Hi Mariusz,
I finally took the time to play with this feature and formulate my thoughts. Let me first say it's a terrific tool, thank you once again for the great work!
Here is a list of suggestions that I think would make this feature more straightforward / easier to use. Please note that I'm definitely not a power user of this feature. I knew it existed in TC but never got quite used to it, and I haven't used TC for years anyway. That means I still have a relatively fresh / unbiased look but I may also be overlooking things... So as always, feel free to disagree :)
1) Merge 'Filename mask' and 'Extension mask' fields
Maybe I'm missing something but I don't really see the need for 2 separate fields for 'Filename mask' and 'Extension mask'. Since both are concatenated anyway, why not combine those 2 fields into a single one?
2) Add token buttons that insert the token, like in TC. This has two advantages :
- less typing for those who prefer clicking
- no need to open the help to look up the token syntax, it would always be there. I for one never quite remember parameter names (or only after a long time) and need to be frequently reminded which is which -- this would help me a lot :)
Note that 1) would make this more straightforward than it is in TC.
3) Adding a short explanation to the beginning of the 'Mask', 'Search & Replace' and 'Counter' panels would help understand what each of them do. Using a smaller font would make the labels not too prominent.
4) Appending [C] to the 'Counter' title (so 'Counter [C]') would help understand what the Counter components (Start at / Step by / ...) do. It took me a while to figure it out the first time, this would have helped me I think.
5) Rename the 'Start' button to 'Rename' and enable the button only after a change has been made.
6) Rename the 'Close' button to 'Cancel', this would leave no doubt that clicking it will not make any change.
7) I find the 'mask' terminology unclear, though I can't find a much better word at the moment. 'Renaming Pattern' maybe ?
8) I suggest we call this feature "Batch Rename" instead of "Multi Rename". I think the name would be a bit more clear for people who are not familiar with this feature. Plus, 'Multi-Rename' has TC's name all over it :)
9) OK this one may be a bit difficult to implement but I think it would be real nice and make a big difference : use a different font color (or a bold style) to highlight changes in the old and new filenames. For example, if a file named 'Air - Talisman.mp3' were to become '01 - Talisman.mp3', we could display the old and new names like this:
'Air - Talisman.mp3' '01 - Talisman.mp3'
10) As it is an action that cannot be undone easily, I think we should have the user confirm the operation when Start / Rename is pressed. Something like "15 files out of 20 will be renamed. Do you wish to proceed ?" with a small "This operation cannot be undone" mention, like on the permanent delete warning.
11) With the confirmation dialog in place, we could safely have the ENTER key trigger the Start / Rename button.
12) I'm wondering about the 'Block' feature: I understand what it does (freeze the new name as it currently is) but is it really necessary? What I mean by that is : does it allow to do something that can't easily be achieved otherwise? It can be useful to make an exception, but I guess you could simply do a second Batch rename instead, or even a simple rename.
My feeling is that 'Block' is a bit complicated to use even when you know what it does. I for one am not sure that I would think about using it, and would probably choose to remove the file from the list and rename it after.
What do you think ? Do you often use it ?
As a side-note, it would have been nice to somehow harmonize the token syntax with that of custom commands (like $n, $e) as Nicolas previously suggested. But since tokens like C or N take arguments, the current syntax with [ ] delimiters is probably more appropriate.
That's about it, sorry about the length of this post! This is a very powerful tool you got here and it works well already. If we can make it just a tad easier to use then more people will be using it.
Please let me know what you think and thanks again for your efforts!
Cheers,
Maxence
