Default Folder X 5 Progress Report

Wow – I’m getting inundated with email and tweets asking what the status is and when it’s going to be done. It’s great to hear from everyone and I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Some bits have taken quite a bit longer than I expected :-/

So, taking a break from coding for a few minutes, here’s a summary of where things are:

  1. DFX5Shot File dialog stuff is all working except for handling default folders. Recents, favorites, hierarchical menus and the new drag and drop bar work well. Here’s a quick screenshot of what’s on my screen today (that’s the tagging view showing below the dialog, including recently used tags, and the drag and drop bar on the left).
  2. DFX now also automatically adds a button to your Finder toolbar, and clicking it slides out the drag and drop bar below the current Finder window. This lets you toss a file into the bar, switch to another Finder window, and then drag it to where you want it.
  3. There’s more information in the attribute tabs below the file dialogs and it all works more smoothly than it did in v4 (and the code is way better now – much easier for me to work with!).
  4. Update checking just went in – it wasn’t hard, but just hadn’t been on my hot list until I got all DFX’s basic features working and debugged well.
  5. So what’s left? The big thing is getting the preferences finished. There’s a lot of configurable stuff under the hood (the menu structure, shortcuts for a ton of things, etc), but I may hold off on actually putting that in the prefs due to the amount of time involved. Other things: I have to drop in the licensing engine and get the upgrade process put together (both for licensing and upgrading from old prefs).
  6. There are still a lot of features and suggestions on my To-Do list, but I’m making sure the fundamentals work well for the first release and getting it into people’s hands as quickly as possible, given how much feedback I’m getting that you just want that stuff to work on El Capitan first and foremost.
  7. Oh, and yes, there’s the appearance… This is what I’ve got now, and like v4, version 5.0 will probably ship with one appearance. Then you’ll all send me hate mail about what you think of the new look and I’ll add other appearance options (including something that takes up less screen real-estate).

I’m trying to balance features with getting it into your hands ASAP.

So the bottom line? We’re half way through October and it’s not feature-complete, so it’s not going to be fully tested and done by the end of the month, as much as I’d like it to be 🙁 But I’ll have a public beta in your hands by the end of October that will be solid and will get your workflow sped back up again.

OK – back to work….

18 Responses to “Default Folder X 5 Progress Report”

  1. Lucius Kern says:

    Thank you..

    we’re waiting.

    Great job on DFX

  2. Thomas_U says:

    Thanks for the update and the good work. Take your time…

  3. Justin says:

    Thanks so much for all your work on this product. Happy to see the screenshot and the detailed progress update! Can’t wait to get my hands on a beta!

  4. Frank marder says:

    Thanks for the update. Looking forward to the beta.

  5. Dan Flynn says:

    Having moved to El Capitan before realizing this wouldn’t work, I now appreciate how much I rely on your product (I actually upgraded my home Mac, and your product has kept me from upgrading my work Macbook). I look forward to the public beta.

  6. Larsen says:

    Great news! Looking forward to v5. 🙂

  7. Mark says:

    Great, can’t wait to see the beta!!

  8. Scott B Steinman OD, PhD says:

    I’m impressed by your progress so far, considering how much had to be rewritten for El Capitan. I’m eager to see the public beta. Thanks for the update.

  9. Emen Mali says:

    Good news, but working with my files IS NOT the same without DFX. So much more work involved going through my files.

  10. Christina Warren says:

    I’m so excited! I cannot wait.

  11. Rick Holzer says:

    Thanks for the update! It’s nice to see how much I miss DFX! Great product!

  12. gOOse says:

    The only reason I didn’t update to el capitain yet. Can’t operate without DFX!

  13. yesyesyes says:

    any new?

    • Jon says:

      Testing’s going well – just trying to get things finished up so I can get it out for much wider beta testing 🙂

  14. dave says:

    Great job!
    Eager to test it indeed.
    Question, what are these icon on the left side?

    One thing though… the interface is a bit big.
    You could slim it down so it would take up less space or have an option for smaller icons.
    Wish I could help on the UI.

    Anyway, congrats!

    • Jon says:

      Yeah – it’s a bit big, especially for small screens. There’s a “minimal” interface option, though I haven’t actually finished that yet (focus has been on functionality first). If you’ve got UI ideas or suggested mockups, I’d love to hear/see them. Shoot me an email at defaultfolderx@stclairsoft.com.

      The icons on the left side are a temporary draggable area – for tossing frequently used stuff or for transferring to the Finder (there’s a corresponding drawer that slides out from Finder windows)

  15. Hervé Le Dantec says:

    Can we register to be notified of the launch of the beta test?

    Because I can’t work on my Mac without DF X, I didn’t upgrade to El Capitan yet.

    Thanks

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