New ArsClip Stuff

The first new feature has been added to the ArsClip public beta - a user request. The new option lets you paste a clip as a file. This will automatically place the contents of a clip in a file, place the file on the clipboard, and simulate a CTRL+V keystroke. The effect will be the same as pasting a file in any Explorer-like program. The program supports TXT, RTF, and BMP file formats. The Export button in Edit History, however, will perform the same function for several clips at once.

The second new feature is hidden in the arsclip.ini file. Two new values have been created for overriding the system default associations for TXT and BMP files. When 'Edit' is selected from the Clip Menu, the program will first check the override before defaulting to the current system settings. The 'Edit' function requires a single-instance program to detect when the program close, so this override is useful for specifying a compatible program (like Notepad and Paint).

Even More Status

Rename Master

The last changes have been made to the Renaming Script interface. It looks a lot like a fancy list with checkboxes, so it should be more familiar to most users. The new right-click context menu, also, should be more intuitive.

Thought 'Test 9' was supposed to be the last of the new changes, I felt this change was good enough to warrant delaying the official release by about a week.

ArsClip

Some minor changes have been made for the new Public Beta v4.6, but there's no current plan for any features. The current changes were all issues reported by users, so I'm just playing it by ear.

Yet Another Status Update

ArsClip

Version 4.5 is now an official release. It has been ready for a while, but I've been side-tracked with other things. Like the previous version of Rename Master, it is mostly a bug-fix release but with one nice new feature. The pin-to-list option is a surprisingly useful feature that should have been added long, long ago.

Rename Master

The current Public Beta is mostly finished. I think I've met my goals and I've no current plans for new feature. The remaining changes will just be focused on polish and bug fixing.

The Renaming Script has received some much needed attention and love. I'm pleased with the results and think it's a massive improvement in both usability and readability.

The new replace options added to some of the Remove steps both adds complexity and simplifies the process. My goal was to remove some of the need for having to combine multiple steps - something a new user isn't likely to know about.

The new Select and Move step is an experiment, so it's currently an unknown. I think it is safe to say that "moving" is the hardest thing to use in a program, but the easiest thing for a person to do instinctively. I'm not sure if this step is a training tool for a larger concept, or if it's going to be usable for a newer user.

The 'Getting Started' wizard was embarrassingly out of date. I've never had a good idea of the usefulness of this part of the program, so I've neglected it. In a perfect world, someone else who doesn't know the program would write this part of the program -- I don't have this luxury. My current goal for this wizard is to just introduce the broad concepts of the program to demystify the major functions.

Select and Move

Shown above is the first version of the Select and Move step. As said before, its functionality is limited compared to all the combination possible by combining a Remove step with an Add step. It, however, is not reasonable to expect a new user to quickly figure out combining steps.

This step currently allows for 6 methods of selecting text and 6 methods of moving the text - for a total of 36 different combinations. In reality, there are only 3 different categories of each operation, making 9 different combinations. These 3 operations are similar to the 'Before/After', 'by Position', and 'Beginning/Ending' style steps. This means that text is defined using a set position or by searching for a phrase.

Last Goals

For Rename Master, I've addressed most of the problem that I have with the Renaming Script. The last Public Beta change allows for the shading effects to be remove, so the list looks a flat. This is the simplest view designed to not clutter or distract.

In order to perform an operation like "Replace the first 5 characters with XXX", two Renaming Steps have to be used - and this is not intuitive. First, the Remove Beginning/Ending step is used to remove the characters. Second, the "Add to Beginning/Ending/ step is used add the text back to the beginning. There are two solutions for this. The first and most obvious solution would be to create a new "Replace Beginning/Ending" step. The problem with this is that the number of steps would increase from 12 to 15. The second solution would be to re-purpose the current Remove steps to optionally replace the removed text. While neither solution is perfect, I lean toward re-purposing as the better solution.

The last planned change is to create a brand new "Select and Move". This step, combined with the re-purposed steps, removes the need for most complex multi-step scripts.

There is another planned change, but it may not make it into version 3dot3. I was thinking that a right-click menu for the Renaming Steps may help. The context menu would combine all the move/reset/delete options into a single location. I've not quite convinced myself if this is needed or just extraneous.

New Look

I'm about 95% happy with the new visuals of the Renaming Script in Test 4. I'm not happy with the colors, however, so I added configuration settings for the user to customize the look. The current saturation and brightness works well on my monitor, but I'm sure this will be different on multiple systems. This way, the user gets the "joy" of spending a lot of time trying to find that magical combination of hue and brightness that makes them happy. Since color is so subjective and this is such a prevalent visual feature, I think customizable colors is a must.

I've moved the Folder Browser button and created a normal looking button to replace it. I'm guessing that most users do not toggle this feature often, so this change should be minor. While the old vertical button was convenient, it was easily overlooked by most users. It was also confusing to have it and a splitter so closely placed together. Moving this button, however, required adding a close button directly on the browser pane to make it just as easy to use.

Usability Update

The above shows two views of the new file list display options. The tabs allow for a quick and easily identifiable way of changing how or if folders are shown. The older method of switching file list views was often overlooked. The filter is now shown as a clickable label that will expand into an editable control. This makes more room for the path control above the file list and removes clutter for for a filter option that is not often used.

Since the Renaming Script work is still in progress, the next public beta will likely contain some temporary color settings.

Readability Update

The above screenshot shows the current progress for work on the Renaming Script. The left shows the last Public Beta that just changed the font and the amount of information shown. The right shows further cosmetic changes for the next release. The work is slow, tedious, and requires a lot of experimentation.

The type of step is much easier to see and the amount of empty space has been reduced. The simpler square shapes are much less distracting and make it look more like a list. The "disabled" state text is a little darker than standard gray to make it easier to ready.

I'm, however, tempted to completely remove the collapse/expand button. Now that the entire step is colored, I suspect that clicking on the step would be more intuitive. This will also make more room for the description text, which should aid in readability.