Is it possible to make structured menu in Portable Apps?
I'm started to use almost all programs in portable version, so it's not comfortable any more to scroll down when looking for needed program.
New: Kanri (Oct 09, 2024), Platform 29.5.3 (Jun 27, 2024)
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This is coming in 2.0, the release candidate of which is only days away.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Based on my experience with Portable Apps, Cascaded Menus (Categories) should have been implemented a long time ago. It is far more necessary and useful than all those language and skin/theme features? that seem to be consuming vast amounts of Your time, constantly pushing Your v2.0 release , "just a few more days", "just a few more days" and on and on.
There are other similar platforms that implemented tree views right from the 'git go, Considering that probably 90% or more of Your users speak English, Libyan language support seems like a total waste of time (sorry about that remark).
Anyway My USB flash drive has so many portable apps on it, all that scrolling up and down, and up and down, is going to force Me to move to an alternative platform "in just a few days" Some of the alternatives look pretty good as a matter of fact, not giving You much of an "edge" to begin with, but I do like it, if only it had menus\categories, it would be the best choice all around.
[duplicate comment removed by mod JTH]
john1949
Read this again.
Nothing against your own personal opinion, but if you can't wait for a feature that is about to come in forseeable future, feel free to switch, there are many alternatives. Some even work great with portable apps, in a way that they use their descriptions automatically.
I for one consider categories the most overrated feature - and I have one drive with over 150 apps in regular use. My day to day drive still has about 70 app installed. To find them buried in some categories would be awkward.
There are other ways to organize or access apps, I had rather implemented, but they seem not to get realized to soon. Considerable faster scrolling is one of them, but i can live with the way it works now (and I have tried many alternatives...).
On the other hand, localization offers a real benefit for a large percentage of users (even if not for you).
Use plain vanilla 1.6.1
Categories could also be considered secondary IMV, since you have "hide apps" and "favorites".
Admittedly though I'd prefer some of those options in the right-pane rather than having to actually know what is on the left, as some of my clients do not have the forethought to look for such important features.
Cheers though to the dev community here, real quality apps my peers have no problems with even sitting on the desktops as they can be deleted, re-installed over existing apps.
Good work 8)
This is a near-duplicate of the post you already made, which was responded to 4 days ago. We've made progress in the last 4 days, the translations are in (or at least enough to consider it release-worthy as we can update later) and the logic to switch them is nearly complete. As soon as that and the pink corners issue are finalized, we'll be a-posting.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Damn, so it's just the pink corners holding it back?
Since the existing one has the pink corners anyway for all but the Windows 7 theme, why not quietly release the latest platform on the forums?
Any complaint that the feature is too-long coming is perfectly valid. The feature was introduced two, three years ago in the R31 mod. The code exists, and if somebody pirates Delphi (or ponies up a cool grand for it) they can do it themselves, provided they can find the source to both projects.
Artificially delaying it will have three consequences. One, people will continue to ask for it and come to expect it to be better or more useful than it is. Two, people will get tired of hearing it requested and migrate towards a state of mind where they don't want the feature at all. Three, people will get an app launcher that suits their needs. Thus, the rebuttal that there are other app launchers you can use is just as valid.
(Me? At this point I don't really care. On my portable drive, I use Firefox and VLC every day. Those are favorited. I've been using Mp3Tag to clean up some digital media files, so I should favorite that too... done. XnView is also favorited just because. I use KeePass and LightScreen sometimes, as well as CCleaner and CleanAfterMe, but they're all visible below the favorites without needing to scroll. Only Speccy, VirtuaWin, and Yazzle are "below the fold". So I'm not that interested in categories. At this point I think I'd just like one, called "Others" for stuff I don't use very often. Then I can put that at the bottom. That would be a minor improvement. So, I guess I'm in camp #2 above.)
[s/Python/Delphi/ - mod Chris]
Greetings all. I'm a new user of Portable apps. Just started setting up my thumb drive this week. So, for starters, let me toss out a hearty "Thank You!!" I LOVE this whole concept.
That said, the very reason I logged into the forums today was to find an answer to the question "How do I categorize and organize the apps in my menu?" What I see in this thread is, "You don't" and that's unfortunate. I see the 2.0 version has this ability, and I note it is in beta, so I may try to download the beta and see if I can get it to address this issue.
Again, please know that I'm a huge fan of this new-to-me concept, and I appreciate the efforts of those who are working hard to make the application even more excellent than it already is.
- damon
Welcome! Agree that what's available on this site is well worth having, and much appreciated.
However, the latest beta was released last summer, and the main thing it offers that's not in the last stable release is the updater. It doesn't offer support for categories -- that's still coming.
Many of us are chomping at the bit to get the features in the release candidate that aren't in the last beta. I'd love to have that RC now, even if it ain't perfect. But I just we'll just have to wait a while longer.
Rick Carter
Some more ideas for what you can do while you're waiting for the RC:
Set your most frequently used apps as favorites -- that will move them to the top of the first page, and reduce how often you need to scroll.
Install some of the apps to another stick, or to your local hard drive, or to a Drop Box account.
Rick Carter
Also, never underestimate the power of Rename.
You used to be able to bury apps... I forget what the feature was called, but it was like favorite, only it put them at the bottom. Prefix "z_" to an app to "bury" it.
Use Rename to make your own categories. Put [Net] before Internet apps, [Game] before Games, and so on. They won't collapse, but they'll sort as such.
Lastly, if you want something on top, prefix "_" to the name, or if you want to be elegant, a number. So you have your non-favorites, your favorites, and, say, 3 numbered favorites that sit at the top of the top.
Or rock two menus. Like, get a portable dock, and have it rock your favorite apps, and auto-start with the menu. Then hide the apps on the dock from the menu.
Along with using two menus, you can use different themes to distinguish between them. Unfortunately, there isn't currently the ability to change the tray icons along with the theme, and there's no plan for this in 2.0.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
All outstanding suggestions. Thanks everyone for the great feedback!