morphosambient-public

[ambient-public] Suggestions/Questions

[Nicolas R. <nic...@fr...>]

Hi,


First of all I wanted to congrat the whole ambient team: a lot of improvements have been made to this desktop. It's now a lot more usable than any workbench clone (besides DOpus) !

And now here are some suggestions based on the Ambient version included in MorphOS2 (some stuff may have already changed, but I'm not aware...)

1. Appicons
 --

A special panel that would hold all appicons, or an option to include appicons on a panel (maybe a new "appicon" object that would do that ?)


2. Internal Ambient music player
--

- Why does the player exits after having played a file ? What if I want to play again ?
- Add a little playlist support, so when clicking on a file we may add it to the queue, or replace it
- Add next/prev buttons

I know it isn't meant to replace an audio player. But adding these two options would make it a lot more usefull


3. Inline rename
--

Seems like it isn't possible in lister mode: should work here as well


3. different views
--

Simplify a lot the views... We have: lister/icons, then in each mode, we have icons, show all, thumbnails...

That's 3x2 = 6 combinations: that's way too complex...

I think we should get rid of the show all stuff: this was usefull when we were using floppy disks, but now we should show all files by default.

This way we would have lister/icons/thumnails mode.


4. Desktop
--

Is there a way to align icons on a grid ? Thought it was present in earlier versions but couldn't find it in this version. Volume icons are aligned but not shortcuts dropped on the desktop...


5. Listview
--

Why isn't lasso selection available in this mode ?


6. DOpus stuff :)
--

Double-click anywhere in an ambient window = goto parent directory :)
FTP :)
Dual Listers ? :)

I think that's it.. for now :)


Amicalement,
Nicolas RAMZ.
--
               -===> WARP-Design <===- 
Création de Sites Web et Logiciels pour tous.
-====   http://nogfx.free.fr/warpdesign   ====-   

Re: [ambient-public] Suggestions/Questions

[Christian R. <to...@bi...>]

Hello Nicolas

On 25.08.08, you wrote:

> First of all I wanted to congrat the whole ambient team: a lot of
> improvements have been made to this desktop. It's now a lot more usable
> than any workbench clone (besides DOpus) !

> And now here are some suggestions based on the Ambient version included in
> MorphOS2 (some stuff may have already changed, but I'm not aware...)

> 3. Inline rename
> --

> Seems like it isn't possible in lister mode: should work here as well

It is, maybe you disabled it in the settings like me.


> 3. different views
> --

> Simplify a lot the views... We have: lister/icons, then in each mode, we
> have icons, show all, thumbnails...

> That's 3x2 = 6 combinations: that's way too complex...

That's non entirely true.

There are 2 kind of views:  Lister and Icon
There are 2 flags for both views: Thumbnails and Show All

(don't get confused by the old - and probably soon going away - Cycles in 
the ambient view. Check how it's solved in the context menu or in the
viewmode switcher button to get the idea.)


> I think we should get rid of the show all stuff: this was usefull when we
> were using floppy disks, but now we should show all files by default.

I don't think so. 'Show All' concept must stay. Probably some forced default
for Windows users who don't know it differently could be added. But afaik
that's there already (see Lister settings).


> This way we would have lister/icons/thumnails mode.

That won't work, see above. 'Thumbnails' is not a mode but a flag.




> 4. Desktop
> --

> Is there a way to align icons on a grid ? Thought it was present in
> earlier versions but couldn't find it in this version. Volume icons are
> aligned but not shortcuts dropped on the desktop...

There are aligned. Try to drag'n'drop a shortuct slightly overlapping to 
another one and it will drop to an aligned position. Don't forget to 
snapshot it if you have autosnapshot disabled in the preferences.



> 5. Listview
> --

> Why isn't lasso selection available in this mode ?

It won't work by design... and honestly it doesn't make much sense in
list mode either.



> 6. DOpus stuff :)
> --

> Double-click anywhere in an ambient window = goto parent directory :)
> Dual Listers ? :)

Ambient is not supposed to become a DOpus clone. If you want DOpus
use DOpus. See it like this: Ambient is in the middle between Workbench 
and DOpus but far more advanced than both of them. 

And btw, there are enough broken DOpus concepts in Ambient already. :\


> FTP :)

Already on the Todo list AFAIK.


regards,
-- 
Christian Rosentreter

MorphOS 2.0 ~ http://www.morphos-team.net/

you notice things if you pay attention.

Re: [ambient-public] Suggestions/Questions

[<leo...@fr...>]

Selon Christian Rosentreter <to...@bi...>:

>
> Hello Nicolas
>
> On 25.08.08, you wrote:
>
> > First of all I wanted to congrat the whole ambient team: a lot of
> > improvements have been made to this desktop. It's now a lot more usable
> > than any workbench clone (besides DOpus) !
>
> > And now here are some suggestions based on the Ambient version included in
> > MorphOS2 (some stuff may have already changed, but I'm not aware...)
>
> > 3. Inline rename
> > --
>
> > Seems like it isn't possible in lister mode: should work here as well
>
> It is, maybe you disabled it in the settings like me.
>
>
> > 3. different views
> > --
>
> > Simplify a lot the views... We have: lister/icons, then in each mode, we
> > have icons, show all, thumbnails...
>
> > That's 3x2 = 6 combinations: that's way too complex...
>
> That's non entirely true.
>
> There are 2 kind of views:  Lister and Icon
> There are 2 flags for both views: Thumbnails and Show All
>
> (don't get confused by the old - and probably soon going away - Cycles in
> the ambient view. Check how it's solved in the context menu or in the
> viewmode switcher button to get the idea.)
>
>
> > I think we should get rid of the show all stuff: this was usefull when we
> > were using floppy disks, but now we should show all files by default.
>
> I don't think so. 'Show All' concept must stay. Probably some forced default
> for Windows users who don't know it differently could be added. But afaik
> that's there already (see Lister settings).
Why should it stay ?

Seems like it's here for the listers.. But I'd like to see all files by default
in any mode (including icons)...

>
> > 4. Desktop
> > --
>
> > Is there a way to align icons on a grid ? Thought it was present in
> > earlier versions but couldn't find it in this version. Volume icons are
> > aligned but not shortcuts dropped on the desktop...
>
> There are aligned. Try to drag'n'drop a shortuct slightly overlapping to
> another one and it will drop to an aligned position. Don't forget to
> snapshot it if you have autosnapshot disabled in the preferences.
Indeed. But grid is smaller than I expected. So in fact when I moved it, it was
aligned using a nearer line... My mistake.

> > Double-click anywhere in an ambient window = goto parent directory :)
> > Dual Listers ? :)
>
> Ambient is not supposed to become a DOpus clone. If you want DOpus
> use DOpus. See it like this: Ambient is in the middle between Workbench
> and DOpus but far more advanced than both of them.
>
> And btw, there are enough broken DOpus concepts in Ambient already. :\
>
I'm not asking for a DOpus clone, but for three usefull features found in (not
only) DOpus...

Regards

Re: [ambient-public] Suggestions/Questions

[Christian R. <to...@bi...>]

Hello leo...@fr...

On 25.08.08, you wrote:

>> I don't think so. 'Show All' concept must stay. Probably some forced
>> default
>> for Windows users who don't know it differently could be added. But
>> afaik
>> that's there already (see Lister settings).
> Why should it stay ?

> Seems like it's here for the listers.. But I'd like to see all files by
> default in any mode (including icons)...

Like I said an option should be doable. But it must default to off.



>>> Double-click anywhere in an ambient window = goto parent directory :)
>>> Dual Listers ? :)
>> 
>> Ambient is not supposed to become a DOpus clone. If you want DOpus
>> use DOpus. See it like this: Ambient is in the middle between Workbench
>> and DOpus but far more advanced than both of them.
>> 
>> And btw, there are enough broken DOpus concepts in Ambient already. :\
>> 
> I'm not asking for a DOpus clone, but for three usefull features found in
> (not only) DOpus...

It's about mixing up usage pattern and concepts. A desktop should have one
clear usage pattern when it comes to file operations. There is enough mess
and options there already to please almost everyone. Far too much IMHO.
Adding even more will just clutter the stuff to a completly unusable mess
(not only usability and configuration wise, but also from a source code
management point of view).

Wasn't there just someone asking for having less complicated solutions? :)


regards,
-- 
Christian Rosentreter

MorphOS 2.0 ~ http://www.morphos-team.net/

one's fate is very like the up-and-down tea-leaves in a glass.