Virtual Folders display wastes space.

Hey, Yuri -- take a look at this:

so, below are two images. one is a set of files as displayed on my start menu with "expand my documents" selected. the other is what the same files look like in TLB's virtual folder listing set to "small icons" and "text menu" in "1 column".

a few differences are noticable:

1. the TLB version uses a lot more blank space, which is unnecessary. it also adds a vertical gray bar, which isn't necessary. is there a way to change these things?
2. the TLB version has a fixed menu width, rather than automatically adapting like the explorer menu to whatever the file name length is.
3. the TLB one, even with "background load" checked, takes much longer than the explorer version. setting it to "auto-arrange" is even slower.
4. the TLB menu, when there are more icons than vertical space on the screen, scrolls much more slowly than the explorer version. this is a problem for laptop users whose video adapters run more slowly on batteries than on AC power.

so, my question is: can you fix the TLB views to look more like the explorer ones, and to perform faster?

perhaps you can simply add an option to display virtual folders using whatever procedure explorer uses, rather than the TLB one? this would be useful for virtual folders that don't incorporate plugins or background pictures, and don't need special handling by a program like TLB.

thanks.

The view from TLB

here's the explorer version (the menu is wider than the song titles in this section because song titles lower down have longer names):

1. the TLB version uses a lot more blank space, which is unnecessary. it also adds a vertical gray bar, which isn't necessary. is there a way to change these things?

The vertical grey bar is supplied by the skin (either TLB or Windows) you're using. The blank space can be fine-tuned in TLB Settings > Metrics > Menu item height

2. the TLB version has a fixed menu width, rather than automatically adapting like the explorer menu to whatever the file name length is.

Increase the value of TLB Settings > Metrics > Max menu width

I have no idea about the performance issues...

thanks. that's two issues down, but the vertical space and the procedure for loading the menus remains a problem.

Vertical space can be changed via TLB Settings > Metrics > Menu item height (as Dracula say). Also you can use one of skin to remove gray line at the left side and reduce the space between items.

In the next versions I'll try to speedup the loading process.



Edited By Yuri Kobets on Aug. 26 2004 at 14:11

makes sense. thanks! i guess i just need to fiddle with this stuff some more.

sorry...