UI improvements ideas

[tzd]

Hello there, lost my old account on the forum (was not really that active anyway) so created a new login.


Hope I don't impose by suggesting some slightly overdue revision of the TC's UI

9beta is a step forward but here's more suggestions:

1. there's no real need in menu, not most of the time anyway. I'd advocate a Firefox approach to this problem -- they have menu (it is sometimes useful) but normally it is hidden. In firefox, one can show menu bar by pressing Alt.

2. Touchfriendly UI -- on a windows tablet is it very tricky to use some UI elements. Besides we can make UI prettier

2a. Drive selector button should be wider to properly register touches.

2b. Drive selector list should be wider, taller and definitely sparser.

E.g. if I change main window font from 9 to 12 the drive selector becomes much better (as an open list, the button itself still small). Obviously changing other labels like folder title and size as well, which I would like to avoid.

TL:DR-> drive selector button double wide and drive selector font something like 12 or 13 even (e.g. lucide sans 13 regular) + vertical margins. Icons also need to be larger, some systems like e.g. Windows 2012R2 have additional data on these icons, like %% of free disc space.

3. Would be great to have an option to resize the bottom command panel, horizontal size primarily.

[MVV]

1. There is a way using Autorun plugin and TCFS2Tools module.

2. This must be optional (and disabled by default or enabled by default on tablets only).

[tzd]

1. I usually tend to avoid plugins and modules etc as let's be honest -- quite often they are not updated in time. Such problem exists even for browsers, where addons are often very popular.

I don't say it should be entirely disabled, it is OK to leave it for old school But ideal is to autohide it (and show it only on pressing tab or so).


2. Depends on the actual implementation of course. E.g. office from 2013 has a switch in ribbon between mouse and touch friendly modes.

There is plenty of real estate to the right of the drive selector, it is only filled with disc space info, and that does not take too much. Especially in smart mode (for header/footer I normally use X.X M/G mode)

[Dalai]

I've never understood why it should make sense to hide menu bars. To gain, what, 20 pixels in height? Yes, it may make sense on low-resolution displays, like the crap that's sold even today (1024x600 or 1366x768 et al), but IMO there's no need at all to hide menus on normal desktop systems with Full HD resolution, even less on 4K displays.

Regards
Dalai

[Sob]

1. Hands off my menu! ;) It's standard and *useful* part of window and should stay exactly as it is. If people think an *option* to make it hideable would be useful (for what?), then by all means, but don't inflict it on rest of us.

2. I very much hate the original idea. On the other hand, if there was a master switch for mouse/touch mode, where mouse mode would use nice, small and cosy interface, and touch mode could have 50px fonts and controls with 100px padding for what I care, then you have my full support. Even make touch mode default if you want, I'll happily flip the switch back if it allows me to escape this plague completely.

[Emalis.Reckah]

IIRC there was once a tip how to hide the menu (by using an near empty menu-file) but I cant find it

[MVV]

1. I usually tend to avoid plugins and modules etc as let's be honest -- quite often they are not updated in time. Such problem exists even for browsers, where addons are often very popular.

I don't say it should be entirely disabled, it is OK to leave it for old school But ideal is to autohide it (and show it only on pressing tab or so).

Well, you can search the board for similar suggestions, wait for some years... or hide menu today, OK, it's your choice.