Death of the Application Browser

J. Landman Gay jacque at hyperactivesw.com
Thu Nov 26 14:36:34 EST 2015


On 11/26/2015 1:04 PM, Monte Goulding wrote:
> What I don't really understand is why people aren't offering
> suggestions on how to improve the project browser so it will work for
> them. To my mind the simple solution would be to have multiple layout
> modes (tree, list, column) and the ability to detach chunks of the
> hierarchy into a separate window by double clicking or dragging. That
> would open up a world of possibilities for copying and moving objects
> around.

Something like that would work for me. The list had a long discussion 
about this before and I'm sure the team read it. It mainly comes down to 
those of us who work with very large stacks (mine contain hundreds or 
thousands of objects over 50 or more cards per stack.) The best way to 
work with stacks like this is to have a column view like Finder offers 
where you can see breadcrumbs that display the relationship of objects 
to their owners.

In my case, every stack is a clone of a master stack with only text and 
some objects replaced. That means that cards have no names (only IDs) 
and most objects are named identically across all the stacks. It isn't 
possible to identify where you are in the Project Browser because the 
containing group, card, or stack has scrolled out of view.

Another issue is the visual clutter, which I find very difficult to work 
with. I'd like to see the plainest kind of text list possible. I have 
already turned off thumbnails because outside of the clutter, they slow 
down the browser unacceptably when it is trying to update that many 
objects repeatedly. Even so, it is still too slow to work with. The App 
Browser updates instantly because it is pure text.

If the Project Browser could respond faster and offer column view so I 
know which object belongs to which card and stack I could possibly work 
with it.

If the team would like an example to work with, they have already signed 
the NDA for my big project and it shows these issues clearly. If they no 
longer have the stacks, I'd be very happy to resend them.

(Finally, I hope I didn't show any claws, though I admit that removing 
the App Browser would force me to remain in LC 7 indefinitely and I had 
a moment of despair.)

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com




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