a few more comments

[Berlin]

First of all, thanks again for all the work, greatly appreciated! While I have a few things to complain about, coollector is absolutely the best movie database I've found so far.

Now for the complaining... I've thought about what exactly it is that bugs me, and I guess its just... I mean, don't take it the wrong way, but its just ugly. I think the whole GUI would greatly benefit from a major overhaul. Like, these standard windows GUI elements, they're huge, they're ugly, and they fit the rest of the design exactly 0%. Actually, even better than just the overhaul - make it really skinable! I know that that would be a _lot_ of work, but I think it would catapult coollector into a whole new ballpark...

I noticed that in the sort-options, there's no option to sort by my own ratings. That would be nice to have.

My last point is (well there were a few more, but then I noticed that coollector actually does have these features and I just didn't find them - it would be great if we could add titles (complete with posters and stuff) to the database. Maybe have two databases, one big one that you maintain, and another user-db independent of the other one, so that it would remain untouched after an update.

and that's it, back to working with it I just thought about a nifty way to deal with the language thing, since I have a lot of movies in different languages - Before I import them into coollector I make subfolders for german/english/french, so that when coollector asks for what language these movies are that I just imported, that feature really makes sense. I have no idea wh I didn't think of that before...

cheers,
Jo

[(cool) Hector]

While I have a few things to complain about, coollector is absolutely the best movie database I've found so far.

Thank you!

don't take it the wrong way, but its just ugly

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

I've tried to make the interface as consensual as possible, but whatever the look I choose, there's always people who love it and others who hate it. It's like with clothing or house decorating, not everybody has the same taste. That's why I've chosen the solution to made the interface as customizable as possible, to give complete freedom to the users to make the interface look the way they want and nobody will judge if they have "good" or "bad" taste.

To begin with, you can change the layout in many way... You can switch between single and dual pane modes. You can change the style of the grids, the number of columns, the size of the thumbnails, etc...

Secondly, there's a skin system to change the colors, the backgrounds, the fonts, the sizes, etc... Click the menu "Tools->Skins selector" and you'll find dozens of skins to choose from.

If you don't like any of them, you can create your own, starting from any skin you want and modifying it with the menu "Tools->Skin Editor".

Because you're so picky about the look of the interface, probably you're more an artist than me (I'm not) and hopefully you'll create a gorgeous skin that you'll contribute for the others to enjoy. If it's really that good, maybe I'll make it the default skin

If you think the skin system has some limitations, I'll be happy to hear your suggestions.

I keep an eye on the various competing apps and websites, and I've never seen a look that Coollector couldn't reproduce in a few steps.

I think the whole GUI would greatly benefit from a major overhaul. Like, these standard windows GUI elements, they're huge, they're ugly, and they fit the rest of the design exactly 0%

Please explain with more details. The only windows GUI elements I can think of are the scrollbars, the tabs and the buttons. Am I missing something?

I noticed that in the sort-options, there's no option to sort by my own ratings.

For the filtered search list, click on the "rated" shortcut (on top of the screen) and the list will be ordered by your ratings.

For the filmography of a person, at the bottom of the list you can set the order to "personal rating".

it would be great if we could add titles (complete with posters and stuff) to the database

When a movie is missing from our database, you can request it's addition in the dedicated forum thread and it's added with the next update:

https://www.coollector.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=116

If what you want to manage personal movies not listed on IMDb, sorry I don't plan to add that feature.

[Skinamp]

Now for the complaining... I've thought about what exactly it is that bugs me, and I guess its just... I mean, don't take it the wrong way, but its just ugly. I think the whole GUI would greatly benefit from a major overhaul.

I disagree, it's the flexible interface that i like most,
All i want to know is in the visible area of the program....
There are others like the bookshelf interface, or interfaces with huge posters, i think
those databases waste important space for useless things.

[Abubakar Siddique]

Now for the complaining... I've thought about what exactly it is that bugs me, and I guess its just... I mean, don't take it the wrong way, but its just ugly. I think the whole GUI would greatly benefit from a major overhaul.

I disagree, it's the flexible interface that i like most,
All i want to know is in the visible area of the program....
There are others like the bookshelf interface, or interfaces with huge posters, i think
those databases waste important space for useless things.

Bro, I think he was not talking about others like the bookshelf interface, or interfaces with huge posters. He is talking about the windows components which is kind of bit old GUI components compared to the latest running versions of Windows.

Although it can be customized, but still some marks are left behind (Refer to attachment)

So as per my technical view, Berlin is right.

[Skinamp]

Well i don't bother.

For me the program has to catalog my movies, i dont care if
a button isn't looking very nice, sorry

Maybe its a programmers iseu to bother about such things?

P.S.
I always go back from win10 to win7 because i think
Windows 10 is very ugly, complaining about the buttons
while using windows 10 is a contradiction

[(cool) Hector]

So as per my technical view, Berlin is right.

I'm quite ok to listen to your critics, and more importantly to your suggestions.

For example on your screenshot, what problem do you have with the buttons and the pop downs? What would you replace them with? Can you sketch something to show me? Or maybe show me a screenshot from another app...

[Abubakar Siddique]

Something similar to this...

[(cool) Hector]

Something similar to this...

Thank you for the sketch.

Well, what you did to the popdowns doesn't make sense to me. When I see them I don't understand they are popdowns.

You seem to only have rounded everything, the buttons, the tabs, etc... On Windows, tabs doesn't look like what you did, and buttons are rectangular. That's how those controls looks on Windows and depending on your version on Windows (XP, etc...), Coollector will match the look of your system. On Mac, the tabs and the buttons have a completely different look, the look of the Mac system.

In other words, Coollector uses the native controls of your system. This way it looks like a Mac app on Mac and like a Windows app on Windows. If you make some research, you'll find that Mac users particularly hate it when and app doesn't look like a real Mac app. They don't like Java apps or ported Windows apps.

I feel like you want to make Coollector look like a mobile app, but it's not, it's a desktop app. You're supposed to recognize the control from your system. If each app decides how the controls look, it's a mess.

https://www.quora.com/Should-my-app-use-the-native-controls-of-the-platform-or-look-the-same-on-all

"Users tend to not like apps that don't look like the platform that they are running on."

[(cool) Hector]

Please keep making suggestions, I appreciate your feedback and I don't want to stop you.

But if your suggestion is to transform Coollector into a non-native app when I've put so much effort to make it native

[(cool) Hector]

The controls are rounder on Mac:

https://www.coollector.com/screenshots/Screenshot1.png

https://www.coollector.com/screenshots/Screenshot1_MAC.png

[Abubakar Siddique]

Oh I miss to draw the down arrow in the design

And regarding the rounded corners, your website is one of the item of my inspiration

Yeah I understand that you designed it based on native Windows components.

Actually since I use Windows 10, so I wished if the Coollector was designed to the look of Windows 10 apps. But since you are using native windows components then its fine.


Well something just now popped in my mind. Its just I am sharing. What if there is a function in Coollector that whether the user want the native look or a totally different look (the way we were wishing)

Since I use some developer tools such as "Android Studio" , "Net Beans" and many other similar softwares, they come with the option of "Look and Feel" and it totally redesign the whole GUI.

I am not telling you to follow it, its just it came to my mind.

[(cool) Hector]

What if there is a function in Coollector that whether the user want the native look or a totally different look (the way we were wishing)

Because Coollector uses the native controls, it's the operating system that manages the controls from start to finish. I ask Windows to draw a button and Windows draws the button, manages it's various states, etc...

What you're asking would require me to create my own set of controls from scratch.

There are several parts of Coollector that I let the operating system manage, like the file selector dialog, the font selector dialog, etc... All this of course to have a native-behaving app.

[(cool) Hector]

Oh I miss to draw the down arrow in the design

It's a proof that you can't make weird things with the look of the controls. Users expect a certain control to have a certain look and they recognize the controls by their look.

[Berlin]

Hector, absolutely right about beauty being in the eye of the beholder, and of course all of that was only my personal opinion...

I guess I was thinking of stuff like VLC or Potplayer, where you can really change the interface completely free, including the position of all the buttons / functions. I mean, I (personally ) don't need some if the functions _at all_, e.g. the info about what Versions of the movie exists out in the world. in regars to appearance, abubakars suggestion was an improvement imho, but I would also put the tickboxes way closer to their despriptions - and a number of other such small changes all over the interface.

Again, I really like coollector, function-wise its near perfect for my use scenario, the stuff about the interface would just be the icing on the cake.

About the database, being able to add my own movies - can I just ask why you are so determined about not adding such a feature? I don't know, but I imagine many people would find that very useful...

[(cool) Hector]

I guess I was thinking of stuff like VLC or Potplayer, where you can really change the interface completely free, including the position of all the buttons / functions.

I don't plan to allow such a complex customization, but if you can think of a better layout, you can suggest a change.

I (personally ) don't need some if the functions _at all_, e.g. the info about what Versions of the movie exists out in the world.

Another part of the customizable layout that I didn't mention is that you can adjust the height of the plot and you can reduce the "existing videos" box. Simply place the cursor below the control and drag.

About the database, being able to add my own movies - can I just ask why you are so determined about not adding such a feature?

To begin with, you didn't tell me what you meant by "own movies". Are they home movies or are they just movies missing from our database?

If they are home movies, I find it weird that you want to have them next to real movies. Personally I don't want to have my birthday party next to Star Wars.

If it's movies missing from our database, the simplest solution is to request their addition, and I'll fill all the movie details for you (the cast, the poster, the description, the running time, the country, the genre, etc...). Adding all this on your own would be tedious, particularly the cast. To make the task easier, I would probably have to create some scripts to collect the data automatically from websites like the IMDb or TheMovieDb, with all the problems that go with it (scripts that break, legal issues). Also if you add a movie on your own, it'll be a mess the day when I'll also add the movie to the database. The program will show two copies of the same movie until you remove your version and switch to the one in the database, you'll have collected the movie details for nothing, etc...