things to improve...

Forum for the PDF-XChange Editor - Free and Licensed Versions

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lkjh
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things to improve...

Post by lkjh »

Being a pdf viewer geek (I have to use them everyday...) I want to criticise some things with the new xchange editor. I want to say I really love the font rendering, the fonts seems to be even sharper but also typographical true (no like clear type which destroys the front due to it's heavy hinting) than in the adobe reader which had the best rendering before!

- comments/marked text should have a small pop-up (on mouse over) with the comment content. This is so nice in the adobe reader, you don't need these large pop-up-notes (yellow bubbles) open all the time.

- close the "large pop-up-notes" again when you double click on the marked text. at the moment it opens and I have to move my cursor a long way to close it again.

- please add a small bottom toolbar for the sizing options (size in %, +-, double page, single page...) like in the xchange viewer. A lot of programs (MS office) use this and it's a good thing to have it consistent in all programs at the same place. I miss this very much....

- please add an option for a flat look or at least to change the background. I don't like the mesh background and would prefer a dark solid colour.

- please make the toolbar user customizable, I only need some of the options, it's very cluttered at the moment and there is no possibility do de-clutter it.

- the zoom in/out buttons (the blue ones) are really ugly (sorry :-) )... maybe there is another fresher icon for it?

Best regards!
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: things to improve...

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello lkjh,

Welcome to our forums, and thanks for your comments.

- comments/marked text should have a small pop-up (on mouse over)
Actually the position and state of a po-up note's bubble is recorded inside the PDF File and will be saved between sessions. I do not think that a "close all pop-up notes" is planned at the moment, however a tooltip showing the content of a pop-up should be added in the future as such a feature is available in the Viewer.

- close the "large pop-up-notes" again when you double click
Thanks - we will have this considered.

- please add a small bottom toolbar for the sizing options (size in %, +-, double page, single page...)
But such a toolbar is already present. Please check the attached image.

- please add an option for a flat look or at least to change the background.
Additional UI customizations (like the backgrounds) should also be possible in future builds.

- please make the toolbar user customizable
Toolbar customization is going to be possible in the next build of the Editor.

Regards,
Stefan
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lkjh
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Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:38 am

Re: things to improve...

Post by lkjh »

Thanks for the answer, I'm actually really impressed by the support and really looking forward to the next version!

- please add a small bottom toolbar for the sizing options (size in %, +-, double page, single page...)
But such a toolbar is already present. Please check the attached image.
I know, I meant was this bar at the bottom:

http://i.msdn.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC598302.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... er_4.0.png
http://screenshots.en.sftcdn.net/en/scr ... wer-11.jpg

I find this kind of bar at the bottom very handy and I use it a lot in other programs ...even tough it's not a show stopper when it isn't available.
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Re: things to improve...

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hi lkjh,

Thanks, now I understand which tool you have in mind. It is present in the Viewer (even if originally in the toolbars at the top), but not in the Editor. I will see if that's on purpose, and if not we will see to add that back to the Editor. As for a quicker and easier way to zoom in/out - try holding down the Ctrl key and then use your mouse wheel.

Regards,
Stefan
lkjh
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Re: things to improve...

Post by lkjh »

Thanks!

One addition I forgot... It would be very nice when the upcoming Additional UI customization would also include to change the colour from the (black) bar behind the tab-bar for the pdfs. It's a bit too hard contrast in the GUI imho.

Have a good day, Stefan

ps: I have to praise the font rendering again, it's really so much better than in the viewer and almost every pdf reader I know. 8)
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Re: things to improve...

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Thanks for the kind words for rendering lkjh,

And yes toolbar and UI customizations should allow for tweaks to make the Editor much more to your liking :)

Regards,
Stefan
lkjh
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Re: things to improve...

Post by lkjh »

Sorry for keep writing posts... I hope you understand this all as constructive criticism. :wink:

One small usability thing I noticed...

My personal workflow for highlighting text is the following:

mark the text -> right click to show the context menu -> select in the menu "comment" -> select function "highlight text"

I like this way more than the special marker tool and I did also use the adobe reader like that. The adobe reader (it's the same for foxit reader btw.) has the "highlight text" directly on the first tier in the context menu, the xchange editor has it in a subfolder "comment". I think it would be a good idea to move the three functions from the "comment" menu directly in top hierarchy from the context menu to reduce additional cursor movement.

I see that you use 7 items for the context menu and I'm guess this is not an accident (5+-7 chunk rule...), but I even knowing this I would definitely think that the usability would be enhanced when the "highlight text" function would be on the first tier in the context menu for faster access.
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Re: things to improve...

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hi lkjh,

No problem about the posts, and certainly we do appreciate any constructive criticism or feature requests you might have. I will run that through our devs for initial assessment and if approved we will make a FR ticket and add that to our "ToDo" list.

Regards,
Stefan
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Re: things to improve...

Post by Vasyl-Tracker Dev Team »

Hi, lkjh.
I think it would be a good idea to move the three functions from the "comment" menu directly in top hierarchy from the context menu to reduce additional cursor movement.
Sure, good idea, thanks. It will be moved to top of context menu.

Best
Regards.
Vasyl Yaremyn
Tracker Software Products
Project Developer

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