The Big Fat Feature Suggestion Thread

[appletv]

The Big Fat Feature Suggestion Thread


Hey Folks,

first of all - let me thank Binarynights for the development of ForkLift.
Ive been looking for a useable dual-/multiu-pane/app for about 10 years. The last great app of this kind actually was DOpus on Amiga (Windows Commander always was nothing but a bad copy of it).

I would like to take the chance to use this post and thread to suggest a whole bunch of features, that i think might greatly enhance both the user´s productivity by using ForkLift and Binarynights position to comparable products ...... and even not yet fully comparable products from third parties ;)

I will extend the list of suggestions as I come across more useful features.

ForkLift can become THE ONE productivity app for mac !

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Suggested Features


General
- feature to have more than 2 panes (widescreen displays easily support 3 or 4) -> add "new pane" button & shortcut
- "reveal item in ForkLift" (a global contextual menu item to open any file from any app in ForkLift -> like the "Show in Finder" option)
- column/list/icon view in each pane (column view makes navigation in folders twice as fast -> keep the display of the path below tabs though - its great)
- restore tabs & panes from last use in their original state (column/list/icon view) incl. FTP/remote panes
- restore position of ALL ForkLift windows, their position, sizes and panes from last use
- saveable tab sets
- individual tabs for each pane
- remove sidebar entries (Favorites) with "drag & puff" -> like Finder
- rename items with "long mouse select" -> like Finder
- auto-select full item name for easy overwrite when renaming
- ability to change icon with internal Get Info feature -> like Finder copy & paste


FTP/SFTP
- Feature to copy the full local path of an remote-item (/usr/www/htdocs/myarchive.zip) to the clipboard with a command in the contextual menu (right mouse)


Item preview
- Zooming slider for previewing multiple images at different sizes (like Finder & iPhoto)


Script
- Applescript Support (Killer Feature for real productivity) -> possibles uses (yea infinite but a few) :

ability communicate with other applications
custom workflows
use ForkLift as compression/ftp/sync tool in workflow


- Automator Support (for users without applescript knowledge)


Compression
- integrate stuffit when installed on machine
- integrate UnRarX/Rar-Expander when installed on machine


Plugin architecture
- you know how apps become famous and how to establish a great community ...... let users contribute


Killer Features


ForkLift as DEV environment / Editor

- internal text-editor as pane
- open files in internal text-editor as pane (see suggestion for more than 3 panes above)
- open remote files in internal text-editor as pane -> saving will save on remote
- tabs in text-editor pane for opened documents (with overflow-pulldown ;) )
- integrate scripting dictionaries (applescript,HTML,Javascript,PHP,C++ etc.) for syntax highlighting in internal text-editor

=> makes ForkLift a fully features web-dev environment
=> imagine 3 Panes (local pane to graphics | remote pane to web-dir & scripts | internal text-editor) -> dream


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That´s about it for now - updates to THIS post will follow as soon as i come across new ideas !

Oh ..... there´s one more thing !
Discussing more features is the one half in helping to create a great app !
The other half is : BUY IT NOW - it´s worth every penny !!!

[tomkruk]

I would gladly pay $100 for app like this.

P.S. Amiga Forever. Funny it was such a great computer with such great software that we still reflect on it!

[appletv]

Ok here we go - i took some time to create mockup screenshots for some of my suggested features above.

These screenshots mainly cover the aspects of:

- mutiple pane sets with more than 2 panes
- multiple tabs per pane
- internal text editor with syntax highlighting

The one problem one comes across when dealing with more than 2 panes is ....... whats the source and whats the destination for copy/move ?
Well - after thinking about it for a while i noticed that it´s already solved the way you work with dual pane apps.

Destination is the Pane you used last.
Source is the pane youre currently working in.
Any other panes simply become inactive.
Done....

1st - a 3 pane view with detailed description
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/1918/forklift3panes1wb8.th.jpg (http://img340.imageshack.us/my.php?image=forklift3panes1wb8.jpg)

2nd a 3 pane view including an internal text editor
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6840/forklift3panes2kh8.th.jpg (http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=forklift3panes2kh8.jpg)

That´s what i call the ultimate file control app that everyone can use as simple or as complex as he likes...

Let me know what you think ;)


PS: Yes id gladly pay a lot more than $30, too for such an app !!

One has to stop oneself when thinking about the possibilities after a while though - gets you all crazy.
Just imagine running webkit/browser in one pane .....
Just imagine having an RSS browser in 1 pane .....
Just imahine having Terminal in 1 pane for SSH .....
Just imagine preparing packages in 1 pane and distributing it to 2 FTP´s with automation ....

ForkLift ...... it´s ....... everything ;)

[csaba]

I must commend you on your enthusiasm appletv - we had a great time reading your post, as it reminded us of ourselves when this ForkLift project was started :)

Most of the features you described are dead on, and will definitely get into ForkLift over the next year. So much that we're in the process of coding a URL copy feature in point 2.

Column View and mouse rename are also on our dev shortlist, meaning 3-6 months

Plug-in support is basically there, it's just that the APIs are not public yet. If you look inside the ForkLift bundle, you will see that most features are implemented as plugins.
It's just that we are uncertain about making the APIs public at this time - in great part because of technical reasons (so much will still change in core stuff), but also because we do not know if this is a good idea at this time.

As to multiple panes it seems to be a bit overkill. You could simply open a second ForkLift window or a tab at this point... I mean, you can't use more than 2 panes at one time.
Still, we'll keep looking at your screenshots for a while, getting into the feel of it a bit...

Again, great piece of reading :)


PS: Mudi wants to let you know he did use DOpus on Amiga...

[tomkruk]

Good to know you guys are still this enthusiastic.
By the way, I agree about more than 2 panes. Perhaps you should make it a poll.

[csaba]

Hi again appletv,

I was looking at these screenshots, and something struck me that I wanted to share with you: You are not using the Favorites at all.
Well, I use them all the time, to access files and local or remote folders, and they work great.

I find favorites really fast way for switching quickly between locations. But also, you can do a lot more with favorites that with panes and tabs. With favorite groups now, I've been using them to sort and have direct access to my folders and files, remote and local. I works really well, and you can manage Favorites so much better than Tabs (like you can save a connection as a favorite right there, when you set up the connection; you can categorize them, and sort them, etc)

Still, I do tend to agree with you for having more than one panes. I mean, there are times where I will open an extra Finder window in addition to ForkLift, because I need to see the contents of more than two folders at the same time. So there's that.

But please, give the Favorites a chance :)

[appletv]

Of course im using favorites - i got a ton of FTP annd smartsearch items in my favs list.
I just closed the fav-groups for the screenshots ......

Still - pane Tabs are a MUST ;) They are far more flexible than favorites - which should not change their role as local and remote path-"boomarks".

[Evaldas]

I'll use appletv's thread to suggest a feature from TotalCommander:
pressing "Apple+Right/Left" could mean not focus on left/right side (this is perfectly done by "Tab"), but open the marked (on which you're standing) folder in right panel (if "Apple+Right") and vice versa.

[muellero]

this "open in other pane" feature would be truely important! in fact, it is one of the most used shortcuts for me when using TC.
a rather unwieldy way to achieve s.th. similar:
clone pane -> enter -> switch panes
i agree with evaldas that this feature is needed.
by the way, is there a way of how to combine several keyboard-actions to s.th. like a macro-action? that would at least allow me to make some of these cumbersome keystroke combinations more usable.