Wow, the programmer(s) did a fantastic job of making the program communicate, kudos, this is a keeper, if only for the many Internet shortcuts ( why? because they can? ).
I like that almost everything on screen pops-up something to explain or control itself, and almost everything is right-clickable to get an explanation or to control that thing.
There are a gazillion tools here ( I’m UNDER estimating, really, there are probably 2 gazillion tools, I just haven’t found them all, yet ! ).
Most things are customizable, and most customizations take immediate effect as they are adjusted, and sometimes there are pop-up arrows pointing to the change that was just made, and the arrow fades away after a moment, and sometimes the change we just made zooms into view – the programmers have set a high bar for communications that other programmers should all feel embarrassed about, especially Microsoft themselves who don’t do any of the communication styles that have been well-worked out and presented here, this is a showpiece of what programmers can do to communicate, and should become a reference, “… like Omega Commander …”.
The program is full of features that show incredible attention to detail and communication on the part of the programmers, kudos all around.
It’s as if the programmers said, “… yes, thanks for the suggestion, we’ll figure a way to incorporate that …” to every suggestion from an end user – an amazing example of a “… how can I help? …” attitude on the part of the programmers.
Seriously, folks, I am beside myself in amazement that there are ANY programmers left who see programming as a gift, and they are proud to automate stuff and present their gits to us.
That’s what computers are for – we do something once, and the computer is supposed to say, “… yes, we can do that …”. and then the computers are supposed to watch, and then do that thing from the second time on.
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WITH THAT IN MIND, let’s get to the “… howevers …”
However …
… and this is NOT a criticism, this is more of a request for the next enhancements to a fine job already well done so far …
… however, I found it hard to impossible to make the program layout on screen the way I’d like.
I just want 2 Windows File Explorers on screen, each with their own directory tree.
Then I can compare, copy, and move files between them
Frustratingly, I could not get the layout I want and lock it in, and even when I came close, the layout would change again and forget my prior settings, and I could not find the controls to bring back what I wanted.
This resulted in my first attempt to drag-and-drop going awry, and my first attempt to fix that first attempt also going awry.
How do we make two files explorers on screen, each with their own directory tree / path ( I guess that “navigation pane” means “tree / path”, “list of directories” )?
I saw it ONCE on screen, and could not make it happen again, no matter what I did, no matter what I left-clicked on, no matter what I right-clicked on, nowhere coudl I find it in the old-fashioned HTML help system, nowhere in the YouTube videos.
The HTML help is missing many opportunities to SHOW us what they are referring to, it’s got words where I need pictures, SHOW me.
We probably do not mean to or need to open multiple HTML help systems, but clicking on ( Home ), [ Help ] opens new versions, ignoring the one already open.
More challenges:
Why revert from this big expansive view to showing us only a little tiny not-explorable browse-pop-ups for some actions, such as saving, exporting, and importing settings – why not just point to the settings file and right-click and offer import or export? You have to open ( Home ) symbol, NOT [ Home] tab, then [ Export / Import ] … which should say [ Export / Import SETTINGS ] … and then browse to see that the browse is not a full Omega Explorer, and does not stay or remember as we try, iteratively, to locate what we are after.
The [ Settings ] windows is not resizable, which would be nice considering that it has an incredible amount of scrollable content that is out of view.
And what do you call the round-button ( Home ) symbol, and why have also a [ Home ] tab right next to it, but they do not duplicate their content and controls?
Why is there no [ View ], [ Directory Tree / Path / Navigation Pane ] at all, and especially not for each pane, so I can explore each pane on it’s own?
Some things respond to single clicks, some things respond only to double-clicks, this is frustratingly arbitrary, and at first I thought the program was locked up because it did not respond to s single click on an item.
The view of the directory tree / path / navigation pane forgets my settings when the directory tree / path / navigation pane is opened and closed, so where I had set it to show arrows and expand to the open folder, it forgot when I ( accidentally ) toggled the directory tree / path / navigation pane off and on.
Is there a way to hotkey the program to appear as we can call on [ Windows ][ E ] for Microsoft’s own Windows File Explorer?
The sad thing is that, because of these frustrations, I’ll just go back to Microsoft’s own Windows File Explorer and do things in the old, reliable, tried-and-true no surprises way.
The problem with fantastic features is that if you hide them, and make me chase them, and hunt them down, then I spend my day trying to control your program instead of doing the productive task I originally set out to do, and I don’t feel invited back into this program again if it’s only going to lose my prior hard-wrought adjustment and make me chase it’s settings all over again every time I open it.
Really, just give me two Microsoft Windows File Explorers, side by side, with a directory tree / path / navigation pane for each one, where the directory tree / path navigation pane has arrows and expands to the open folder on each pane, and lock that down, solid, always happens whenever I open the program, always easy to revert to that view whenever I open and close any other views to inspect one thing, letting me revert back to my basic starting on-screen layout once again.
I can’t see how to do that.
There are no pop-up explanations for the mini-ribbon on the top row, and when I clicked some of them, I had no idea how to undo some of their effects.
Why does the [ View ] menu disappear sometimes? Oh, I tried the “classic” view which ironically has no [ View ] menu.
Things like [ Quick view ] probably mean [ Quick FILE view ], but does not change the view of the program layout, got it.
Okay so [ View ] sometimes changes the layout of the program, and [ View ] sometimes changes the view of a file … you lost me.
I’m getting lost – things I click could adjust the layout of the program, or maybe change the display of a file or the display of the contents of a directory … I’m getting overwhelmed and afraid that as I try to control the program layout, there’s arbitrary and random lack of differentiation as to whether I am about to change the program itself, or am I about to change my files and directories themselves.
“Modify” is a verb, I expect to modify something when I click on it, I think they mean “Modified” as in the date a file was last modified … but can I “Modify” something by clicking on “Modify:”? Can I change attributes by clicking on “Attr:”? Nope, suddenly the entire file list looks reverse-highlighted … now what am I gonna do with that?
This is starting to feel like juggling chainsaws, running chainsaws.
And that’s too bad, because there is so much that I really like in the program.
I’ll wait for v4 in the hopes that there is a clear and solid separation between program settings of the user interface, and things that actually affect my files and folders.
My installation directory shows that I tried Omega Commander v2 back in 2017, and I never used it beyond the one time that I installed it and explored it, and the same now with this v3 – I cannot use it because it’s uncontrollable – a program that is all purpose becomes a program with no purpose, I cannot find a way to lock it down to have the one purpose that I have in mind.
I’ll open two Microsoft Windows File Explorers on my own.
Thanks for letting us explore this and share.
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