Redesign of PLAYNITE's filters panel

[Héraès]

 
I would like to know what you think about this idea.
It did ~200 views, but I forgot to open a topic so I can have returns from dev(s).

https://imgur.com/gallery/LsewWB3



The left image is what it could be if we implemented the concept of "quick" filters, coming from the dropdowns.
As you can see there is two tabs on the top of the panel. Default is what we have for now, and "Custom" is what we could create by simply selecting tags in dropdowns and adding them to that custom panel.

[Jeshibu]

Expanding the filters could be useful, but for platforms and libraries that can quickly run other fields off the screen, so it would be more cumbersome to filter some property that's like 4 screen heights down. I recommend that you use the explorer panel (ctrl+E) and use it for filter presets.

[Héraès]

Hello @jeshibu. I didn't understand what you mean, mainly because I'm not english native so it happens that sometimes some syntax are more difficult for me to catch.

When you say 

but for platforms and libraries that can quickly run other fields off the screen

I don't get it. Is "but" meaning "except" ?

so it would be more cumbersome to filter some property that's like 4 screen heights down

I suppose this is articulated with the previous phrase but I can't figure it out. If you mean that this would lead to some UI design problem like something exceeding the height of the screen, I really think it's not, given that I just propose a new tab in the right panel (so, no addition to the actual one in term of height).

Moreover, the actual right panel already necessitates to scroll to access all the filters on a 1080p screen. So I really don't understand how my tab system could increase this (it is the opposite : it's supposed to avoid scrolling in the right panel, to have all the most-used filters accessed in a snap).

I already use the explorer panel (ctrl+e). I just want to use the right panel, but with more control/possibilities.
Actually, using only the explorer panel is mainly enough for me, but I tend to use the right panel for these reasons :

- To avoid constantly changing the filters in the explorer panel (you know, using the drop-down menu to select "Date" or "Gender" or "Category" for instance).
- To have direct access to some co-related taxonomies like "Tags" or "Platform" by moving my mouse to the right panel (instead of opening the dropdown menu of the left panel).

________________________

In fact, if you want to know everything, here's how I proceed :

A) I mainly use "Gender" in the explorer panel. I don't use the automatic filling of that taxon anymore, because it was chaotic : metadata from IGBD are not perfect, I don't agree with the genders they apply to a game, and there is some duplicates like "rpg" or "role-playing game" (this is just an imaginary example), and this make the reading of the explorer panel more messy.

B) I prefered to invent my own set of genders, organised my own way. So I erased all genders in the options of Playnites, and when adding a game, I de-select the "Gender" filling, and then I add a personal one or use one of the existing ones I invented.

C) I also use "Feature" my own way, with entries like : "Keyboard/mouse", or "Controller". I de-select the automatic filling of this taxon too.

D) When adding a game and downloading metadata, I de-select "Gender" and "Features", select my own ones, and I also use "Tags" taxon to add some values like "Solo", "Multi", "Coop", "In-line", "Local", etc.

I know there is an empty "Category" taxon, that was there for users who want to invent a personal set of values, but I already use it for another purpose. And that doesn't exclude the extra taxons we could want to redesign like "Feature" and "Tags", wich can't fit all in the "Category" taxon.

Now, here's what happens when I browse my library :

1) On the left panel (explorer panel), I'm always displaying "Gender" : this way, I can quickly access games with my own categorizing.

2) If I want to apply a second filter above the gender I browse, like "Coop" to only show cooperative games, I use the right panel (filters) to check "Coop" in the "Tags" dropdown menu. I can also quickly apply others filters, and that's very handy.

_______________________

My re-design proposal was to improve the right panel by having a way to select usual filters faster than by opening a dropdown menu.
I achieved this by imagining a tab system in that panel, in wich we could add the filters we use more often, so we could quickly click on things, instead of scroll to reach the dropdowns, and clicking on them, and clicking on the checkboxes.

You have to understand that if a user (like me for instance) just use "Features" and "Tags" in that right panel, this is a pain to always eye-check them in the long list of dropdowns menus. I just want (and think anybody could appreciate) a quicker way to click on things.

[Jeshibu]

I don't like having separate tabs for this, but I'll think about having item collection filters like features and genres be vertically expandable to show more items than the dropdown control

[Héraès]

That won't change the rest of the problem. Why don't you like a tab system ? This is very handy and takes no place.
It's like bookmarks, for quick access (it's not redundant if that's what you feel).