ACDSee Pro 3 Beta - Bugs

Process 'mode' isn't a mode

• 

  k h
  Focus Group

  In user interface design, a mode is a distinct setting within a computer program or any physical machine interface, in which the same user input will produce perceived different results than it would in other settings. [Wikipedia]

  "Process mode" doesn't fit this definition.  In other words, Pro3 doesn't actually have a Process Mode.  What it has is merely a Process Button which leads usually to Develop Mode and sometimes to Edit Mode.  In other words, there are two genuine modes -- Edit and Develop -- accessed via the Process button.

  Ordinarily the Process Button transitions the UI into Develop Mode.  But when revisiting an already-Edited image (a rarity in my workflow), the button leads instead to Edit Mode.

  Develop and Edit really are distinct modes, with not much in common except for their bottom filmstrip (crippled like the one in View Mode) and their general purpose of making changes to the image.  Artificially labeling them as submodes of "Process Mode" merely adds confusion and complexity. 

  Users must look in two places to see which mode is active:  the mode bar at top right (Manage/View/Process/Online), and the folderlike Develop/Edit tabs atop the left-hand tool panel. 

  Furthermore, an extra unnecessary annoying click is required to go from Manage or View mode to Edit mode.  First you must click the Process button, then click the Edit tab, wasting precious deciseconds while ACDSee superfluously paints the Develop Mode toolbox.

  (In my workflow, I frequently go directly from Manage to Edit mode.  The extra click to get past Develop mode is a nuisance.  No, I do not want to memorize a keyboard shortcut.)

  (I shoot RAW+JPEG.  Usually the in-camera JPEG is satisfactory with just a Straighten and/or Crop... so whenever possible, I edit the JPEG in Edit Mode because I don't want ACDSee to save the original for non-destructive editing.  Disk space is tight.  If I screw up too badly I can always develop the RAW file or restore the original from my backup DVD.  When exposure or color adjustments are needed, I'll develop the RAW file because these operations benefit from the extra dynamic range.  Almost always, for RAW files I want Develop mode; for non-RAW files I want Edit mode.) 

  A suggested solution:

  • Eliminate the Process Button.
  • Move the Develop and Edit tabs from the left-hand toolbox up into the mode bar, taking the place of the Process Button.
  • In messages and documentation, substitute "Develop Mode" and/or "Edit Mode" for "Process Mode", as appropriate.

  Result:  A simpler, less cluttered UI.  New terminology which users must learn is reduced by one.  Number of clicks from Manage/View to Edit mode is reduced by one.

  Posted On September 14, 2009 - 11:08 PM (2 months ago) (Permalink to this post)
• 

  BrettB
  Member

  I think the semantics are debatable, and I don't think there is a particular lack of clarity in the way that it is presented in Pro 3 (I'm not sure the Wikipedia entry actually makes itself clear anyway).

  I do think, though, that you have a good point in terms of workflow. Being able to choose either develop or edit from the tabs would cut a step.

  I suppose how it affects you depends on your workflow. In 2.5 I tended to go to Raw Processing and save from there as Tiff, only then choosing where to edit the file - most of which I do outside ACDSee. I might sometimes tweak a file in Edit. I wouldn't generally go from Develop to Edit directly.

  As it stands though, when I click Process the mode I want appears so not a a particular issue for me.

  It may have been an attempt to simplify the interface and link the two processing modes together, but I don't think an extra tab would be clutter. I think your idea would be a bit tidier in fact.

  It may be there is a particular workflow in mind which I don't use and I suspect at this stage in development this won't change for Pro 3.

  Posted On September 15, 2009 - 04:22 PM (2 months ago) (Permalink to this post)
• 

  Marc Sabatella
  Moderator

  I agree, the wording is odd, and the lack of a direct button to access Edit mode is unfortunate (although I suspect deliberate - I think they want to discourage people from using it).  I'd just observe that the keybord shortcuts are customizable, so you can make them as easy to remember as you see fit.  I have my Develop and Edit mode shortcuts customized to R (for RAW Processing) and E, respectively.

  BTW, going to Edit mode to get arund the saving of the original file doesn't do that.  Edit mode saves your original too.  It's been requested to make this optional, and I hope they listen, but as of now, Edit always does this.  So there's no advantage in using it over Develop in that respect.

  Posted On September 17, 2009 - 05:32 AM (2 months ago) (Permalink to this post)
• 

  k h
  Focus Group

  BTW, going to Edit mode to get arund the saving of the original file doesn't do that.  Edit mode saves your original too.  It's been requested to make this optional, and I hope they listen, but as of now, Edit always does this.  So there's no advantage in using it over Develop in that respect.

  Argh.  You're right.  I turned off "Save Originals" in Tools/Options/File Management when the feature was introduced in Pro2.5.  Now I see that in Pro3 this option applies only to batch editing.  Fortunately it's not hard to delete the Originals subfolder to free the space.

  I like the new Straighten/Crop tools in Develop Mode.  I hadn't used them much on JPEGs, only on RAW files.  Now I see they're fast and, unlike the first beta, no longer pollute the directory with .xmp files.   I'll switch to using Develop Mode for my next few hundred JPEGs and see how it goes.

  Posted On September 17, 2009 - 06:22 AM (2 months ago) (Permalink to this post)

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