Requested Enhance usability on smaller screens

[goldie]

I'm often using IV on my laptop which has a quite small screen. There's an option to hide almost all UI components but it hinders the usability, and the menu bar comes back on next start (which makes sense - what if I can't remember the shortcut keys?). Middle mouse button seems to have no function currently. Having a middle mouse button open a menu would allow IV to be used better on smaller screens by hiding most of the UI components but still having quick access to all the features. Picture is worth a thousand words they say so I made a mock-up, just to get my idea across. It could be prettier, with icons and so on, but this would do it.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

It's already available. In settings, Viewing, enable "Use right mouse button for context menu."

There are also Windows Shortcut command line options to start up without menus, etc. See i_options.text in the program folder for details.

Examples for /hide:
Values (can be combined (add values)):
Toolbar 1
Status bar 2
Menu bar 4
Caption 8

[Skeptiker]

Unfortunately this seems not to apply to the full screen mode, which - on the other hand - makes best use of the available screen area. But in FSM, the right mouse button continues to scroll (which could also be done using the arrows).

[goldie]

Thanks for the command line tips, these will come handy. About the right-click menu - it doesn't help with smaller displays. This program exists to allow user to SEE and work with pictures. Why I suggested middle-click menu (which includes ALL of the menus) is that on most displays the program user interface (UI) competes with the content - the picture, the very thing it's made to display in the first place. Hence removing the menu, toolbar and so on. On smaller displays user also needs to constantly scroll the picture, to see any of the details, it's a necessity. So by removing some of the UI components we gain in usability, but at the same time, by removing right-click scrolling we deduct from usability. Zero sum. Which makes the right-click menu option mostly useless, at least in this context. To really improve the program, to increase its usability we'd need to add by not taking away at the same time. A simple additional option would do that - 'Use MIDDLE mouse button for context menu'. Most mice and touchpads have at least three buttons these days. And instead of custom truncated menu we'd see a standard hierarchical program menu.

[Mij]

I have a similar requirement when I am showing images using a projector to a small group I belong to. Some of the details on the images are far too small for the group to be able to see it so I need to zoom in on the detail I want to show.

I found I could not use full screen mode because, without being able to see the scrollbars, it is almost impossible to know whether the scroll hotkeys and mouse wheel actions will actually scroll or will jump to the next/previous image. A lot of other users dislike this dual function of the scroll keys but I have been unable to persuade Irfan Skiljan to change it in any way.

So I wrote a script file which opens Irfanview in normal browser view from a command line with the "/hide=15" option included. I have the display set for "Fit to Window" so each new image opens un-zoomed. To zoom in I can either use Ctrl+mousewheel or hold down the "+" key on the number pad. When a scroll bar appears I can safely scroll in that direction with any of the dual function hotkeys or mousewheel actions or, of course, I can drag the scrollbar handle or click on the bar either side of it.
I could also drag the image with the right mouse key (if it is not being used for a context menu). Most of the time though I use the left mouse button instead to quickly draw a selection box around the area of the image I want to show and then click inside the box.
To use the dual function scroll keys to jump onto the next/previous image I would need to zoom out again until the scrollbar disappears, so it is quicker to press Space or Backspace keys instead

Sometimes I have the right mouse button set to display the context menu, sometimes not. The first time you change the setting, type "p" to open the Properties/Options dialog and select the Viewing tab using a mouse click. Notice that the context menu checkbox has the letter "m" underlined, so you can toggle its setting by just typing "m" and then "Enter" to OK and close the dialog. The next time the dialog will open in the same tab, so all you need do to change the setting is to quickly type p, m, Enter and it is done.

The other hotkey combo you need to know is Alt+space which opens a small Windows dialog that lets you do what the essential controls at the right hand end of the caption bar would be used for if it was not hidden. I have the options set to be able to close Irfanview using the Esc key, so I usually close it that way though.

Oh, by the way, there is no middle button on the mouse I use (it is not my computer), so your request would be of no help.