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Show HN: Desktop app displaying files on a 2D canvas

limandoc.com

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Re: Show HN: Desktop app displaying files on a 2D canvas

#11

Post by limandoc »

pilgrim0 wrote: post #8

Gave it a try on macOS. My first impression is that it breaks expectations for common operations: 1. Two-finger sideways panning does not work, it zooms erratically; 2. Click and drag pans instead of drawing a selection box; 3. Shift + Click or Cmd + Click does not add item to selection; 4. Two-finger vertical swiping does not zoom when hovering an item; 5. The zoom disregards mouse coordinates, always anchors from t…

This was very important for me, can't appreciate enough for your time trying and reviewing.

Indeed I have been focusing on features more than optimization, but I also had to spend huge amount of time with the new UI tool. For example I had to revert a lot of macOS features like two-finger panning and zooming because on Windows/Linux I would not receive an y-coordinate events from trackpad... Some key shortcuts I had to implement myself for that reason too.

I also wished that the sidebar UI lag was the only one :) There are more if high-def images and big PDFs are rendered. The UI optimization will be the primary focus for next two releases.

Regarding POC - for me it is also a business POC - I primarily want to know if other people will find the idea useful, whether there are alternatives etc. While I'm here I also want to ask what use case would you (if ever) consider using it - personal or work related?

Also feel fee to reach at info[at]limandoc.com, as for the extensive feedbacks I will give a perpetual license in the (possible) near future. Having feedbacks is primary reason for this PoC.

Re: Show HN: Desktop app displaying files on a 2D canvas

#13

Post by limandoc »

mqoca wrote: post #12

Any reason why this needs admin rights in windows?

Does the installer needs admin rights? Or the app after installing it? One possible answer is that I self-signed the app rather than using 400$ code-signing authority - hence you might get warnings for the installer.

Re: Show HN: Desktop app displaying files on a 2D canvas

#14

Post by limandoc »

zelos wrote: post #6

Nice. Kind of like Jef Raskin suggested in The Humane Interface? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy_(software)#Zoomworld

This is a great find, thanks! Indeed I had the vision of Zoomworld as described there. The Leaping concept is very intriguing I must say - will play with that for sure

Re: Show HN: Desktop app displaying files on a 2D canvas

#15

Post by pilgrim0 »

limandoc wrote: post #11
pilgrim0 wrote: post #8

Gave it a try on macOS. My first impression is that it breaks expectations for common operations: 1. Two-finger sideways panning does not work, it zooms erratically; 2. Click and drag pans instead of drawing a selection box; 3. Shift + Click or Cmd + Click does not add item to selection; 4. Two-finger vertical swiping does not zoom when hovering an item; 5. The zoom disregards mouse coordinates, always anchors from t…

This was very important for me, can't appreciate enough for your time trying and reviewing. Indeed I have been focusing on features more than optimization, but I also had to spend huge amount of time with the new UI tool. For example I had to revert a lot of macOS features like two-finger panning and zooming because on Windows/Linux I would not receive an y-coordinate events from trackpad... Some key shortcuts I had…

I would use it for organizing dossiers on a research topic. For collecting thoughts and references for things under my current scope of work. I would use it temporarily and not as a primary storage/organization system. A short term memory aid if you will. In this context the number of canvases I would be creating/destroying would be high. The distinct killer feature for me is just being able to layout multimedia files neatly in the canvas. The neatly part is very important to me, meaning I care deeply about media taking a discrete amount of grid cells and filling them up perfectly. I’m used to CAD and design tools where you have complete control of metrics, alignment and spacing. I wouldn’t care for arrows and labels, this ends up just being yak shaving, hard to maintain and superfluous. Your approach is what I think is an ideal desktop environment. Traditional desktops are worthless because they only have icons and do not layout files like a literal desk top. These canvases have very little value as a document for me in the sense of a permanent storage thing. Since there’s no guarantee I’ll have the app in all my devices at all times. I haven’t investigated how you do it, but in the uncommon case I needed to persist the canvas long term, if it generated a single sidecar text file describing the canvas (like obsidian and excalidraw does) then I could depend on this file and commit it alongside my repos. But I would expect the ability to have multiple of these sidecar files for the same directory tree, hence able to have multiple ways of analyzing the same set of media, reflecting different perspectives and stages of analysis. IME software that require zero commitment for using it are the best. Like text files. It feel like a tool and not a platform. So the idea of always creating a project and things like that is pure cognitive overhead to me. Even apps that are fully local and require no account do feel like a platform when they require some kind of upfront establishments prior to giving access to some or all functionality.

Re: Show HN: Desktop app displaying files on a 2D canvas

#17

Post by pilgrim0 »

limandoc wrote: post #11
pilgrim0 wrote: post #8

Gave it a try on macOS. My first impression is that it breaks expectations for common operations: 1. Two-finger sideways panning does not work, it zooms erratically; 2. Click and drag pans instead of drawing a selection box; 3. Shift + Click or Cmd + Click does not add item to selection; 4. Two-finger vertical swiping does not zoom when hovering an item; 5. The zoom disregards mouse coordinates, always anchors from t…

This was very important for me, can't appreciate enough for your time trying and reviewing. Indeed I have been focusing on features more than optimization, but I also had to spend huge amount of time with the new UI tool. For example I had to revert a lot of macOS features like two-finger panning and zooming because on Windows/Linux I would not receive an y-coordinate events from trackpad... Some key shortcuts I had…

I just revisited similar tools to understand better why I feel your tool has more appeal to me than the likes of miro, etc. and I realized I forgot to compliment the good parts. Yours felt way simpler, the ui doesn’t get in the way and that’s a huge plus. I wasn’t greeted with any pop ups, toasts and whatnot. It felt professional like the other software I use, and not a dystopian fragile virtual money grab toy. Those other tools feels enterprisey, thus yucky, cringey. On a subjective level I don't identify with corporate values that’s why I think your tool felt like the very first of its kind I have ever used, because the entire process/context aligned with my values as a hacker, independent researcher. It was a relevant experience for that matter!

Re: Show HN: Desktop app displaying files on a 2D canvas

#18

Post by nemosaltat »

SuperHeavy256 wrote: post #7

You're onto gold here, my friend.

I agree! Visualizing a workflow or a project this way seems to have a ton of potential. I already keep most of my knowledge in Obsidian or template folder structures, and this provides a really neat way to visualize it.

An immediate use case that comes to mind is when I’m sending multiple file “deliverables” to a client— i.e. a quote, a report package, some spec sheets, and a relevant CAD diagram)— I could quickly arrange them on as previews on canvas with arrows to visually communicate how they relate and their relative importance rather using multiple paragraphs to explain the seven attachments.

Re: Show HN: Desktop app displaying files on a 2D canvas

#19

Post by limandoc »

nemosaltat wrote: post #18
SuperHeavy256 wrote: post #7

You're onto gold here, my friend.

I agree! Visualizing a workflow or a project this way seems to have a ton of potential. I already keep most of my knowledge in Obsidian or template folder structures, and this provides a really neat way to visualize it. An immediate use case that comes to mind is when I’m sending multiple file “deliverables” to a client— i.e. a quote, a report package, some spec sheets, and a relevant CAD diagram)— I could quickly ar…

This is a good use-case, thanks! I will be adding arrows quite soon too, but sharing and collaborating externally will take a while, hopefully you have joined waitlist :)

Re: Show HN: Desktop app displaying files on a 2D canvas

#20

Post by limandoc »

pilgrim0 wrote: post #17
limandoc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was very important for me, can't appreciate enough for your time trying and reviewing. Indeed I have been focusing on features more than optimization, but I also had to spend huge amount of time with the new UI tool. For example I had to revert a lot of macOS features like two-finger panning and zooming because on Windows/Linux I would not receive an y-coordinate events from trackpad... Some key shortcuts I had…

I just revisited similar tools to understand better why I feel your tool has more appeal to me than the likes of miro, etc. and I realized I forgot to compliment the good parts. Yours felt way simpler, the ui doesn’t get in the way and that’s a huge plus. I wasn’t greeted with any pop ups, toasts and whatnot. It felt professional like the other software I use, and not a dystopian fragile virtual money grab toy. Those…

Signing under the yucky and bloaty corporate part! I try to keep the landing page clean as well, it was quite important for me, as I want to use a tool, rather than a shiny toy. That is why I prefer simple text editors to Notion; it is a must-have for the my app to be compatible with outside software and not a vendor lock-in.
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