Requested IrfanView dialogs adhere to Windows Layout Guidelines

[MaT]

I wish IrfanView dialogs adhere to Windows Layout Guidelines, especially these regarding of placement of UI elements:

• Arrange the UI elements within a surface to flow naturally in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom order (in Western cultures). The placement of the UI elements conveys their relationship and should mirror the steps to perform the task.
• Place UI elements that initiate a task in the upper-left corner or upper-center. Give the UI element that users should look at first the greatest visual emphasis.
• Place UI elements that complete a task in the lower-right corner.
• Place related UI elements together, and separate unrelated elements.
• Place required steps in the main flow.
• Place optional steps outside the main flow, possibly de-emphasized by using a suitable background or progressive disclosure.
• Place frequently used elements before infrequently used elements in the scan path.

Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...aspx#placement

Rationale: I have been using IrfanView for many years, I've taught several people to use some functions of IrfanView and I (and those people) have problems to "understand" IrfanView's large and complex dialogs. Again and again I have problems to find "OK" button to start desired action - one dialog has it in the top right corner, other dialog in the bottom left, other on the left side in the middle and so on. But it's not only the buttons, but the overall layout of dialogs - it is sometimes very hard to understand, how is dialog organized.

I think that adhering to "standard" Windows rules (of dialogs layout) will make IrfanView much easier to use.

[MItaly]

I support this. Many newbies are confused by the interface of IrfanView; but more than dialogs, for me the worst designed part is the mouse interface to work on the image.

[Skippybox]

Seems like a worthy endeavor.

[itwisp]

By the way, it's very easy to experiment with dialogs. You need to download Language SDK and find Basic.dll there. This file contains all the dialogs from IrfanView. You can modify these dialogs with Resource Hacker. After that you can put the modified file in Languages folder and select it in Language Properties dialog.

Language SDK also contains Visual Studio project.