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Tray App Menu Labels - How should they be changed?

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John T. Haller
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Tray App Menu Labels - How should they be changed?

Due to an oversight, we now have 2 "Apps" entries in the system tray right-click menu. The first for the same Apps popup menu as in the main menu with Check For Updates, Get More Apps, etc in it. The second for the new Apps list in the system tray right-click menu. Now, having both is a bit silly. So, we have some options.

1) Switch "Apps" for Check for Updates, etc to "Manage Apps" and keep "Apps" for the full app list. The only issue here is that Apps on the main menu does the same thing as Manage Apps in this case and there is some inconsistency. Switching both to Manage Apps doesn't work as the string is too long for the button in the main menu. The inconsistency isn't a huge deal as most users will never use the right-click menu.

2) Switch the new "Apps" entry that leads to your apps to either "Categories" or "Apps by Category" within the right-click task menu. The latter makes a bit more sense than the former.

3) Remove the original "Apps" entry to eliminate confusion, though this would require opening the full menu to get at these options, which I'm not a big fan of. It would inconvenience the small set of users that prefer to mainly use the right-click system tray icon.

Eventually moving the categories into the menu proper is an option, but it's a bit messy code-wise for right now, so while this is a good idea, it definitely won't make it into 12.0.2. Keeping the two submenus that are created on the fly (Apps and Favorites) is the way things are staying for the next patch releases in the interest of time. Any suggestions to change that aren't part of this discussion.

Any thoughts?

Gord Caswell
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Option 2

I'm in favour of option 2 - Apps by Category.

Just a thought, but since we're ideally aiming for less confusion and more consistency, maybe we should adjust "All Apps" on the menu proper to be the same?

I'm not sure how doing so would affect the multiple options for how to show the apps in the full menu, though.

John T. Haller
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All Apps?

All Apps? You mean the "All Portable Apps" entry at the bottom? I'd rather not mess about with it. The only change I want is to ditch the word 'portable' there.

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3D1T0R
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Why?

Why ditch the word 'portable' there? It serves to remind people that this list is only for the portable apps that they have, and that if they're looking for a local app they should look elsewhere.

~3D1T0R

John T. Haller
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Contexts

As fewer people are using them in the traditional 'portable' scenario. We're focusing on cloud and local installs more significantly as that's where the growth is. USB flash drive use and purchases are declining and will continue to do so. We'll also be adding in the ability to show locally installed apps in the menu and using the PA.c Platform as your main Windows menu in the near future as well.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Gord Caswell
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yes

Yes, that entry. I was going by memory as I was on my tablet at the time.

Heh..and evidently I was mind-reading too.

I personally have no issues with the entries being different, as I tend to use the hotkey to open the menu - I keep the taskbar button hidden.

Aluísio A. S. G.
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Done that in Brazilian Portuguese

The 12.x Brazilian Portuguese translation uses "All portable apps" for the tray submenu.

Previously known as kAlug.

3D1T0R
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Option 1 : Switch it (back) to "Manage Apps" (for both places)

I noticed that there were two "Apps" submenus, and was considering saying something, but I hadn't figured out just what to say yet.

  • Upon Platform updates I always manually change my EnglishGB.locale to back to use Manage Apps because A) That's what it said when it was originally introduced, and B) it makes more sense to me as the Apps themselves are not in there, that menu is for managing the apps.
    Note: Also it looks like it fits on the button just fine for me. Pardon See http://postimg.org/image/6xj37t5il
  • I think the Tray Icon's Context Menu's App List should continue to say "Apps" because … it's a list of the Apps.
  • When I just want to check for updates I used to click the tray icon or use the hotkey, then hit 'A', 'U' (I would guess others may have gotten used to this too), but with the search box automatically acquiring focus when the menu comes up this means you now have to hit 'Alt+A', 'U' or 'Tab', 'A', 'U' which doesn't sound like much, but it takes a while to change what you've become accustomed to doing.
    I think it's much easier for people (who want to keep the always-on functionality of the search box) to get used to right-clicking, rather than to have to get used to using different keystrokes, so I think the (Manage )Apps submenu in the tray context menu should stay.
  • I personally think that having the Categories appear in the initial tray context menu is a bad idea, both aesthetically, and because it'll take more coding time/effort than a simple string change.

So yeah, my vote's for changing it (and the corresponding "Menu Proper" button) be changed to "Manage Apps" (like it used to be).

~3D1T0R

John T. Haller
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Too Long

As stated, Manage Apps is too long. Multiple non-English locales will overflow the button. The main menu will not be changing back to Manage Apps. Honestly, Manage Apps was never right anyway, Get Apps would have made more sense. EnglishGB will be switched to Apps in the next update. Eventually, it will become App Store or similar when the app store is folded into the main platform.

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3D1T0R
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EnglishGB has already been changed, I change it back for my use.

In English it fits, couldn't other languages use creative translation techniques to make their versions fit? Would "Manage" be better?
I don't think "Get Apps" or "App Store" really fits based on what's in there.
Is there something else it could say instead?

~3D1T0R

John T. Haller
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App Store

You're not managing anything, though. You're not handling uninstalls, checking app space, etc. It's 4 links to the app store then check for updates and refresh. Check for updates is duplicated from Help and Refresh is duplicated from the app right-click menu. Eventually, that'll just be a single window with the integrated app store.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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