Relative Size Bars - hide when empty/small?

Help & Support
1

Recently upgraded to Dopus 10 and noticed that the Relative Size bar graphs are displayed even when the file/folder is empty or relatively small (shown as an empty bar with a black/grey border). The result is that many of my listers have a column full of empty bar graphs. Looks...well...a bit cluttered. :frowning:

I dug out a screenshot of Dopus 9 and realised that back then the bar graphs didn't appear to have a border and thus small/empty files/folders simply didn't display anything in that column (I'm assuming there wasn't actually code to hide them if small/empty).

Is it possible to add an option to set the colour of the bar graph border? I figure that would let me match it to the lister background and therefore appear invisible when the bar graph is empty.

Thanks for reading. :slight_smile:

2

I thought they always had a border of one sort or another.

Without a border it gets hard to tell how full a bar is as there's nothing to mark the 100% part.

3

Since I no longer have Dopus 9 installed I'll refer you to the best evidence I have to hand.....one of your own screenshots! :wink:

1910_glassstatus.png749×284

4

Compare with Dopus 10:

5

I can't argue with that. :slight_smile:

I don't think there is any way to remove the border these days though, sorry.

We could add an option but it will have to be weighed up against the extra testing/complexity and Prefs 'clutter' (for lack of a better word) it would introduce, vs how many people will want to use it.

6

Fair enough. If it were a simple enough code change and the addition of a flag in the Misc |Advanced settings I'd love for it to be included.

Otherwise, if it's more complicated, I'd be grateful if it could at least get on a 'possible/future consideration' list...

Thanks again.

7

I consider the look of the relative size bars a regression in Opus 10. Directory Opus has always been the swiss army knife where the user can change ANYTHING to suit his or her needs. Now being forced to display the graphs with a border and not being able to change from the stupid glossy Star Trek gradient to a simple left to right gradient (where the prefs under diagrams are still called "left" and "right" for the gradient) is WRONG.

This also goes together with the complaints in [url]Relative Age and Relative Size Graphs] where the source and destination lister can be switched from glossy to single colour but not back to a nice gradient. I never considered those gradients "Windows 95 style" because I have never used Windows 95 (thank god I still was happily using my Amiga back then) but "nice Opus gradients". Those are now gone. WRONG again.

+1 for more flexibility.

8

We're all in hiding now in case the police break down our doors for using such morally reprehensible gradient styles and "only" giving you the option of turning them off and not the option of going back to the gradient style of 15 years ago.

Hint: Linking your account will do more to further a request for change than insulting us by calling minor aesthetic choices "WRONG" and "stupid glossy Star Trek" etc., especially when you can turn off the latter.

Not to mention that a distinctive feature of the UIs in Star Trek is that they do not have gloss, borders or gradients at all; so what you said is not only completely over the top, it doesn't even make sense.



9

I wasn't talking about the LCARS interface in TNG, I was talking about the red alert lights below the bridge screen. I could not find a picture of it but it is basically the same as this:

bb90ef9895fb3ed9d48601d07144aae4b16364f0.jpg1023×767 69.6 KB


The reference is not my idea, I have actually learned the terms from descriptions about how to distinguish animated gradients: Star Trek is a double gradient, animated from the middle to the left and right edges. Knight Rider is a single gradient, going from left to right and then back to left. And Cylon is a single gradient, going from left to right, and then again form left to right. The word glossy wasn't meant to describe the Star Trek gradient, it was meant to complete the description: a glossy double gradient from the center to the left and right edges.

I call it stupid just in this context, because from my point of view double gradients do not look good when they are applied to things of varying width that are vertically arranged. A linear gradient on the other side can be associated with a gauge which makes sense in this context.

Now you say I can turn that off. I cant't. Setting the "gloss and gradients" option to false does not change the look of relative size bars at all. Setting both colours of the gradient to the ame colour will eliminiate the gradient but not the gloss (by gloss I mean the division of the gradient into a lighter top section and a darker bottom section).

Well, it turns out that by changing the colours from dark blue to those turquoise colours used for drives in "My computer" makes them already much more pleasing to the eye. Removing the border would still be a good idea. If I want to know where the right edge ist I can look to the column header or I could even change the background colour for the whole column.

10

Done. Thanks for the reminder, I just saw that in your footer yesterday but didn't complete the link process until now.

11

[quote="leo"]I can't argue with that. :slight_smile:
We could add an option but it will have to be weighed up against the extra testing/complexity and Prefs 'clutter' (for lack of a better word)[/quote]

You could put into the "miscellaneous -> extended" rubric, where it wouldn´t distract too much.

12

Star Trek, Knight Rider, Cylons... Those all describe animated strips made up of multiple red bars/blocks which move around on a black background. Do we have anything like that anywhere in the Opus UI? No.

The file display borders use what I think most people describe as a candy-bar gradient, as made popular by OS X, but also clearly visible within the Windows Aero theme if you look at any standard button or scrollbar or, if you look closely, at the header bar at the top of any standard list control. You can turn those off, anyway.

The size gradients look like the free-space graphs in the Computer folder, which are part of the standard Windows Aero look & feel. Explorer shows similar graphs in places, and they're part of the Windows style guide (including the borders, FWIW).

We could add options to customise the size graphs, and we may in the future. (For a while I've also been thinking about extending the "gloss & gradients" option so instead of just on and off you can specify amounts in between, since with some colors the contrast is too much, but a bit less would look better than turning it off completely.) So we might improve that when we get a chance. But keep in mind that, even for stuff in the Prefs -> Advanced section, every option we add makes using the program more complex for everyone, and each option has an associated cost in terms of development, documentation, translation and ongoing costs in terms of testing and maintenance.

By all means shout at us and call us stupid If we change the entire Opus UI and force everyone to use new, non-standard new UI which is almost universally disliked (i.e. like Microsoft are doing with Visual Studio 2012) but, honestly, complaining in such strong terms and questionable analogies about the style of gradients used on a few bars, especially when they quite closely match the standard Windows Aero theme, is making a mountain out of a molehill and undermines your criticism.

I also don't think there have been more than two or three people asking for any one of these particular changes here at the forum. There are lots of different changes being discussed in this thread and the one linked, but let's not conflate them into a single request; different people are asking for different things here and there isn't a clear mandate yet. That doesn't mean we won't make things more configurable at some point, but it does mean that, with most people apparently quite happy with how things are, it's a lower priority issue You'll have to accept that, no matter how much the way those UI elements are shaded may offend you personally.

13

I'm not commenting again on this. I clearly explained what those names are about and it seems that you don't want to understand or are trying to make fun of me. I'm OK with the term "candy-bar" from your response which perfectly combines all visual aspects of the size bars. So let's stick with that naming.

Just because Windows displays it that way doesn't define it as looking good. To quote Steve Jobs about Microsoft: "The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste." I think that many people explicitly buy Opus because they hate the standard look and they wan't to change it. So there is nothing to win in argumenting with the standard look & feel when one important aspect of Opus always has been to empower the user to make it look exactly how he or she wanted it to. You write about the size bars looking like the free-space graphs and standard Aero look & feel, but this references the Windows Explorer. One of the new features of Opus10 is "'Native' Opus display of virtual folders like Desktop, My Computer, and CD Burning." and I associate this with not being forced to accept the standard Aero look & feel. As a reactin to the advertised feature I personally thought "What's the point of natively implementing those if not for finally being able to freely style them?".

As of now I think there are two preferences where the program does not do what it promises to, and I would like these corrected:
[ul]
[li]The "gloss & gradients" option does not turn off the gloss for the size bars. Turning gloss off should... well... turn off gloss? Everywhere. Because not doing so makes the option less understandable.[/li]
[li]The colours for diagram gradients are named "left" and "right" but the visual result for the size bars uses "left" for left and right and "right" for the middle (!?) because it's a double gradient. The current naming of the colours is irritating because the names don't match their usage.[/li][/ul]
And I would appreciate if the following improvements could be implemented:
[ul]
[li]an option to turn off the border for the size bars or an option to adjust the border colours like BrokenNails requested[/li]
[li]an option to choose betwen single and double gradients[/li][/ul]

I never shouted at you or called you stupid. Please calm down. The "stupid" was used in telling my personal opinion about the candy-bar gradients. The shouting "WRONG" was used as a personal reaction to loss of customizabilty compared to the previous version of Opus. I think everybody is entitled to a personal opinion. On top of that, I never even requested anything up to this post. I just supported BrokenNails' request. Before I request something I prefer to discuss the aspects of the current situation and then I think what would be the best to improve Opus, not what would be the best for me.

One last note: These are cosmectical changes so they obviously are much less important than any "real" bugs or improvements and I am aware of that.