InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by David_H on 2014/11/23 00:36

I first tried IQ I'd guess almost 5 years ago. Loved what it was doing but ultimately abandoned it due Not to the complexity, I have 0 issue with a program that caters to power users, but due to navigation issues. When I use software I want to be able to get where I want quickly, and be able to group main selections in a meaningful fashion (especially when I'm going to have 50-100 folders/grids). I've grabbed a screenshot from Zoot but could have grabbed one from any of a hundred other programs, Outlook, Evernote etc...

Notice how the navigation on the left which allows the user to group selections. Will IQ ever see anything like this to group and access grids?

Thanks

The ability to group

Comments

Hi David,

grid grouping/hierarchical organization has been asked for a while ago. It didn't happen (yet), but since grids can be named and renamed easily (unless you refer to grids a lot through hyperlinks in IQ itself :then you'd have to stick to some names if you refer to them a lot), you can create your own categories. Grids appear as a list:

E.g.

proj_1stProject

proj_2ndProject

proj_ResearchProject

proj_UniversityProject

proj_WorkProject

tasks_hierarchicalView

tasks_Project1

tasks_Project1WithGantt

tasks_whatever

.... but it's easy to navigate by typing the first letter of a grid's name.

I have almost 200 grids, and that's what I do, without much drawbacks, if any.

Here's how I access any grid:

1- press Ctrl+Shift+O (you can use another shortcut if you want) to open the grid menu

2- type the first letter of my grid (repeatedly if needed),

3- press enter.

then: a-If the grid isn't already open, it will open; b- if it's already open, it will be brought to the front; c- if it currently has the focus, it will be closed

That's it.

I just timed myself : it usually takes me between 3s and 8s to get to any grid (up to 8s when many grids start with the same letter and I need to find the right one, but 4s and less for others) ; then depending on the grid and the DB size it takes a few more seconds for the grid to open. This is quicker than most DB I know, and quicker than trying to find/access most document I need to access.

I also tend to keep a lot of grids open so they're always available. (e.g. tasks, references, various projects, ...)

Of course, being able to organize grids in categories could be useful and would probably be visually more appealing, but I'm not 100% sure that it'd make navigation faster. Especially for those grids you'd be able to access under 3-4s, and even for the others.

More "visual" people would probably be happier though.

That said, I'm all for it. Plus:

--> A better implementation of "search as you type" in the grid menu (we should be able to type more than one letter to get to the right grid almost instantly)

--> A "browser type" history browsing (back and forward in history) would help tremendously. I know Pierre had plans for that.

That 'd make it really easy to alternate between various grids (even if they're not side by side) for example.

--> named filters. Those could be grouped too, as in your screenshot.

[2014-11-23 01:42:58 : edited quite a bit ... sorry, ideas kept coming ]

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Windows 8.1

Sony Vaio S Series 13 (SVS131E21L)

Ram:8gb, CPU: Intel i5-3230M, 2.6ghz

Hi Armando!

Good to see you still here! Thanks for the tips. Those are the types of things I used to try, however I think about almost everything related to organization in terms of categories, so yes I am visual in that sense and want to see them, AND be able to easily click back and forth between them. If I open a folder with subfolders in Outlook as an example, I can see all of my subfolders and click between each f them in less than 1 second. Again, I appreciate your advice, I'm just explaining why the navigation paradigm for a program is so important to me.

Hi David,

Yes, still there after, well... many many years!

IQ is actually the application I use the most.

What one must "balance" in the decision to embrace (or not) such a software with such a wide range of possible applications is... the annoyances vs the strength. If grid grouping the only hindrance, I'm sure it's possible to name/order your grids (the order can be manual) so that the one you use the most appear at the beginning of the list, appear in groups, etc.

(The fact that grid management could be made better is still valid IMO)

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Windows 8.1

Sony Vaio S Series 13 (SVS131E21L)

Ram:8gb, CPU: Intel i5-3230M, 2.6ghz

Thanks Armando. I agree completely with your analysis.

Pierre, I was thinking about this and unless I am mistaken the most efficient way by far to accomplish this would be to add a menu to the program as in the attached screenshot. with the folders representing grid category holders. That would completely eliminate the need for a substantial UI change. Is that feasible and something you would consider adding?

Thanks

Hi Pierre,

Any comment on the above idea?

Thanks