Hello,

I've been a long user of FDM. Thank you for such a fine program!

I'm wondering what you'd think about having an alternative ribbon UI for FDM? It seems to be the trend amother quite a few applications (Office 2010, Windows 8 Explorer, PowerArchiver, Winzip... to name a few.)

Something that I notice is that it gives them more room to have more options in the ribbon UI.

I also like the ribbon UI, to be honest.

What do you think?


Thank you

amother = among lol

1. We like classic interface.
2. Horizontal ribbon takes much too much room on netbook screen.

_________________
Andrzej P. Wozniak
FDM user and forum moderator

Hello

I'm not saying to take away the classic interface. I suggested ribbon as an alternatibe UI. For example, PowerArchiver provides both classic and ribbon UI.

I'm also not seeing how a ribbon UI takes much space away? Simply, instead of having the classic interface with those massive icons, there would be the ribbon UI, where more options could fit in nicely, without having to navigate through menus.

Please, see this Softpedia's review of PowerArchiver 2011 to see screenshots of its ribbon UI. The space it takes would be the same as the classic UI, the only difference being an innovative UI where more options could be placed. That's all.

All I'm saying is, why can't FDM have a more innovative UI, such as ribbon. It's appealing, it allows room to have more options visible. It won't take much space away.

Also, for those users wit netbooks, and who would like to have the ribbon, you could give the options, at it happens with Microsoft Office 2010, to minimize the ribbon, give way more visible space.

Again, I'm not asking/suggesting to kill the classic interface. Rather asking if it could be possible for you folks to provide an alternative UI (ribbon) as well.


Thank you

Sorry, I forgot the link: http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/window ... 3806.shtml

Please, be aware that those screenshots were taken in a high resolution screen. I got it installed in my own system (a 15" laptop), and it's quite a pleasant task to work with it, I must say. It doesn't take much space, at all.

1. Toolbar in FDM isn't fully configurable now - you can only change skin. You should first ask to add toolbar configuration, I think.
2. Ribbon takes room for two FDM toolbars. I'd rather see an option to change toolbar icon size and possibility to move FDM toolbar like toolbars in OE/IE.
3. If you want to have more options instantly available, minimized ribbon is less usable than toolbar with small icons. Use netbook with 7-10" screen, not notebook, and you see the difference (or open your ribbon apps in a small window, not maximized).
4. Windows Ribbon Framework is available for Windows Vista and Windows 7 only. Fluent Ribbon Control Suite (free available MS Office Fluent Ribbon implementation) requires at least .net Framework 3.5 (available for WinXP and newer Windows). FDM now can work also with Win9x/2000. It means you can't see ribbon in FDM soon, I think. Not in FDM 3.x series for sure.
5. You don't have to use FDM if you don't like it.

_________________
Andrzej P. Wozniak
FDM user and forum moderator

Usher, I get all that. But, what you're not getting is that I'm not asking to REPLACE the classic UI. I'm asking if it could be possible, in the future, for FDM team to introduce a ribbon UI in FDM. That's all. I didn't say today or tomorrow, or the next day did I?

Just because some people are still using Windows XP or netbooks, that doesn't mean that FDM can't evolve and stagnate in what comes to the UI, does it? If that was the case, many software would still have UIs from years ago.

It would be the same as saying that games cannot evolve, simply because some people don't have powerful machines. It would be insane.

And, no, I run PowerArchiver 2011 non-maximized.

Then you say that if I don't like FDM, that I don't have to use it. You make it sound like I'm attacking FDM and FDM team. I'm not. No need to be so defensive. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't be using for a very long time, and I wouldn't suggest anything, at all. I would never use it, and would rather use another and make suggestions to that other team of developers, and not FDM team.

Relax