Timeline view feedback

Hello,

I played a bit with the new timeline view in current svn. It's a very nice
addition to the program, and it's working stable and without problems for
me - thanks a lot to the developers!
Here I would like to provide some feedback on the user interaction with the
new tool, which in my opinion could be improved:

At first, you see this big rectangle shaped "cursor" to navigate through the
timeline, and I was slightly confused that selecting a year (or month,
week ...) doesn't result in showing you the pictures within the selected
year. As far as I can tell, the cursor is currently only intended to count
the images in the database which match the corresponding time selection. To
filter images, you instead have to use the narrow bar at the bottom of the
timeline viewer, which I overlooked at first.
        Probably, most users are more interested in finding images taken in some time
interval, rather than just counting images; in particular since the bar view
already gives you an approximate idea about the relative numbers of images
involved (maybe there could be some vertical axis with a scale on it, too?).
        So my suggestion would be to exchange the functionality of the big cursor and
the small bar at the bottom. What I would like even better would be to have a
single cursor thing only, which does the selection and counting business at
the same time - control of the timeline view would then be simpler and more
natural.

Best regards,
Gandalf

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[Gilles Caulier-4]

2008/1/24, Gandalf Lechner <[hidden email]>:

Hello,

Hi

I played a bit with the new timeline view in current svn. It's a very nice
addition to the program, and it's working stable and without problems for
me - thanks a lot to the developers!

Thanks
 

Here I would like to provide some feedback on the user interaction with the
new tool, which in my opinion could be improved:

At first, you see this big rectangle shaped "cursor" to navigate through the
timeline, and I was slightly confused that selecting a year (or month,
week ...) doesn't result in showing you the pictures within the selected
year. As far as I can tell, the cursor is currently only intended to count
the images in the database which match the corresponding time selection. To
filter images, you instead have to use the narrow bar at the bottom of the
timeline viewer, which I overlooked at first.

Yes, this is exactly how KPhotoAlbum Timeline work. I have just reproduce the same behaviours, for a first time, with of course some improvements like discontiguous selection for ex.

The code is not a fork of KPhotoAlbum code. It's my proper code written from scratch. Code from KPhotoAlbum is a little obscur and, from a developper viewpoint baddly designed... But it's another subject (:=)))
 

        Probably, most users are more interested in finding images taken in some time
interval, rather than just counting images; in particular since the bar view
already gives you an approximate idea about the relative numbers of images
involved (maybe there could be some vertical axis with a scale on it, too?).

The cursor give us the real value... but it's not designed to perform selections
 

        So my suggestion would be to exchange the functionality of the big cursor and
the small bar at the bottom. What I would like even better would be to have a
single cursor thing only, which does the selection and counting business at
the same time - control of the timeline view would then be simpler and more
natural.

Totally agree. You is not alone to report this viewpoint. There are few pending task to finalize code as well (outside cursor and selection), and after i will merge selection area with cursor...

Best

Gilles Caulier

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Am Donnerstag, 24. Januar 2008 12:38:17 schrieb Gilles Caulier:

>>       So my suggestion would be to exchange the functionality of the big
>
> > cursor and
> > the small bar at the bottom. What I would like even better would be to
> > have a
> > single cursor thing only, which does the selection and counting business
> > at
> > the same time - control of the timeline view would then be simpler and
> > more
> > natural.
>
> Totally agree. You is not alone to report this viewpoint. There are few
> pending task to finalize code as well (outside cursor and selection), and
> after i will merge selection area with cursor...

That's great to here, Gilles - looking forward to future versions of the
timelineview, then!

Best,
Gandalf
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[Gilles Caulier-4]

2008/1/24, Gandalf Lechner <[hidden email]>:

Am Donnerstag, 24. Januar 2008 12:38:17 schrieb Gilles Caulier:

>>       So my suggestion would be to exchange the functionality of the big
>
> > cursor and
> > the small bar at the bottom. What I would like even better would be to
> > have a
> > single cursor thing only, which does the selection and counting business
> > at
> > the same time - control of the timeline view would then be simpler and
> > more
> > natural.
>
> Totally agree. You is not alone to report this viewpoint. There are few
> pending task to finalize code as well (outside cursor and selection), and
> after i will merge selection area with cursor...

Done in svn. Checkout source code and try again. Let's me hear your viewpoint...

a fresh screenshot :

http://digikam3rdparty.free.fr/Screenshots/timelineconcept3.png

Gilles Caulier

Am Freitag, 25. Januar 2008 08:16:59 schrieb Gilles Caulier:

> > > Totally agree. You is not alone to report this viewpoint. There are few
> > > pending task to finalize code as well (outside cursor and selection),
> >
> > and
> >
> > > after i will merge selection area with cursor...
>
> Done in svn. Checkout source code and try again. Let's me hear your
> viewpoint...

Wow, impressive how fast development can be!

I like the current version better than the last one, since the visual
appearance of the two parts of the cursor has been unified. However, the
functionality apparently remained unchanged: One still has to use the small
bottom part of the cursor for selections, and the big top part mainly for
counting images without filtering the thumbnail view.

In my opinion, the following behaviour would be perfect:

- Completely merge the cursor into a single object, so that there is no
distinction anymore between the top and bottom part (actually, why not throw
away the bottom part).
- Give the complete cursor the behaviour which at the moment only its bottom
part has, i.e. use it for selecting date ranges.
- Either keep the blue line at the bottom to indicate the current selection
range, or give the selected "columns" a different color/look/background.
- Update the image count in the top right according to the number of images
currently selected, not the number of images in the column which is currently
occupied by the cursor.
- Update the date in the top left according to the current selection time
range, e.g. "2005-2007" or "03.-08.2006"
- Maybe provide a vertical axis with a scale for getting a quick idea about
the relevant number of images involved.

This is, of course, just my idea about a perfect timelineview ...

One more thing: The boundaries of the timeline are for some reason chosen to
far in the past/future. In my collection, I have images dating from 1977 to
2008. However, the timeline starts from 1971 and ends at 2016. Is this
intended?

Best regards,
Gandalf

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[Gerhard Kulzer-3]

Am Friday 25 January 2008 schrieb Gilles Caulier:

> 2008/1/24, Gandalf Lechner <[hidden email]>:
> > Am Donnerstag, 24. Januar 2008 12:38:17 schrieb Gilles Caulier:
> > >>       So my suggestion would be to exchange the functionality of the
> >
> > big
> >
> > > > cursor and
> > > > the small bar at the bottom. What I would like even better would be
> > > > to have a
> > > > single cursor thing only, which does the selection and counting
> >
> > business
> >
> > > > at
> > > > the same time - control of the timeline view would then be simpler
> > > > and more
> > > > natural.
> > >
> > > Totally agree. You is not alone to report this viewpoint. There are few
> > > pending task to finalize code as well (outside cursor and selection),
> >
> > and
> >
> > > after i will merge selection area with cursor...
>
> Done in svn. Checkout source code and try again. Let's me hear your
> viewpoint...
>
> a fresh screenshot :
>
> http://digikam3rdparty.free.fr/Screenshots/timelineconcept3.png
>
> Gilles Caulier

Really nice now, Gilles.
There is still a little error with the weeks only: everything of week in 2008
shows also in week 1 2009. Day, months and year is showing correct.

I checked the metadata of those images showing up and they are correct.
What's even weirder is the fact that Week 1: 2007 is shown on top (see
attachment).

Gerhard

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[Gilles Caulier-4]

2008/1/25, Gandalf Lechner <[hidden email]>:

Am Freitag, 25. Januar 2008 08:16:59 schrieb Gilles Caulier:

> > > Totally agree. You is not alone to report this viewpoint. There are few
> > > pending task to finalize code as well (outside cursor and selection),
> >
> > and
> >
> > > after i will merge selection area with cursor...
>
> Done in svn. Checkout source code and try again. Let's me hear your
> viewpoint...

Wow, impressive how fast development can be!

I like the current version better than the last one, since the visual
appearance of the two parts of the cursor has been unified. However, the
functionality apparently remained unchanged: One still has to use the small
bottom part of the cursor for selections, and the big top part mainly for
counting images without filtering the thumbnail view.

no. the cursor position follow selection. This is different.

I have processed also some optimization during selection. before, selection take a while to recompute all internal date map selected for all decade. Now, only current decade is updated in live and all others are processed when you leave mouse button.
 

In my opinion, the following behaviour would be perfect:

- Completely merge the cursor into a single object,

This is done but area to process selection is not the full cursor. Only bottom place.
 

so that there is no
distinction anymore between the top and bottom part (actually, why not throw
away the bottom part).

not agree. navigating around whole dates and selecting date range are 2 different modes that i want to let...
 

- Give the complete cursor the behaviour which at the moment only its bottom
part has, i.e. use it for selecting date ranges.

See before.
 

- Either keep the blue line at the bottom to indicate the current selection
range, or give the selected "columns" a different color/look/background.

I have tested to colorize full histogram bar instead rectangle on the bottom. It's wierd when count is very small : bar selected can be not very visible. So, the current behaviours is always fine.
 

- Update the image count in the top right according to the number of images
currently selected, not the number of images in the column which is currently
occupied by the cursor.

Total count of current slection is given on the status bar.
 

- Update the date in the top left according to the current selection time
range, e.g. "2005-2007" or "03.-08.2006"

Text can be too long, especially if sidebar bar size is small...
 

- Maybe provide a vertical axis with a scale for getting a quick idea about
the relevant number of images involved.

Ah, resizing widget vertically... Perhaps, it's easy to do... I will take a look.
 

This is, of course, just my idea about a perfect timelineview ...

One more thing: The boundaries of the timeline are for some reason chosen to
far in the past/future. In my collection, I have images dating from 1977 to
2008. However, the timeline starts from 1971 and ends at 2016. Is this
intended?

yes, i use the central position of the widget to limit movement on the left or on the right accordingly with the lower/higher date  extracted from Database. I test if lower/higher dates become on center of widget and this can give large border on the letf or on the right. I will study an alternative way later...

Gilles

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[Gilles Caulier-4]

Hi Gerhard,

Please, make a file in B.K.O into timeline section. I will take a look later

Gilles

2008/1/25, Gerhard Kulzer <[hidden email]>:

> Am Friday 25 January 2008 schrieb Gilles Caulier:
>
> > 2008/1/24, Gandalf Lechner <[hidden email]>:
>  > > Am Donnerstag, 24. Januar 2008 12:38:17 schrieb Gilles Caulier:
>  > > >>       So my suggestion would be to exchange the functionality of the
>  > >
>  > > big
>  > >
>  > > > > cursor and
>  > > > > the small bar at the bottom. What I would like even better would be
>  > > > > to have a
>  > > > > single cursor thing only, which does the selection and counting
>  > >
>  > > business
>  > >
>  > > > > at
>  > > > > the same time - control of the timeline view would then be simpler
>  > > > > and more
>  > > > > natural.
>  > > >
>  > > > Totally agree. You is not alone to report this viewpoint. There are few
>  > > > pending task to finalize code as well (outside cursor and selection),
>  > >
>  > > and
>  > >
>  > > > after i will merge selection area with cursor...
>  >
>  > Done in svn. Checkout source code and try again. Let's me hear your
>  > viewpoint...
>  >
>  > a fresh screenshot :
>  >
>  > http://digikam3rdparty.free.fr/Screenshots/timelineconcept3.png
>  >
>  > Gilles Caulier
>
>
> Really nice now, Gilles.
>
> There is still a little error with the weeks only: everything of week in 2008
>  shows also in week 1 2009. Day, months and year is showing correct.
>
>
> I checked the metadata of those images showing up and they are correct.
>  What's even weirder is the fact that Week 1: 2007 is shown on top (see
>  attachment).
>
>  Gerhard
>
>  --
>
> ><((((º> ¸.·´¯`·... ><((((º> ¸.·´¯`·...¸ ><((((º>
>  http://www.gerhard.fr
>
> _______________________________________________
>  Digikam-users mailing list
>  [hidden email]
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>
>
>

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