ArsClip Musings

The above screenshot shows a few things I'm working on.

First, shortcut keys are shown in expandable menus when the keyboard is used. This will remove as many shortcut keys as needed from the rest of the popup to add keys to the submenu items. Closing the menu will return the shortcut keys to normal. Those using a mouse will see no change when opening an expandable menu.

Second, the shortcut keys visuals have changed slightly. The color and the font weight are changed. The coloring is based on the current font color. It will lighten very dark colors, darken very light color, or slightly darken all other colors.

Third, more color fixes have been made. The highlight and the icon column colors, for example, are generated using the current colors as a base. In some cases, darkening or lightening the color fails. More safeguards have been added to prevent issues. This better supports the custom color settings.

A New Scratchpad

I've added a new sub-page that's basically just some random notes about the current programs. Since my "high tech" method of keeping track of planned changes and ideas for programs is just a text file, I figured it would be a good idea to make the process transparent.

ArsClip Wrapup

At this point, I'm no longer adding any new feature for the current beta. My intent it to fix and polish the current changes for an official release.

The new set of features is small for this release: improved Clip Menu, improved Clipboard Only pasting, improved Popup to support more clips and "clicked" notification, improved Tooltip, improved Hotkey Alternatives.

The behavior of the Clip Menu is now more consistent. There are no secondary windows used for submenus. I've still some experimenting to do for possible keyboard shortcuts for this window.

The Clipboard Only pasting mechanism is now more intuitive. A small tooltip is shown to signify the clip was placed on the clipboard only. This operation should be less confusing.

Support for a larger Popup Clips history is implemented with a set of features. First, Clip Sets keep the size of the popup manageable. Second, the program no longer has to reserve one shortcut key per clip. Third, the History settings have been changed to allow for a larger number of Popup Clips. Lastly, there is a new page in the Configuration specifically for Clip Sets. The color changes for clicked clips are also new to this version.

The Tooltip has been updated to show Richtext. The Tooltip's job is to give a more detailed preview of the current clip. Now, for a Richtext clip, plain text is shown on the popup, but the formatting is shown on the Tooltip. Support for HTML Clips is being researched and not likely to be included.

There were 2 issues fixed with Hotkey Alternatives. First, the program now distinguishes between a full screen program and a maximized program. This is for the right-click trigger. Second, the system tray routine is more liable for detecting the target program.

Clip Sets

In the latest upload, I've added a new page of options for Clip Sets. These new options alter the number of clips per set and when to enable sets. By default, these Clip Sets are enabled for when there are more than 20 clips shown in the clip history or when the popup is taller than the screen. The idea is that this option should trigger for users that are likely to need use sets.

A second feature I've added targets an issue when showing many clips. Before, every clip would be assigned a shortcut key. When showing a large number of clips, it's easy to run out of keys to use. The new option limits the number of keys assigned to the popup clip history.

Options for Features

It's a "secret" of mine that I don't add a bunch of options for new features on purpose. The reason is two fold. The first reason is to see if and how people use the new features. The second reason is to not invest too much time in an unpopular feature. The goal is to guide new options and features based on how people are using the program, not just how I use the program.

I added a feature to draw pictures directly on the popup a few versions ago. I had a few ideas for options of this feature, but ultimately only focused on issues that were reported. One unexpected result was that I ended up completely reworking how clips were stored in memory for massive performance gains. While I toyed around with an option to draw a scaled image on the popup, I ultimately stopped because of technical problems and no feedback on the subject. I've guestimated that most people only use picture clips in a single program and don't have much need for past picture clips, since this is also my experience.

In the current beta, I do plan on adding more options for the Popup Clip "sets" feature and possibly the Clip Menu submenus. Currently, I've only had one feedback about the grouping feature, but I know from previous emails that more people than expected use a large number of clips on the popup. My current idea for options are the number per set and an option to disable sets. Right now, sets are arbitrarily enabled when more than 22 clips are shown on the popup. I'm toying with the idea of only turning this feature on when the popup won't fit on the screen. I'm also toying with an idea for only adding shortcut keys for the first few Popup Clips, since it's easy to run out of keys to use.

More ArsClip Tweaks

When the current program is set for Clipboard Only mode, there is no visual cue. It can appear that ArsClip is not working. For every other mode, the cue is that a clip is pasted in the target program. To visualize what's happening, the program now shows a quick "Clipboard Only" tooltip when the target program uses this mode.

The Clip Menu, the right-click menu for the popup, has always been awkward. It needs to appear on top, like a popup menu, but a true popup menu would close the main popup. While I do plan on doing more experimenting to come up with a better window, I've updated this current Clip Menu to get rid of the clunky submenus.

When adding a new feature, the user needs some way to know it exists. I tend to not add features that are difficult or impossible to discover in the program. In the current test upload, I've added some preliminary help text to the "Permanent Clips / Macros" window to describe the current set of Commands available.

The Add A Step Problem

In v3.5 of RM, there was a major issue when adding a new step to the Renaming Script. This is both good news and bad news. The good news is that the Default script seems to be doing its job. The bad news is that the error was not caught by a user until after the official release, since the issue only occurred during a specific set of visible conditions.

After already releasing 2 hotfixes today (3.06 and 3.06 B) that only partially fixed the issue, I tracked the error down to a single typo. Version 3.06 C contains the corrected code. Unfortunately, 1000 users already downloaded v3.5 in the past two days.

More Status and Such

Version 3.5 of Rename Master is now an official release. The major feature of this release, beside bug fixes, is the new Swap Step. This makes swapping parts of the filename much easier to understand. I've left the swap example script in the archive just to show how to do more detailed scripting using cut-and-paste type operations. The only idea rattling in my head at this point for RM is a help screen for new users to describe how to work with MP3 and JPEG files, since this is the most common use.

At this point, I've one experimental idea in mind to mess around with for ArsClip. This is the "grouping" idea. I've had a few feedback emails that prove that more than a few people want a lot of popup clips available directly from the popup. Currently, the Popup Clips and the Recently Removed clips can almost function this way.

Basically, when a large number of Popup Clips are available, the program would automatically use expanding menus to display clips 1-20, clips 21-40, etc. What I need to figure out is when to use it and how to split up the group. For example, this could trigger only when the popup is taller than the screen. This feature could also always be on when more than 20 clips are set to display on the popup. Currently, the popup will automatically scroll when the mouse is moved towards the top or bottom of the screen on the popup. There's no visual cue for this event and it's different than the Windows popup, so it's not quite intuitive.

The only usability issue I can think of is that drag re-ordering wouldn't function. I'm guessing this isn't a big issue, if I'm correct that few people use this feature. Also, it would probably be a good idea to automatically remember and show the last group that was expanded. By default the newest clips (1 through X) would be expanded.