Opus 12 Feature Suggestions

Switching from Opus 9 to Opus 12.9.1 (under Windows 10) I came across a few features that might end up being useful... and to avoid thread spamming I am putting all the suggestions into one thread.

a) Remember Utility Panel heights on a per Mode basis?

  • The Find Files panel (Set UTILITY=Find,Toggle function) and the Synchronize Panel (Set UTILITY=Sync,Toggle) both use the "same" Utility Panel interface (just in different modes). Since the Sync panel uses less vertical space than the Find panel, it would be nice if Opus would remember the panel height on a per mode basis to leave as much vertical space for the dual Listers (above) as possible.

b) Copy/Move progress windows do not show total file size copied/moved?

  • The dialogue windows for Copy MOVE shows all sorts of data, but not the total file size for all the files (possibly folders?) being moved? When performing larger file backups, being able to check to total file size, IMO, would be interesting.

c) Select Icon window - directly show currently selected icon name?

  • Whenever you add an icon to a menu entry or button etc. the Select Icon window is opened. IMO, it would really help to have the name (display name+internal name) of the currently highlighted icon shown in the top part of the window. This way you can quickly search for icons with similar names.
  • You can, of course, hover over the icon names and check for the Tooltip, but directly being able to read the icon info would, IMO, be a help, and be quicker. It always takes me a while to actually find the presently highlighted icon under Windows 10 (Pro 64bit).

d) Select Icon window - "Stronger" visual separation of different icon sets?

  • I have 7 icons sets installed presently. When showing "All Icons (Default)" and "All Icons (Combined)" it could help to have the icons from different sets be separated visually in some form. E.g. a empty 10px wide column between sets. Or some form of grey vertical line. This would help understand when icons of a different icon set (other than the internal ones) are being used, IMO.

e) Prefs pages with lists missing "edit" options in Context Menu?

  • Several of the lists in the Prefs sport a row of icons letting you add / edit / delete / etc. entries... but when you check via right-mouse-click context menu some of the options available via icons are missing.
  • I found this slightly confusing because the context menu lets me very quickly read up on what editing options are available. And I would more often than not use the context menu to manipulate a list entry, rather than click and icon I was slightly uncertain about at that time.
  • The icon bar on top is nice and all, but oh so slightly cumbersome to mouse-over to understand what the icons will do. (Obviously, if you do this every day you will learn the icons and their Alt+Key shortcuts, but for me, after about 10 years, I had to look up their functions more than once.)
  • Note: I am only suggesting to update the context menus to show all possible "editing" options for the list entries. The icon bar is fine as it is as an alternate way of "editing".

Prefs pages and what entries are missing in the respective context menus:

  • Favorites and Recent -> Favorites List: Add, New Branch, Sort
  • Favorites and Recent -> Folder Aliases: Add, Edit, Delete (no context menu)
  • Favorites and Recent -> Labels: Add, Delete (no context menu)
  • Favorites and Recent -> Labels Assignments: ... (no context menu at all)
  • File Operations -> Filters: ... (no context menu at all)
  • Folders -> Folder Formats: Add (only show "Add" relevant to each section)
  • Folder Tabs -> Tab Groups: ... (no context menu at all)
  • Internet -> Flickr: ... (no context menu? could not test this)
  • Launching OpusInternet -> Explorer Replacement: ... (no context menu at all)
  • Layouts and Styles -> Layouts: ... (no context menu at all)
  • Layouts and Styles -> Styles: ... (no context menu at all)
  • Toolbars -> Icons: ... (no context menu at all)
  • Toolbars -> Scripts: ... (no context menu at all)
  • Toolbars -> Toolbar Sets: ... (no context menu at all)
  • Viewer -> Plugins: ... (no context menu at all)
  • Zip & Other Archives -> Archive and VFS Plugins: Refresh (no context menu)

f) Prefs->Display->Status Bar->Samples Button - Allow saving of custom Status Bar code?

  • IMO, it would really be useful to be able to save your own Status Bar samples, i.e. save your own code for the single and dual Listers. This would let you load other samples for quick tests, while letting you return to your own code if so desired.
  • Workaround: Well, you can open a programming editor and copy/paste your own code, and manually manage the code versions. That is not quite as elegant though.

g) Prefs->Display->Status Bar page - Codes drop-down sorting?

  • In the Codes drop-down button the entries are not alphabetically sorted, i.e. by description column or code column.
  • When trying to look up an existing file display definition in code, sorting the Code drop-down list alphabetically, but by the actual codes would help spot the code more quickly, IMO.

h) Prefs->Display->Status Bar page - Code Tooltips?

  • Ideally, when you hover over the code samples in the definition text views, a Tooltip would explain the command, to be able to quickly understand what is going on. Or mark e.g. {bg by then hitting F1 the manual skips to that exact command. Presently when you are presented with the Status Bar section of the built-in manual, and have to do some more searching to find the info on the exact parameter for the current command code.

i) Prefs->Toolbars->Icons - Temporarily deactivate icon sets?

  • It might be useful to be able to turn off icons sets temporarily when checking up on icons used accross several Toolbars, not wanting to outright deinstall (delete) icon sets. This would help temporarily declutter the Select Icon window, but still lets you look up things by activating older icon sets again.
  • I removed several older icons sets recently, and this indeed actually deleted the .dis archives. I had hoped/expected that the .dis files would be "deinstalled" from Opus but not actually deleted.

j) Path (Breadcrumbs) field & changing of drive icons?

  • The Path (Breadcrumbs) field in Toolbars: Is there a way to change the drive icon in the field? Seems to show generic Windows 10 icons? If possible I would try and create a few more drive icons in the Flat icon style.
    Question%20j)

k) Command Editor->Images - Show Icon Name via Tooltips?

  • When in Customize mode, editing a button or menu entry, the "Images:" fields in the Command Editor dialogue usually show an icon image. It would be very convenient to be able to check on the icon's "name" and "display_name" via mouse-over using a Tooltip.
  • When adding many icons to various functions, e.g. turning on and adding images to the Menu Bar of the Viewer, being able to quickly check a presently used name would help with quick name look-ups, IMO.
  • Presently you have to select the icon, and "locate" the relatively discreetly blue-outlined icon in question (in the Select Icon window), to then mouse-over that icon to check its name.

l) Command Editor->Images - Drag-n-drop images between dialogues

  • It would be convenient to be able to drag and drop icon images between Command Editor windows when customizing. More than once I felt the icons for one Toolbar entry would work better with another entry, but there was no quick way to copy/paste or move the icon I wanted to migrate to another item in the toolbars via Command Editor windows.

m) Relative Size background proportional bar - aligned right or centre?

  • Using Prefs->Folders->Folder Display->Show relative graphs behind size columns a Relative Size background proportional bar can be turned on in Listers. This is left aligned, personally I would prefer it to be right aligned like the column for Size (byte) itself. Maybe also add a centre alignment for a few folks that would prefer that.
  • Here a preview image how that might look, IMO it's rather nice:
    Question%20m)

n) Bug? File selection in Power Mode via Shift+Cursor keys does not let you select 1st/Last file?

  • Prefs->File Display Modes->Power Mode->Always in Keyboard Mode is ON.
  • In Power Mode, in a Lister with e.g. 5 files: Scroll the Lister (light blue dashed outline) cursor up/down via Cursor Up/Down keys to reach file number 3 (1=first/top file, 5=last/bottom file). Then press Shift+Cursor Down, three times... this will select file 3 and file 4, but then the Lister cursor will get "stuck" on file 5, and not let you highlight/select it.
  • Workaround: Hitting the space-key will let you select file 5...
  • I rechecked with Opus 9: here tapping Shift+Cursor Down 3 times, does the same as above, but when you tap it a forth time file 5 does get selected.
  • This also happens when you start off with file 3 to then Shift+Cursor Up three times, only this time file 1 will not be selected.

o) Bug? File Types->Info Tip tab - No empty lines?

  • In File Types... menu entry->File Type Groups list->Edit 'Images' File Type Group window->Info Tip tab the code <br></br> or <br> no longer seems to insert an empty line into the Info Tip.
  • Actual empty lines (CRLF) are ignored and removed. Was there an "official" way to add empty lines to the Info Tip?
  • Personally I like to group long lists of info tips, to make it easier to find information pertaining to a certain topic group.
  • Workaround: Use a space instead, e.g. {!sizeauto} {!} for a conditional empty line.

p) Manual (F1-key) update for {apertureval} vs {aperture}?

  • Location: File Types... menu entry->File Type Groups list->Edit 'Images' File Type Group window->Info Tip tab
  • The Insert Field->Picture Metadata->Aperture button now inserts {aperture} instead of the older {apertureval} (though that seems to still be valid).
  • In the build-in manual Reference->Metadata Keyworlds->Keywords for Columns shows {apertureval} instead of {aperture} though. Probably requires a small update to the manual?

q) Test zip/archive file integrity?

  • A few years back I had an issue with an external USB 3.0 HDD, alas it would corrupt already exiting (valid) zip files when they got copied to that drive. Being able to quickly check a zips validity (checksum) via a separate Opus command ("Test Archive") could be of value IMO.
  • I am aware that when you create an archive its validity is confirmed via a verify pass, but what to do with an already existing archive?

r) Customize mode with an Undo feature?

  • A Ctrl+Z-like Undo feature when in Customize mode would let you undo accidental deletions of buttons in Toolbars, drag and drop slip-ups, and the like.
  • Yes, you can cancel the Customize window, but that loses all the other changes made in that customise "session" as well.
  • I admit, this will only be useful for folks that significantly edit Toolbars like I did when updating from Opus 9 to Opus 12... but still an undo safety net would be nifty to have IMO.

s) Customize mode "menu" labels... customize them?

  • Customize mode->Field Buttons->Field Type->Label
  • It could really be nice if it was possible to change the font/size/color/background color of the label fields that can be added to toolbars/menu toolbars.
  • The presently suggested style is OK, personally I would probably change the font size, use the label with italics, and no background colour, though.

t) Customize window->Keys tab->Entry->Context Menu->Edit/Duplicate (missing?!)

  • Even though the icon bar in configuration lists that Opus uses all over the place are nice. I prefer to quickly check (in addition) what can be done with a list entry via a right-click to open the context menu. Not showing entries always confuses me into thinking something, in this case editing is not possible, when it is. (See e) regarding this in Prefs.)
  • The Context Menu (right-mouse-click) is missing Edit and Duplicate.
  • The Icon bar is missing icons for Cut and Copy as seen in the context menu.

u) Customize window->Keys tab->Filter: search field - expanded?!

  • Presently the "Filter:" field lets you search for shortcut key combinations and text (text as seen in the Name and Description columns), AFAICT across all toolbars Opus 12 is aware of. This is very helpful indeed.
  • It could be helpful to have a 5th new column called Function (Next to Key, Name, Toolbar, Description), to let us quickly check what commands a certain shortcut key will execute.
  • With that "Function" column added, a "Filter:" for the Function commands, would really help when trying to search for commands used in more than one toolbar/menu by accident.
  • Workaround: To be able to search for Function command names in the Keys tab, presently, I copied the "Function:" field of each hotkey in the Command Editor window into the "Name:" field. This works, but is not as elegant as actually having a new dedicated Customize->Keys tab->Function column, IMO.

v) Highlight all actually used icons in Select Icon dialogue?

  • I am aware this is a very specific suggestion, but IMO it would really be interesting to have.
  • When adding icons to extensive menu toolbars, to make them look nicer, it would at times be very helpful to actually be able to quickly look up what icons have already been used by an icon set, i.e. the Internal Icon Set (Flat).
  • Why? It would let you check what icons are in use, and which of them have not been used yet. The latter usually would hint at nifty Opus functions that have, dedicated icons but have not been added to the Toolbars yet.
  • Alternately, if you are only "accidentally" using a few icons from an older icon set, this would let you track them down, letting you replace them with newer icons.

Sorry this ended up being quite a bit longer than I had hoped. Thanks for reading.

Æon

w) Hue, Saturation, Brightness/value sliders for Colour Picker? Etc...

  • When you change the colours in e.g. the Prefs -> Favorites and Recent -> Labels -> Unselected text: colour picker, four additional features would be very much appreciated:
  • Please add Hue, Saturation, Brightness/value sliders additionally to the RGB ones, or let us change the slider mode from RGB+Luminescence to HSV. When I am looking for colours I very often will pick another colour S/B but would then want to change the Hue.
  • Adding a Cancel button to the colour picker would help folks cancel a picked colour "test", and know that this is at all possible. I only just tried out the Esc-key and that was exactly what the suggested cancel button should do.
  • The colour picker lets you define your own colours, well I already used up all the bottom 16 "user colours". Another 8 user definable colours would be nifty.
  • As with Labels, it would really help if we could actually name the user defined colours in the colour picker. E.g. Colour "Archives" or "Programs" or "Main Lister Background Colour" would make it clear that these colours are being used or should be used in a specific context.

Thanks.

Please ask one question/suggestion (or set of closely related suggestions) per thread. If we discussed everything above, it would turn into spaghetti.

Though that may sound logical... in this case that would mean 23 new threads... are you really sure that that would be in an improvement. Yes, I do understand the advantaged of single topic posts, especially for regarding discussions.

Will post new threads for any future suggestions.

There are almost 30,000 threads so another 22 won't hurt. :slight_smile:

We track feature requests using links to threads, so we can't track anything much if there are hundreds of requests in one thread, and it's definitely not possible to discuss any of the ideas in such a thread.