When It Rains ...

The next ArsClip Public Beta has been uploaded: v4.18.

One or two ideas will sometimes cascade into a slew of ideas. I had more ideas than time for the previous version, so some things were postponed and added to the Plans and Ideas page.

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Permanent Clip icons didn't follow the same rules as the Show More and Clip Set icons. They've been changed to give the same visual cues when the icon is hovered.

The left column icon now will show subtle 3D shading. This occurs when a menu with a clickable icon is hovered.

Ctrl, Alt, and Shift keys now serve two purposes. First, when held they will show a tooltip with their configured action for the current clip. Second, these keys will also close the current tooltip shown when hovering a menu.

The Tab key had a single hidden feature - to force a clip to paste as only formatted text. This has been changed to behave just like all the other options under [Popup>Keystrokes/Mouse]. The default setting is still the same.

ArsClip Wrapup 2

The current Public Beta is a candidate for official release. No more changes are being made except for possible bug fixes.

All icons that aren't in the left hand column have been muted. Since these icons are just for identification, so they should stand out less than the clickable icons. This include the Program Options menu, Search and Paste menu, and the clipboard marker.

The "Configured/Full Mode" menu has been renamed. Simple menus should use verbs to describe what they do. "Show More" and "Show Less" are more descriptive and uses Progressive Disclosure terminology. In simpler terms, it looks more like what it does.

The Clip Sets menu only used "Clip" as a label. This made it impossible to find in the configuration menus, but it was descriptive for the content of the expandable menu. This has been renamed on the popup and the History settings page now has a link to the Clip Sets page. Since Clip Sets are now always shown by default, they need to be identifiable.

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One issue that has no fix planned for this version is pasting menus, specifically Popup Clips. They really needs to look like clips that paste when clicked. In a future version, I'll probably add some indicator only when hovering the menu. The most obvious fix would be to display the menu as "Paste XXX", but this seems distracting.

Since Clips Sets are now defaulted to on, this does help advertise the submenus as clips. Clips also use a left column icon to describe either were they originated or what type of clip they are. Both help identify what the clip is, but not what the menu does.

ArsClip Wrapup

Final changes are being made to the Public Beta version of ArsClip. Since a few important bugs are fixed in this beta, less features were planned to help speed up the official release.

The last change of the Popup was to get rid of the "cliptype icon". Using the new goals, this did not need to be emphasized. The indicator has been moved to the left column area of the popup. Also, the Configuration window was updated to describe the Tab key function.

Since this was a clickable area on the popup, the Clip Menu has been updated to replace this function. Using the new "Automation instead of Options" philosophy, the Clip Menu will automatically expand the "Paste As" menu for formatted text clips or file clips.

The default configuration was also changed to always show Clip Sets. I've not yet figured out how to link the term "Clip Sets" to the menu that is shown on the popup. I may change "[Clips 1-20]" to "[Clip Set 1-20]" to fix this issue.

After a few days of final tweaks, I expect an official release.

ArsClip Popup Visual Goals

The latest Public Beta of ArsClip has been changed to meet the new popup visual goals. It turns out there are only 2 general rules under these goals.

-Less important features should be emphasized less.

This is almost the entire goal. This goal also makes more important features more emphasized, but places priority on removing visual clutter.

Examples:
Non-clickable column icons are less important and, therefore, should be emphasized less. All other columns icons, except for those in submenus, have been removed.

Menu items may change when highlighted to be less subtle. The currently highlighted menu is more important and should not have the same emphasis as other menu items. The menu may also react as the mouse is moved over certain features of a menu.


-All menus should have a look that describes how it works

There are two types of menu items: pasting menus and helper menus.

Pasting menus are the main feature of the program and this includes Permanent Clips and Macros. These menus have their own style and are mostly a single flat color.

Helper menus have a slight color gradient and use a different shade of color. Expandable helper menus have the same style but also include 3D shading and a glyph that reacts when the menu is hovered or expanded.

Helper menus that open a window when clicked are now marked with ellipses and a trailing icon. These menus result in closing the popup and are marked to describe this. The visual is more meaningful than just ellipses alone.

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Submenus can be an exception to these general rules. Since these menus are only shown selectively, they are already less emphasized. Menus under an Expandable menu are the only menu to use a unique column color that helps mark the items as a group.

The Fitler - Part 4 ... and more

I'm getting close to the end of development for the new Filter feature. The last change I might make is an add option to always show the Filter textbox visible when showing the popup. The feature would be purely for keyboard users only. The biggest drawback of this feature is that you couldn't use any popup keyboard shortcuts until the Filter textbox is hidden, since it receives all keystrokes.

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Visual Tweaks

Work is being done on some clutter on the popup. A new set of goals has been made to help guide the changes. Less important features should be emphasized less. Menus that paste (Popup Clips/Permanent Clips) should be distinct from other menu items. Column icons should be reserved for icons that are clickable. Expandable menus should have a distinct look that describes how it works.

As an example, using bold characters to emphasize keyboard shortcuts was too distracting. This has been changed to a faint square around the character. This helps separate the letter from the caption in a subtle way.

The Filter - Part 3

Moving the highlight turns out to be a good way to hide the Filter textbox. It just feels natural. Some decorations or buttons may be added to the Filter, but only if this solves an important problem. Since it's now trivial to hide the Filter, a cancel button probably isn't needed.

One Filter option that's planned for the next beta is the option to only shown results on the popup. Basically, when a filter is active, no other menu items would be shown. Configuration options, also, will be able to advertise the accept/cancel keystrokes.

The Filter - Part 2

Clip Sets
Clip Sets configuration will change in the next beta. An option to always use Clip Sets will be added. In the current setup, the program automatically turns them on selectively.

Any future configuration options for the Filter will also be located under Clip Sets. At this point, I'm not sure what Filter options are needed.

Showing/Hiding
Triggering the Filter on is now a trivial task that can be done with either the keyboard or the mouse. The problem lies in hiding the Filter. The Filter requires typing, so keystrokes will likely be the preferred method. Those that are heavy keyboard users will automatically think "Escape Key" to do this, but this isn't the easiest way to do it.

Pressing ESC require moving the hands from home position. One of the hidden keystrokes features is using Enter or the Down arrow accepts the new Filter. Pressing ESC or Tab cancels the Filter completely. There needs to be some way to advertise the these features without being intrusive. Also, there needs to be a clear delineation between accepting and canceling the Filter.

Moving the highlight might be a better way to hide the Filter textbox, while keeping the results. This is natural for both keyboard and mouse users without advertising. For keyboard users, it's not natural to use the down/up arrow on a single line textbox, so this is the only drawback for this method. Tab is common method from moving between fields. On a popup window, pressing Tab is not expected either. At this point, I don't see a perfect method.

The Filter

Above is the first implementation of the in-place filter for Popup Clips in the current Public Beta of ArsClip. Now that a large number of clips can be shown on the popup, an in-place filter seems like a reasonable feature to add to Clip Sets.

To help advertise the new feature, the filter icon is only shown on the first Clip Set expandable menu and only when highlighted. On a default install, Clip Sets aren't usually visible. This means that only more advanced users that work with more than 20 clips on the popup are likely see the new feature. This is the target audience for this feature.

There are some issues with this new feature that must be addressed. Currently, only a mouse click on the icon activates the filter textbox. There are some keystrokes that perform special functions while the textbox is visible, but there's no indicator for these keys. The Shortcut keys aren't generated properly when filtering, and a few other known issues.

As always, user feedback is a must to help me polish this new feature.