Add More Buttons to the Toolbar

[ScottR]

I forwarded this feature request to Irfan Skiljan to remind him about it. This is his response:

I have seen a few items mentioned in thread could you ask Irfan what is on the under consideration / 2 do list regarding new toolbar button or related features - assuming they are all grouped together?

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Anyone can contact Irfan Skiljan (Help menu, About).

[EtaCarinae]

Sorry to necro an old thread, but I'm | | this close to dumping windows photo viewer permanently, save for irfan's lack of "rotate clockwise/rotate anti-clockwise" and "fit to window/actual size" menu bar buttons.

[Kuki Dent]

You don't need toolbar buttons. While viewing an image, press 'r' to rotate the image 90 degrees to the right, 'l' for left, 'h' for horizontal flipping and 'v' for vertical flipping.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

As Frank said nine years ago:

"More buttons in toolbar" - That sounds good!
But then all existing skins would be no longer useful and would need an update!
(see also: "Button zum Scannen in Symbolleiste")

Nothing has changed. There are still only 19 slots for toolbar buttons, and making all toolbar skins obsolete would be a sad outcome. This is one of those feature requests that would take a major rewrite to implement.

A similar request was already forwarded in 2016, so I will also tag this thread as forwarded. If anyone wants to send a reminder to Irfan Skiljan (Help, About for his email), please let us know his response.

[EtaCarinae]

You don't need toolbar buttons.

You don't need shortcut keys. There's a philosophy in user interaction design called user empathy/empathic design. I feel you'd do well to familiarise yourself with it. Also the concept of accessibility, for the end-user and those with disabilities. GUIs were created for a reason. Is IrfanView an enthusiast only app? Or is its target mass appeal?

At the opposite end of the spectrum, have you dealt with a sufficiently complex UI? Check out, Autodesk Maya. It'd probably give you a conniption. Alias|Wavefront's introduction of the space-bar modifier menu was revolutionary and supplanted the use of the toolbars entirely by combining both mouse and keyboard user input. Rather than this binary one or the other concept.

As for the skins. Well, so what? Things change. Nothing lasts forever. Code and interfaces become outdated and must be updated. If Apple worried themselves excessively with legacy software and interfaces they'd find themselves in a similar position to Microsoft and their currently Frankensteinian interface design. If skin creators don't want to update their skins, well, that's too bad. New ones will be created. Other users can re-create ones that have since been abandoned.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Comparing IrfanView (a single developer) to WinZip or 7-Zip is a fair comparison; comparing it to Microsoft Office or CorelDraw (with huge development teams) is not.

The toolbar in IrfanView is customisable, but is limited to 19 buttons and two fields.



Clearly, this is not regarded as an important issue by the developer. Like most frequent users of the program, I prefer shortcuts over buttons.

[j7n]

I'd choose customizable toolbar over skins. Irfan could pick the most clearly drawn icon set, with outlines that are compatible with both light and dark background, and include it with the program. Seems rather strange to have this part of the program customizable with skins and at the same time regarded as unnecessary. Seriously the skins are a gimmick. If the toolbar was customizable and needed many icons, Irfan could have sets of ripped/copyrighted icons unofficially distributed as "skins".

Maybe EditPad from Just Great Software is a fair comparison. They have replicated the Microsoft Office toolbar customizability, except for the bitmap icon editor. Or Foobar2000, which has the customizability engine with every command, but no icons though, so it is kinda useless. I guess the authors of 7-Zip and IrfanView each know their product from inside out, have memorized all shortcuts and command-line, and would struggle to feel "empathy": 7-Zip requires you to enter command-line parameters in the new archive dialog. What Microsoft and WinZip do with their toolbar/icons, they don't do out of empathy. It is like a coat of paint over old engine to make it appear different and "modern", and marketable again. (Ribbon, Flat...)

But it is what it is. No point in arguing here where the author isn't listening. Somone once advised me, when I started learning computers, to never use the toolbar because people may have it customized or have a different program version, and I would likely not find the options in the same place. I still do that out of habit (and experience with unlockable toolbars), and go to the menu bar.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Seriously the skins are a gimmick.

Not for me, they're not. They contribute to usability since the default icons are tiny. It also makes it easy to tell at a glance whether I am running the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version.

[j7n]

Those are fair points. I like to keep multiple versions of the same program different looking. The default win95-style icons are in need of an upgrade.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Frequently requested. Irfan Skiljan knows about it, but not likely to happen any time soon IMO.

[Blazer]

I'm always using the crop selection (cut out) ctrl+Y tool, as I imagine many are, so it would prove handy if there was an option in "show/hide toolbar buttons" for this to be on the toolbar. Cheers.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

There are way too many commands that could be added to the toolbar. The way things are currently designed for skins limits the buttons that can be used. There are very old feature requests for more toolbar customisation, and Irfan Skiljan has said he could do it, but that would need new skins.

20.06.2016, 11:50 AM
I forwarded this feature request to Irfan Skiljan to remind him about it. This is his response:

I will later make larger toolbars => but I need tons of new icons from skin authors.

Toolbars: thanks, I will try something. Such things are already on my todo list ... which is very large

[rbadillarx]

Hi all:
I really like this software, and will help as possible to implement a custom toolbar button that copy the absolute filepath of the current file. I know; this information is accessible through image-> information but really like a shortcut.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The toolbar is limited to 19 icons and two fields due to the way that skins are designed.
There have been many requests for more buttons, but if you think about it, there are hundreds of commands that could be useful to someone.
Irfan Skiljan has considered the request before, but it would require all new skins. How could he decide which commands to add?

I suggest learning shortcuts. The shortcuts are customisable by right-clicking on the menus.