After 3 weeks of working with X2 I still miss the '..' (Up level) link in the file panes.
The link like this will allow user to use the same key to enter the folder and to go back. For example: I'm examining the contents of the folders. Now I need to click 'Enter' on a folder to go a level down and 'Bksp' to go back a level up. If there will be a '..' link I can press 'Enter' to go a level down and press 'Enter' again to go a back to a previous level... I think this is rather convenient.
As far as I remember I saw several similiar requests in this forum, but there is still no info: if this request will be implemented or not.
Is it very difficult to implement such a feature? Or there are some other reasons not to implement it? Maybe there are some benefits of not having the '..' link in file panes?
The benefit mentioned when this was discussed a long time ago
(a year ago that I recall -- & perhaps before that, too)
is that not having the ".." saves a line on the display (less clutter).
This was deemed a positive tradeoff -- especially since there are other ways to go up a level.
But there's no accounting for taste (i.e.: user-preference / old habits )
old habits die hard, but the triumph of the humanoids over nature is the result of evolution. So my grandfather used a donkey to ride to "work" (field), and I use a motorbike. I'm sure that granpa would feel rather awkward to begin with on the bike, but he would soon understand the leap forward and send the poor ass to a hungarian salami producer
nikos wrote:this is definitely not coming
you are absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to going up one level, keyboard and mouse alike
this is a relic from the past, and good riddance to it
While I like and use the ability to click on the directory path in the title, I have also experienced some problems with this navigation method.
For example, when navigating into zip files the directory path in the title bar sometimes displays nothing but jibberish. At that point there is no way (that I know of) to navigate to the previous folder with the mouse.
In those cases I would really like to see the '..' and cannot fathom why it would not be an option for the user. I appreciate your preference but I cannot understand your refusal to provide this for your customers whose preferences are different from yours.
fgagnon wrote:
regarding "... title bar sometimes displays nothing but gibberish" : please expand on when this happens so it can be addressed.
I have seen this when navigating into zip files. Usually opening the zip file is fine but when I start to navigate into folders in the zip I start to see strange stuff in the title bar.
In the process of reproducing this I did discover that if the xplorer window is sized large enough you can see part of the file path at the end of the title bar but nothing above the zip file name.
OK, now I understand.
The gibberish you report is the Class ID (aka CLSID, aka univerally unique identifier) for zipfiles. Zipfiles are really not folders in the shell/directory structure, and the CLSID appears as a clumsy prefix to identify the object as a member of the zipfile class.
I suspect that it is not easy to remove it from the path which windoze passes to x2 for display when browsing inside zipfiles, or nikos would have done it. It really is a nuisance that takes up space without adding value.
PS - as mitigation for long path names, you might want to setup x2 with the panes stacked one above the other -- especially if you use detail view presentation: in Tools | Options... | Window
set the Dual pane alignment (tiling): to: (•) Horizontal
... but even without this wider pane display, when the titlebar overflows there is always a small space at the righthand end where you can d-click to go up a level.
fgagnon wrote:
... but even without this wider pane display, when the titlebar overflows there is always a small space at the righthand end where you can d-click to go up a level.
You learn something new everyday. :-)
Thanks for the d-click info, I think I will find myself using that often.
Double click any blank area inside the pane to go up one level (parent) is the easiest way for me. And with full row select turned off in the options you can double click right beside the file/folder name at the top of your pane to go up one level which is almost where the old .. would be.
This is the feature that really got my attention for X2 and I am so use to it that I swear constantly using explorer, while on friends machines and d-clicking a blank area to try to go up a level out of habit and it doesn't work.
Double click any blank area inside the pane to go up one level (parent) is the easiest way for me. And with full row select turned off in the options you can double click right beside the file/folder name at the top of your pane to go up one level which is almost where the old .. would be.
This is the feature that really got my attention for X2 and I am so use to it that I swear constantly using explorer, while on friends machines and d-clicking a blank area to try to go up a level out of habit and it doesn't work.
hope this helps
TKAre
A.B.Ames
Even better! I turned off full row select as suggested and it works great. :-)
After using this feature in X2 your going to curse everytime you have to use anything else as you'll always be clicking blank areas and nothing happens.
Glad to have helped,
A.B.Ames
To add to the possibilities of navigating (back up or even wilder!!):
1. You can Right Click on the title bar to see the history of most recently visited folders in that pane and click on any of them to get there
2. Or you can hold down SHIFT and Right Click on the title bar to see the current path broken down in a list, each folder level on a separate line. You can click on any of those to get to that folder.
You don't have to click more than once though, since you can hold down your mouse button while 'dragging' to the desired item and then release the mouse button.
So to get up 1 level using the last technique you would Shift+Right Click and click on the next-to-last item in the pop up list (or hold down the mouse button and release on the wanted folder)!
Neat, isn't it. No need for '..' and more flexibility, because you can also go up several level at once using this technique. And it even works if your path levels get so deep that the title bar Left Click technique is of no use because part of the path is truncated!
Last edited by JRz on 2005 Apr 06, 21:55, edited 1 time in total.
Thank you for the info!..
