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feedback for error prone settings dialog

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    Requested feedback for error prone settings dialog

    I want to suggest two things:


    1. If the user has changed a setting in the settings dialog, and clicks the X to close it (or presses Escape), please pop up a Yes/No confirmation that they are cancelling the settings they were trying to apply.

    Clicking "cancel" is clear that you are cancelling, and likewise clicking "OK" is clear that you're confirming, but the function here of simply closing the dialog is not obvious to a new user. Many other programs apply settings immediately, or use modeless dialogs for similar things, and it's easy to not realize that closing the window is going to undo what you were just trying to do.

    I'm not suggesting IrfanView should change its design paradigm to be like other programs, but I think it would help alleviate problems for someone setting up the program for the first time if these potentially unexpected settings cancels had a confirm step.


    2. If the settings fail to save when pressing "OK", could you generate a warning alert to inform the user that this is happening?

    This is a similar issue, but if for example the user picked the wrong option at install about where to send the INI file, it seems that if it fails to save this is a completely silent error. A warning at the point of clicking "OK" that it is not able to do its function would help the user understand what is going on and resolve the issue.


    Both of these address a problem I've had many times in the past while trying to change IrfanView settings and not understanding whether they are applying or not. Sometimes it is not clear to a new user what a setting is supposed to do, and having the settings accidentally fail to save adds another layer of confusion on top of that.


    Finally, one other suggestion: "Load only associated types while moving through folder" should be the default setting in the Extensions panel. I strongly suspect that most users of this program do not want Irfanview to try and play music and video files and text files. The default setting instead loads a confusing custom collection of unexpected file types, and makes this program a little bit unusable for my primary purpose of browsing through image files.
    Last edited by rainwarrior; 25.11.2019, 07:50 AM.

    #2
    I hate useless confirmation dialogues. Escape and clicking Close buttons are standard ways to cancel. We do not need a confirmation dialogue for that.

    Load only associated file types as a default would hide an available feature that new users do not know about. The default should be to display all files that IrfanView can display. Changing defaults is generally a bad idea because it affects all users, apart from those who are completely new to the program. There has to be a very good reason for changing default settings.
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      #3
      Originally posted by Bhikkhu Pesala View Post
      I hate useless confirmation dialogues. Escape and clicking Close buttons are standard ways to cancel. We do not need a confirmation dialogue for that.
      I am not proposing a useless confirmation dialog. The purpose was stated: if you do stuff in the form and then click the close X, it is not obvious to a non-expert user of this program that the settings are not being applied. There are many different paradigms about how and when settings take effect, and a new user does not have any advance knowledge of which is which.

      I am not proposing any confirmation for any other case in the entire program, including when clicking "cancel" (in that case it is obvious), only this one case which I believe comes up frequently, and is directly in the path of new users trying to configure this program.

      Cancelling IrfanView's changed settings intentionally is a very rarely needed feature. It does not need to be made more expedient at the expense of confusion of inexperienced users. There are many things that require frequent repetitive use (e.g. resize dialog), and I would not suggest adding such a thing there, only this one specific place which should be extremely rarely seen by any experienced user. How often do you go into IrfanView's settings, make changes, and then decide you didn't want to change them after all? This is not a case that needs to be as fast as possible, and there is value in preventing its accidental use.

      Originally posted by Bhikkhu Pesala View Post
      Load only associated file types as a default would hide an available feature that new users do not know about. The default should be to display all files that IrfanView can display.
      No, it would not hide this at all. The Irfanview installer clearly states all the files that it can load, and gives you the option to select which ones you want. The setting I am talking about ignores these install options and creates a completely different default list just for stepping through files in a directory. It's inconsistent behaviour, and also unwanted behaviour.

      It's also really obtuse because it's this big list of extensions in a text field that isn't even big enough to show everything in that field. The problem isn't just that it's doing the thing you don't want, but it's also difficult to understand where this unexpected setting is, and how to fix it. ...and if it weren't the default, this obtuseness wouldn't really be an issue at all. It's only an issue because every new user that doesn't want Irfanview to play music files and open text files needs to figure out how this confusing setting works.
      Last edited by rainwarrior; 28.12.2019, 08:28 AM.

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