it would be useful if you could let Mike know WHY you love the classic mode. Because if you're really after a "simple non-distracting interface" I doesn't necessary have to mean the old school way of ASCII rendering, etc. It could simply be a preset for layout that strips the UI from any unnecessary stuff. So there could be a way to achieve what you need while at the same time simplifying the code base and letting Mike be more efficient with adding new features :)

Re: Classic Mode

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:21 pm
by moonrak
darek wrote:Moonrak, hi! XTreeGold -- man, I've been through this phase :) Somewhere between Norton Commander and Dos Navigator, I think :)

Anyway, I think it would be useful if you could let Mike know WHY you love the classic mode. Because if you're really after a "simple non-distracting interface" I doesn't necessary have to mean the old school way of ASCII rendering, etc. It could simply be a preset for layout that strips the UI from any unnecessary stuff. So there could be a way to achieve what you need while at the same time simplifying the code base and letting Mike be more efficient with adding new features :)
Hi Darek,
Sometimes personal likings are not very easy to explain, as in "why do you like a woman more than other one?".
:)
This is just the way I like a file manager to look like. Maybe because I started with Xtree, then ZtreeWin and when I moved to Mac I tried to find something similar.
Then Nimble Commander showed up. Keyboard shortcuts were more like Norton Commander rather than Xtree but I can live with that.
Call me outdated, nostalgic. I don't know. I leave it up to you guys. I am already 65 and counting.
:D
moonrak

Re: Classic Mode

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 3:55 am
by mike
Hello moonrak, and welcome to the forum!

Thanks for joining the conversation and bringing your opinion, that is very important for me.
I got your point, and will try to do my best to keep both of the worlds happy.
Not sure about the level of engineering complexity of mixing this stuff, but I can't ignore some ethical aspects of this project development.

Re: Classic Mode

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 5:29 am
by darek
Moonrak, regardless of everything... 65 years, man, congratulations! You've been through the best ages of computers then, when it was all just getting started. Cheers to you!

Re: Classic Mode

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 9:08 am
by sasha
Hello everybody,

thanks Mike for bringing the subject to discussion!

Classic mode was actually the first feature I instantly liked in NC (or Files), because it's really well done. The ASCII rendering is perfect and navigation feels as snappy as FAR or mc. It offers a completely different interface, not just a blue-background-theme you find in other managers. But although I played around with it quite a bit, the modern mode is just much better suited for my work. Dareks post sums it up perfectly for me so I won't repeat anything. If throwing Classic mode over board means a better codebase for further functional improvements, I would appreciate it.

Best,
-Sasha

Re: Classic Mode

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 4:11 pm
by moonrak
Hi everyone,
As an engineer I am`(or try to be), by far, a rational guy.
Decisions are taken by looking at data and facts so, in this scenario, Classic mode is doomed.
Now, if governments would make their decisions based only on data and facts forgetting all about the people, they would be very unpopular!
:lol:
So I will leave it up to you guys. If Classic mode dies, I will take it as an opportunity for burying old habits and moving on to better ones yet to be discovered.
Same way I ditched 3 years ago my Windows PCs/laptops and moved to Macs for good.
Regards,
moonrak
P.S.: I might just be the sourthernmost user of NC in the world. I am located at -25.8350900 (latitude in decimal degrees), -66.2923500 (longitude in decimal degrees)

Re: Classic Mode

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 10:49 am
by don
I am a heavy user and the classic mode is the only mode (since NC/Volkov times).

Firstly - the integrated shell.
Secondly - the color scheme. Just can not think properly when it is not blue.

However, having said that, and being really picky, I could propose to be a guinea pig for finding a possible alternative that would work for the conservative folk like myself.

Key requirements - dark theme, shell, keyboard navigation. Speed - of second importance.

Is it something that you'd be interested?

Re: Classic Mode

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 9:09 pm
by don
I just have realised that I have not clue how to change the font of the Modern UI.
Is it possible?

Also, abandoning the classic mode would certainly imply the logo redesign - as it would no longer resembler anything the majority of the users are familiar with.

Cheers!

Re: Classic Mode

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2016 3:56 am
by mike
Hi don,
don wrote:Firstly - the integrated shell.
Isn't going anywhere, will be just the same.
don wrote:Secondly - the color scheme. Just can not think properly when it is not blue.
Surely, full colors customization, and I try to keep current coloring logic intact (built-in components' selection/highlight logic is a bit different).
don wrote:Key requirements - dark theme, shell, keyboard navigation. Speed - of second importance.
Absolutely.
don wrote:I just have realised that I have not clue how to change the font of the Modern UI.
In v1.1.5 it can't be customized for various (and quite boring) reasons.
Anyway - this doesn't matter much, since what is called Modern presentation in current versions - is more or less the same stuff as Classic presentation, and this code will be replaced too.
New UI will of course support fonts customization.
don wrote:However, having said that, and being really picky, I could propose to be a guinea pig for finding a possible alternative that would work for the conservative folk like myself.
Thanks, this will help, I hope to show some usable (perhaps barely) preview in November.

My current major concerns in emulating of "old" Classic mode is about frames and all that decoration stuff - monospaced fonts treating is easy, but drawing ASCII art like "╣", "═", "╔", etc inside a standard system components (NSTableView/NSCollectionView) seems to be nearly impossible to implement.

Re: Classic Mode

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2016 1:08 pm
by don
mike wrote: My current major concerns in emulating of "old" Classic mode is about frames and all that decoration stuff - monospaced fonts treating is easy, but drawing ASCII art like "╣", "═", "╔", etc inside a standard system components (NSTableView/NSCollectionView) seems to be nearly impossible to implement.
I believe it will be one of the points to test. My initial impression is that despite how much I am used to this, I could probably do away without them - visual sugar, mostly?