Miscellaneous suggestions - navigation ups, visual breaks, dragging, custom cols, string comparisons

[meteorquake]

Miscellaneous suggestions; just installed Version 1.5.0.1315a (x64)

NAVIGATION UP TREE
I think the easiest navigation up a tree is to highlight an item and hit backspace multiple times, each backspace navigating to the parent folder. ıf there is no item highlighted then the top item.
This would also help for dropping files over the search box since currently it gets replaced with the filename which isn't hugely useful (but can be occasionally) however you could then hit the backspace to go to the whole folder.

VISUAL BREAKS
I suggested once there could be visual breaks such as when listed in path order, break between paths.
I think this would best be done by an equation, so when the equation value changes a chosen visual break shows, which could be a horizontal separator. For example if you are sorted in path order the break could be an equation indicating say parent folder or say level 4 folder, if sorted by size it might be a size group eg Gb. If sorting by name you might have your files named by date and choose to have the break on the first 10 characters, or the characters up to a hyphen if they are named by a section with hyphen. If named by date you might want to have a break when the difference between one file and the next exceeds a certain difference, this is useful for separating blocks of photos taken at a certain time from those taken at a different time.

EMPTY FOLDERS
Option to show empty folders in a custom colour eg grey so they stand out.

CUSTOM COLUMNS
I think it should show the last three custom columns that are/even if unticked so that they can be easily be unticked and then ticked on again without having to look them up. We mostly probably have a few popular ones certainly at any given time.

DRAGGING OUT OF EVERYTHING IN THUMBNAIL MODE
I'm glad this has been improved - the large thumbnails when dragged out into eg Explorer were obscuring where you were trying to drop them.
I think they can still be improved because they obscure the drop site. If they had a transparent bottom strip then the dropping cursor and dropping spot would be fully clear.

COMPARISONS < = >
You have less than and greater than applying to numbers but not strings like basename. For me applying to strings would also be useful since my names often have date or numerical meaning. Cursorily this could be solved by a modifier named as the function eg >=:basename:2020 or perhaps ge:basename:2020 using gt ge lt le for > >= < <=

DRAGGING OVER FILES
Currently dragging over a folder moves the item to that folder, but dragging over a file (non-executable) does nothing.
It would be very useful if dragging something (from internal or external) over a file moves it to the file's parent folder (with associated tip; copies if a different drive/share unless shift held)

[void]

Thank you for your feedback meteorquake,

NAVIGATION UP TREE
I think the easiest navigation up a tree is to highlight an item and hit backspace multiple times, each backspace navigating to the parent folder. ıf there is no item highlighted then the top item.
This would also help for dropping files over the search box since currently it gets replaced with the filename which isn't hugely useful (but can be occasionally) however you could then hit the backspace to go to the whole folder.

I will consider an option to press backspace to go to the whole folder.

For now, Ctrl + Backspace will delete a word at a time from the search box.

VISUAL BREAKS
I suggested once there could be visual breaks such as when listed in path order, break between paths.
I think this would best be done by an equation, so when the equation value changes a chosen visual break shows, which could be a horizontal separator. For example if you are sorted in path order the break could be an equation indicating say parent folder or say level 4 folder, if sorted by size it might be a size group eg Gb. If sorting by name you might have your files named by date and choose to have the break on the first 10 characters, or the characters up to a hyphen if they are named by a section with hyphen. If named by date you might want to have a break when the difference between one file and the next exceeds a certain difference, this is useful for separating blocks of photos taken at a certain time from those taken at a different time.

I will consider grouping items with a separator.
For now, there is a group_colors ini setting.

To color groups of items:

• In Everything, type in the following search and press ENTER:
  /group_colors=1
• If successful, group_colors=1 is shown in the status bar for a few seconds.

Change the sort order to change the grouping.

EMPTY FOLDERS
Option to show empty folders in a custom colour eg grey so they stand out.

Item color customization is on my TODO list.
I will consider an option to specify the color for empty folders.

CUSTOM COLUMNS
I think it should show the last three custom columns that are/even if unticked so that they can be easily be unticked and then ticked on again without having to look them up. We mostly probably have a few popular ones certainly at any given time.

Column Sets are on my TODO list.
For now, please use a filter to temporarily add your columns.

I will consider an option to tick/untick columns.

Consider leaving the columns offscreen.
Information is only gathered when the columns are onscreen.

DRAGGING OUT OF EVERYTHING IN THUMBNAIL MODE
I'm glad this has been improved - the large thumbnails when dragged out into eg Explorer were obscuring where you were trying to drop them.
I think they can still be improved because they obscure the drop site. If they had a transparent bottom strip then the dropping cursor and dropping spot would be fully clear.

I will consider making the bottom transparent or an option to customize the overall transparency.
For now, the OS controls the drag image.

COMPARISONS < = >
You have less than and greater than applying to numbers but not strings like basename. For me applying to strings would also be useful since my names often have date or numerical meaning. Cursorily this could be solved by a modifier named as the function eg >=:basename:2020 or perhaps ge:basename:2020 using gt ge lt le for > >= < <=

There is a tonumber: search modifier to convert the property to a number, for example:
tonumber:basename:>2020

For string properties, < and > are sometimes a valid character, which makes treating < and > as an operator potentially unwanted, for example:
content:<tag>

I will consider allowing < and > operators to automatically convert a property to a number when working with a "filename" property (eg: basename:).

DRAGGING OVER FILES
Currently dragging over a folder moves the item to that folder, but dragging over a file (non-executable) does nothing.
It would be very useful if dragging something (from internal or external) over a file moves it to the file's parent folder (with associated tip; copies if a different drive/share unless shift held)

You can do this already if you drag the file over the Path column text.
However, you must use a keyboard modifier if left-click-dragging to avoid accidental drops.
or use right-click dragging over the Path column text.

name_only_drag
allow_path_ldrop

Thank you for the suggestions.