Hello from Austria. Some requests/suggestions (Macbook Pro)

[(cool) Hector]

I've just realized that because of your strange quoting, I've missed a lot of your messages...

So I guess my official request is this: Can you keep the DVD covers in the left pane on whatever I select them to be. I rarely care about the entire database but have a greater need to just search my owned movies.

It takes 1 click to display your owned movies. You click the "owned" shortcut, and it'll set all the filters to display your owned movies. If you quit the program with your owned movies displayed, they'll still be displayed when you'll open the program again. What else do you want?

That's my point exactly, perhaps you could give us a choice. It would make the searches much more user friendly

You can combine the "owned" filter with other filters. But the string search always searches the entire database, because if you know what title you're looking for, the string search will lead you to the movie.

I click on owned and as soon as my mouse moves, the word "owned" is no longer highligted.

Those buttons "rated", "owned", etc.. are just shortcuts to quickly set the filters of the filtered search. You could set the filters directly, but the shortcuts are much faster (1-click).

I think you'll find this could make it very handy for quick reference. It would really be handy to have a quick at a glance view at the top of what collection I'm looking at.

You're looking at the database with some filters applied. You just have to look at the filters to know what's displayed. Or you just read the message that says "You own 1,200 movies and series".

[(cool) Hector]

I think you should make it more useful to users like me and my 2 friends that want the flexibility to search only our own movies.

The filtered search can filter your owned movies and apply other filters at the same time. For example, you can display your mkv files of westerns from 1963 to 1971. Etc...

Only the string search works with the entire database, because it's a string search. As soon as you have entered 2 or 3 words, the result set is very limited.

It would be absolutely perfect if we could toggle at our desire which database to search.

Please stop saying that. There's 1 database to which you apply filters.

I fear that you're thinking of only one small niche of consumer for your product which could limit you.

You're wrong. It's a pity you still haven't understood the concept.

Think about how many people have their own massive collections on their hard drives!.

Coollector is already the best program to manage your video files. There's even a dedicated shortcut "playable" to only display the movies that you can play from your hard drive, and a "play" icon.

[(cool) Hector]

Just re-read that it's only a few clicks, so maybe I'll try it, but I don't usually mess with skins.

Our skin editor is child-play to use...

1) click the menu "Tools->Skin editor"

2) select the "Text" tab. The select box is currently set to "Title", which is fine.

3) in front of "owned title", there's a red rectangle.

4) you click that rectangle and pick the color of your choice.

5) you set the select box to "grid title" and change the red rectangle again.

6) you click "Save".

[(cool) Hector]

What if a user wants to search only the movies he/she owns?

You apply the filter "owned". Then you apply other filters to refine your search.

If you mean a string search, then why would you search specifically the movies that you own? When you do a string search, it's because you know exactly which movie you're looking for, and the string search will quickly locate it. Unless you want to make a silly search like knowing how many movies you own that contain the word "love".

This would be great for the home movie buff that just wants your database more as a catalog with their stuff that is searchable with the option of searching the Coollector dbase.

Our concept is even simpler than that, and I'm sorry that you don't get it...

There's 1 database, to which you apply filters ("owned" is just one filter among many others).

There's no switching from one database to another, then back again, and having to remember which database you're currently working on

[Movie Collector Pro]

I've just realized that because of your strange quoting, I've missed a lot of your messages...

Yeah, not sure why my quoting is so strange. I'm not a big user of forums so it's probably user error

So I guess my official request is this: Can you keep the DVD covers in the left pane on whatever I select them to be. I rarely care about the entire database but have a greater need to just search my owned movies.

It takes 1 click to display your owned movies. You click the "owned" shortcut, and it'll set all the filters to display your owned movies. If you quit the program with your owned movies displayed, they'll still be displayed when you'll open the program again. What else do you want?

You are correct Hector but when I have all of my owned movies on the left and THEN I do a search it mixes up the search with owned and not owned. So a user barely notices that the view has now changed to all dbase movies and not just the ones that are owned. Either way, I think I have beaten this horse to death, and then kicked it so I'll let this one go. No sense in entrenching ourselves in our positions and then creating hard feelings. The very reason I'm here is because I like the work you've done so far, and I see great options you could add. I don't want to make you angry if you can't see my points.

That's my point exactly, perhaps you could give us a choice. It would make the searches much more user friendly

You can combine the "owned" filter with other filters. But the string search always searches the entire database, because if you know what title you're looking for, the string search will lead you to the movie.

That does make sense the way you say it. However, ponder just for a moment; Would it hurt anything to offer the option? Think about it. You have nothing to lose by adding it, but the inverse is not true. Either way, I'll drop that subject. Horse dead.

I click on owned and as soon as my mouse moves, the word "owned" is no longer highligted.

Those buttons "rated", "owned", etc.. are just shortcuts to quickly set the filters of the filtered search. You could set the filters directly, but the shortcuts are much faster (1-click).

I think you'll find this could make it very handy for quick reference. It would really be handy to have a quick at a glance view at the top of what collection I'm looking at.

You're looking at the database with some filters applied. You just have to look at the filters to know what's displayed. Or you just read the message that says "You own 1,200 movies and series".

I'll consider this topic dead....no sense in continuing I think. Remember, I'm on your side and I support your efforts. I'm not the enemy. I have many friends that are programmers and I listen to their frustrations routinely. So I know it's tough fielding ideas from many different fronts.

[Movie Collector Pro]

I think you should make it more useful to users like me and my 2 friends that want the flexibility to search only our own movies.

The filtered search can filter your owned movies and apply other filters at the same time. For example, you can display your mkv files of westerns from 1963 to 1971. Etc...

Only the string search works with the entire database, because it's a string search. As soon as you have entered 2 or 3 words, the result set is very limited.

It would be absolutely perfect if we could toggle at our desire which database to search.

Please stop saying that. There's 1 database to which you apply filters. I stand by my request to offer the user the option where to search, but I will drop it. Horse is dead on this one, at your request.

I fear that you're thinking of only one small niche of consumer for your product which could limit you.

You're wrong. It's a pity you still haven't understood the concept. I don't need pity, just a few more options. Lamborghini or Gold Plated Lamborghini?

Think about how many people have their own massive collections on their hard drives!.

Coollector is already the best program to manage your video files. There's even a dedicated shortcut "playable" to only display the movies that you can play from your hard drive, and a "play" icon.

I didn't notice the "playable" option. I'm going to give it a shot.

[Movie Collector Pro]

Just re-read that it's only a few clicks, so maybe I'll try it, but I don't usually mess with skins.

Our skin editor is child-play to use...

1) click the menu "Tools->Skin editor"

2) select the "Text" tab. The select box is currently set to "Title", which is fine.

3) in front of "owned title", there's a red rectangle.

4) you click that rectangle and pick the color of your choice.

5) you set the select box to "grid title" and change the red rectangle again.

6) you click "Save".

Ok, I've played with skins, and you're correct it is quite easy so thanks for the input on that. However, my opinion is that the end user value is more for the younger crowd that likes to tweak gui's for appearances only. I'm 40.

[Movie Collector Pro]

What if a user wants to search only the movies he/she owns?

You apply the filter "owned". Then you apply other filters to refine your search.

If you mean a string search, then why would you search specifically the movies that you own? When you do a string search, it's because you know exactly which movie you're looking for, and the string search will quickly locate it. Unless you want to make a silly search like knowing how many movies you own that contain the word "love".

This would be great for the home movie buff that just wants your database more as a catalog with their stuff that is searchable with the option of searching the Coollector dbase.

Our concept is even simpler than that, and I'm sorry that you don't get it...

There's 1 database, to which you apply filters ("owned" is just one filter among many others).

There's no switching from one database to another, then back again, and having to remember which database you're currently working on

There is no "remembering" in my opinion. It's strictly just another way of thinking that is not aligning with your vision of how you want the software to operate. The other friend I spoke of in my first post/rant has 15,000 movies (he's a professional in the actual movie industry) He's currently playing with your software at home and we discussed my points and your points at length last night, and he seems to agree that having the "option" would be a good thing. He told me that he has the same desire to only search his movies and have the results only draw from his owned movies and display only the matches from his owned movies. Like you, I don't understand how you can't see the value in this However, I will respect your position and drop the subject. As I said before, we're both just digging in our heels to protect our points of views and I don't think this conversation will go any further. So another horse is dead.

[kakashi]

However, ponder just for a moment; Would it hurt anything to offer the option? Think about it. You have nothing to lose by adding it, but the inverse is not true.

That isn't necessarily so... That would probably take quite a bit of planning and effort on the developer's part. It would also create more things for the end user to try to understand some of whom might not be as discerning as yourself. The download size would probably be at least a bit larger and spending time to develop a feature that would only be usable in a few very limited cases might be disruptive in the development of much more necessary and maybe even vital features.

- A fellow Coollector user.

[(cool) Hector]

but when I have all of my owned movies on the left and THEN I do a search it mixes up the search with owned and not owned.

Then you do what search? Please explain. A string search?

So a user barely notices that the view has now changed to all dbase movies and not just the ones that are owned.

Sorry, but what you say doesn't make sense. The view doesn't change from one database to another. The filtered search works with our one and only database and applies filters to it. If you apply the filter "owned", only remain the movies you own. If you apply the filter "western", only remain the western movies. If you apply the filters "owned" + "western", only remain your owned western movies. Etc...

Either way, I think I have beaten this horse to death, and then kicked it so I'll let this one go.

The problem is really on your side. You're locked in a mindset that is completely wrong. You keep making comments that make no sense because you didn't understand the concept.

No sense in entrenching ourselves in our positions and then creating hard feelings.

Absolutely, but it's a misery that you don't understand how the program works. It could be me that doesn't understand what you say, but it's not the case. I've discussed with other users of the program, and they're like me, they don't understand why you don't get it.

Please forget your fixed ideas and listen carefully to what I say... There's only 1 database. It's a huge movie encyclopedia. You browse that huge encyclopedia to tell which movies you've seen, which movies you own, which movies you wish, etc... When you click the "owned" shortcut, the filtered search applies the "owned" filter to our one and only database. If you click the "rated" filter, the filtered search applies the "rated" filter. Etc...

That does make sense the way you say it. However, ponder just for a moment; Would it hurt anything to offer the option?

But I have considered to offer that option. At first, I was like you, I thought that it was a great idea to combine string search and filtered search. And then I've realized that it was just overkill and unnecessary. You use the filtered search to find several movies. You use the string search to find 1 movie. And the string search works pretty well, even applied to the entire database. When you input the title of the movie you're looking for, you find it. Period. No need to make the interface complex and confusing. Mixing filtered and string search is a complex concept that doesn't bring any benefit.

I'll consider this topic dead....no sense in continuing I think. Remember, I'm on your side and I support your efforts. I'm not the enemy.

I'm torn because I know that you are friendly.

I have many friends that are programmers and I listen to their frustrations routinely.

You said you were 3 friends using the program. Do your friends understand what I'm saying?

[(cool) Hector]

Lamborghini or Gold Plated Lamborghini?

Money isn't my obsession. I'm dedicated to this company, but making a decent living is all I wish for.

I didn't notice the "playable" option. I'm going to give it a shot.

If you only own video files, it'll have the exact same effect as clicking "owned". It's only useful for the users that also own some DVDs.

[(cool) Hector]

However, my opinion is that the end user value is more for the younger crowd that likes to tweak gui's for appearances only. I'm 40.

I know several users who use the skins feature for accessibility issues. They set a skin with bigger fonts because they're short sighted. In your case, you changed the text color because you're color blind

[kakashi]

I know several users who use the skins feature for accessibility issues. They set a skin with bigger fonts because they're short sighted. In your case, you changed the text color because you're color blind

I change mine because of light sensitivity issues. I could've gone without but it really helps...

[(cool) Hector]

However, ponder just for a moment; Would it hurt anything to offer the option? Think about it. You have nothing to lose by adding it, but the inverse is not true.

That isn't necessarily so... That would probably take quite a bit of planning and effort on the developer's part. It would also create more things for the end user to try to understand some of whom might not be as discerning as yourself. The download size would probably be at least a bit larger and spending time to develop a feature that would only be usable in a few very limited cases might be disruptive in the development of much more necessary and maybe even vital features.

Kakashi is absolutely right about the user efforts, and wrong about my own efforts. Technically, I could do it easily. It wouldn't be difficult, it wouldn't take long, and the program would hardly grow in size.

What I'd have to do? Add a toggle button somewhere, that says if we're currently using the entire database or just the movies you own.

What do we lose? The interface would get more complex, with a new button, that I don't even know where to place. It'd be important that the users notice the button, so it'd probably eat up a lot of space. And this button would be very confusing next to our shortcut buttons. You'd always have to remember what database you're currently working on. It'll be inconvenient, because you'll make a string search to add a new movie, but you won't find it because it's not yet in your owned database. You'll realize that and switch the toggle to make the search again. If you're scatterbrain, you'll think that the movie is missing and you'll request its addition...

What do we gain? The string search won't work any better, as it already works fine with the entire database. The filtered search won't work any better, as the "owned" filter is just a filter like the others. Only the persons filmographies will show just the movies that you own... well... like our competitors... It's a great advantage of Coollector to display the entire filmography. Because the movies you've already seen or own are highlighted, it's a great way to discover new movies. And as I said, I plan to add a "person" filter to the movie filtered search. The result will be much more powerful. You'll be able to get the filmography of a person with only the movies that you own, but you'll also be able to apply more filters. And because I plan to add 2 "person" filters, you'll be able to make searches as complex as listing "all the westerns that you own where John Ford and John Wayne worked together".

What am I missing? Please explain.

[(cool) Hector]

It's a great advantage of Coollector to display the entire filmography. Because the movies you've already seen or own are highlighted, it's a great way to discover new movies.

Version 4 will also display the predicted rating for the movies that you haven't seen/rated yet. You'd lose the great benefit of Coollector, which is to discover new movies while you manage your coollection.