Official discussion: upcoming Filter Manager

I'm continuously updating this text, so re-read it periodically:

• Back and Forward buttons work exactly the same way as they do in Finder on Mac or Explorer on Windows, so users on both platforms will find them familiar.
  
  
• Custom Filters is where user-created filters are stored. The folders in Custom Filters are physical: that is, you can specify an exact folder in the file system where they will be stored, and all subfolders in these are also physical, they'll have a corresponding folder in the file system. This is nice for backup and version control systems.
  
  You can freely rename or delete these folders and their subfolders, and you can rearrange the contents of each storage folder (however you can't move a top-level storage folder into another), but remember that all this will be reflected in the file system, which is why you should be careful if you have a storage folder listed for backup in some software, or, say, it is a part of a local Git repo.
  
  These storage folders will be tolerant to 'foreign' subfolders and files not belonging to Filter Forge. This is needed because version control systems may leave their own files or subfolders in folders they index.
  
  One of these custom storage filters is marked as Default (initially this will be My Filters). When you edit a library filter, download a custom filter via an .ffxml URL or double-click a .ffxml file in your Explorer / Finder, it will go into the default filter storage folder.
  
  If you change the location of a top-level storage folder (this is done via a special dialog box), the contents of the folder will be migrated to the new location, in a manner similar to Outlook / Outlook Express storage folders. If you rename a top-level storage folder outside of Filter Forge, it will cease to be visible inside FF, and all shortcuts to filters that were there (e.g. Favorites) will be lost. (Related: We probably will need to scan newly-added storage folders for filters).
  
  My Filters is just one of these custom filter storage folders, not some special entity. It's just created on installation and marked as default. You can safely delete it if you want and create another storage folder or multiple ones, with any names you like (assuming that they pass the naming requirements of your file system).
  
  
• Filter Library structure remains rigid and controlled by our editors. You can't create subfolders under Filter Library, you can't rename them, but you probably will be able to delete them, together with donwloaded filters they contain. To organize them, use Favorites:
  
  
• Favorites are what you call custom categories. They can contain shortcuts to both library filters and user-created filters. Same filters may belong to multiple Favorites folders (but duplicates in the same folder are not allowed), which essentially makes them similar to tags.
  
  Unlike Custom Filters, Favorites is a virtual folder: it doesn't have a corresponding folder structure in the file system. Just as before, Favorites will contain shortcuts to file, not actual copies, so it's always safe to delete a filter from Favorites.
  
  
• Recent Filters, Search, Trash, and whatever else we have time and desire to add to this list are virtual folders, whose contents depend on the purpose of the folder. Some of these virtual folders will allow to alter their contents (e.g. you can delete filters permanently from Trash), and some, such as Search or Recent, won't. So far, only Search is going to be implemented, but I'd like to hear what other virtual folders you'd like to see.
  
  
• Drag-and-drop with multi-selection: the interface will support drag-and-drop and multiple item selection in the Filter pane but not in the Folder pane (similarly to Windows 7 Explorer).
  
  
• Draggable separator between the tree and filter pane: the screenshot above doesn't show it, but there will be a separator that allows you to resize the width of the tree area.
  
  

So, am I missing anything? I'd like to spot any potential problems with the above design before we go full steam ahead into implementation.

Thats damn good news! And the design seems solid

Could you outline the preset thumbnail strategy?

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Could you outline the preset thumbnail strategy?

Sphinx, I'm not sure I understand the question. Please explain in as much detail as possible.

"Recent Filters" could either mean the recently rendered or recently modified. I prefer the modified definition although you could add both sorting options.


"Custom Filters" > "My Filters" seems redundant to me, unless...
Filters that are loaded externally (for example a forum attachment) would be placed in a different sub-folder.


I realize you just used a Windows Explorer screenshot but I'd like the top level items (Filter Library, Custom Filters, Favorites, Recent) to have a more distinctive look compared to their subfolders. Make them more button-like...

Vlad, I'm thinking about the "cached" preset images for a Filter. When the filter is moved and copied etc - will the images also be copied, or do we have to wait for all presets to render again in the background? What do you plan here?

Regarding things like Recent, Searched, and Trash.

I see a need for easily finding recently edited, recently downloaded, and recently used. I guess recent downloads could be in a separate category. This stuff is at the bottom of the tree, so making a couple extra categories probably won't get in the way of anything.

Trash and Searched are also important.

I assume the user will be able to sel ect multiple sequential items fr om this history and delete them, without having to click one at a time.

Are you talking about two different "recent" features here with one being a category as you have pictured in the photo above, and a different one being Recent under searches??? Personally, I don't see a need for recent searches.

If someone searches and finds what they need, they use it in some way. Then it shows up under the regular Recent feature--the one you have pictured with categories on the mockup you posted. And that one should be populated automatically. So I don't think you need a recent under searches.

With regard to users deleting the Recent entries, if it's not too hard to implement, I think it would be good.

How about an option for larger thumbnails on the filter selection pane?

Seems like that wouldn't be too hard to implement.

Mockup showing nicer category styling and larger thumbs...

Instead of calling it "Filter Library" how about "Library Filters"?

Small change but I think it makes a more logical progression...


-Filter Library
-Custom Filters

vs.

-Library Filters
-Custom Filters

For the tiled filter panel I'd like an option for big tiles with overlaid text...

+1 for large thumbnails & tiled filter panel view.

What about sorting? Currently filter sorting is hardwired to alphabetic by filter name, but one could imagine sorting by tags, author, submit date, etc. Would this be any useful?

Dilla, any sensible sorting should be possible via the right-click menus, assuming that we have the data to feed to the sorting criteria.

My idea for the structure...


LIBRARY FILTERS
• Effects
• Textures

CUSTOM FILTERS
• My Filters
• Downloaded Filters

FAVORITES

SEARCH

SAVED SEARCHES
• Recently Edited
• Simple Filters
• Surface Filters
• Library Filters > Authored by Me
• Custom Filters > Effects
• Custom Filters > Textures

That mockup is sweet stuff

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Oh, something I would like to see is in the search, next to the name of the filter, how about it's category? Right now you have to right click the filter and click Locate Category, which in turn takes you to the category, and leaves the search.

Decent idea. I think a tooltip could take care of providing that info without having to add a new interface element.

Sorry if we're overwhelming you.

There's a lot of pent up ideas.

PS
I'll be doing my part by not requesting a sports scores component.

The silence is due to SpaceRay currently compiling an epic wall-O-text about 'custom categories'. I have a feeling it will crit quite hard...

Now that's the kind of questions I'd like to see here!

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I take it that 'My Filters', 'Project 1' and 'Project 2' can originate from three completely different locations in the file system, and that we could theoretically have an infinite number of these 'top-level' folders?

Yes.

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Will there be a way to keep 'foreign' subfolders from showing up inside FF as category folders?

They shouldn't show up unless they have .ffxml files inside.

Edit: On the other hand, this would eliminate the ability to create new folders from FF GUI, because an empty folder would be immediately hidden because it doesn't yet contain any .ffxml files.

Edit2: On the third hand, these extraneous files and folders should usually be hidden. I just checked with the programmers: Mercurial, Git and Bazaar don't litter in subfolders, SVN leaves a hidden folder in every subfolder.

So, the least resistance solution so far is: don't show hidden folders in Filter Manager (but move them during migrations).

1. Regarding the sync between Filter Manager and file system:

Yes, ideally it should sync. However, this is tricky. For example if you move a storage folder when FF is closed, it can't know where you moved it, so it will consider the folder to be missing or deleted, and will drop thumbnail images for filters that were there, and delete all orphaned shortcuts from Favorites, Recent etc.

But when you add some new .ffxml files into an existing storage folder when FF is closed, it will pick them up during startup folder scan and render thumbnails for them.

Moving filters between storage folders outside of FF counts as two events: 'a filter was removed from a storage folder' (with thumbnail and shortcut cleanup etc.) and 'a filter was added to (another) storage folder' (with thumbnail rendering, re-indexing for search etc.)

To sum up, the benefit of reorganizing filters within Filter Manager is the persistence of thumbnails, search index and Favorite/Recent shortcuts.

2. Regarding the subfolder depth in Custom Filters:

Yes, you can have arbitrary subfolder structure and depth in Custom Filters, despite the mockup showing a single level depth.

Regarding the vertical design: I don't yet have a definite opinion on it, but I'm dead sure that we're not touching that for this release. The programmers already have their plates full to the brim (Group debugging and Filter Manager being the biggest chunks of work). We'll implement Filter Manager first and see what UI needs will arise from that.

Regarding Favorites:

I take it we'll be able to create arbitrarily nested category folder structures within Favorites too, or is this a simple tag-list?