Toolbar in 1.2.2

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sasha
Posts: 168
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2016 4:59 pm

Toolbar in 1.2.2

Post by sasha » Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:21 pm

I like the new Toolbar in 1.2.2, but I think there's room for optimization.

To me, the Toolbar's main task is to display information on long-lasting file operations. This works nicely with one operation, like copying one item.

Issue 1:
When you select multiple items and then copy them, the Toolbar combines the information into "Copying ... items to..." and displays one big progress bar. This works, but I would also like to see some more information about all enqueued items. What is currently copying, what is already finished?

Issue 2:
When you copy multiple items individually (move cursor, press F5), then NC creates individual entries, nice! But if you want to see information about the items, you have to click (!) on those little up/down buttons to navigate between the entries. This is cumbersome, you don't see the complete list and you don't see what's already done.
nc.png
nc.png (152.32 KiB) Viewed 10706 times
A nice design pattern that I've seen in some apps handles this issue like this:
- If multiple items are selected, e.g. for copying, show individual progress entries
- In the destination-panel, show indicators (e.g. progress bars) for incomplete entries
- Have a visualization for the complete queue (e.g. scrollable list) accessible by keyboard shortcut

Here's how it's done in ForkLift as an example:
fl_1.png
fl_1.png (72.75 KiB) Viewed 10706 times
fl_2.png
fl_2.png (62.72 KiB) Viewed 10706 times
(Cosmetic) Issue 3:
The progress bar in the Dock icon is currently almost unreadable. I've seen this design element in other apps, but it never worked for me. Maybe try a nice red badge with a percentage on the icon?

What do you think?

sasha
Posts: 168
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2016 4:59 pm

Re: Toolbar in 1.2.2

Post by sasha » Tue Aug 08, 2017 9:12 am

...here's an example for the issue with the Dock icon progress bar. Who can tell how far the process is? :)
nc_bar.png
nc_bar.png (7.45 KiB) Viewed 10699 times

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mike
Posts: 1060
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2015 5:35 am
Location: Exeter, UK

Re: Toolbar in 1.2.2

Post by mike » Fri Aug 11, 2017 11:49 am

Sasha, thanks for the thoughtful feedback!
sasha wrote:
Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:21 pm
Issue 1:
When you select multiple items and then copy them, the Toolbar combines the information into "Copying ... items to..." and displays one big progress bar. This works, but I would also like to see some more information about all enqueued items. What is currently copying, what is already finished?
I agree, that's a severe issue.
Speaking of Finder's/Forklift's approach to visualization of individual items' progress - that looks fancy, but honestly I can't see a way to implement such visualization without some horrible architectural/design hacks. Also that raises a myriad of possible edge-case scenarios, like copying a folder to some existing one or when two separate copy operations which have a same destination. So I doubt very much that this approach might be used in NC.
sasha wrote:
Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:21 pm
Issue 2:
When you copy multiple items individually (move cursor, press F5), then NC creates individual entries, nice! But if you want to see information about the items, you have to click (!) on those little up/down buttons to navigate between the entries. This is cumbersome, you don't see the complete list and you don't see what's already done.
Agree, two points here:
- I'll add hotkeys to control that part of the toolbar (stop, pause/resume, scroll up, scroll down) without leaving a keyboard.
- Later a separate windows "state" will be added, which will show states of ongoing and finished file operations.
This will have all of functionality that Forklift's popover has, but it will use a whole window.
sasha wrote:
Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:21 pm
(Cosmetic) Issue 3:
The progress bar in the Dock icon is currently almost unreadable. I've seen this design element in other apps, but it never worked for me. Maybe try a nice red badge with a percentage on the icon?
I've tried to make the progress bar more readable:
Screen Shot 2017-08-11 at 18.19.17.png
Screen Shot 2017-08-11 at 18.19.17.png (20.96 KiB) Viewed 10678 times
A red badge is an overkill IMHO :)

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