Hi David,

want to fix something, please look and listen to that video:
https://www.markus-drueck.de/public/jAlbum/Videos/jAlbum%20Core/index.html#img=Video_2026-10-14_210142.mp4

Thanks.

There's another problem with the sizing of the right panel in Edit mode. It doesn't properly account for the size of the skin's custom panel. If you open the skin's panel and then click on the panel separator, it does resize properly.

Screenshots.

It does remember the new size for the session, but not after a close and relaunch. And it doesn't adapt to the needs of a different skin - during the session, the size is persistent.

Ideally, the right panel should automatically be wide enough to handle the custom panel of the currently-selected skin (or the core's own panels, if they're wider).

If the user manually makes it larger than needed, I suppose it should retain that positioning, no matter what.

The "hide excluded" choice is another one that's retained only for the current session. I suppose it should be remembered, but should that be for all projects, or only the one that was open when the user chose to hide the excluded objects?

And maybe there should be some indication that there are hidden objects - an icon in the upper or lower right corner of the window? As it stands, there's nothing to tell you that there's other stuff there.

If the user manually makes it larger than needed, I suppose it should retain that positioning, no matter what.

That is exactly what I mean. An application should always give good defaults for the size and position for any dialog. But, to be honest, in this regard JA is a very bad example. All dialogs are way to smal if they open the first time, I'll never understand this, not in 100 years. In my application I open dialogs (which can be resized) in a size which is nearly full screen, regardless of the size of the screen. And some of our users are on 4K screens. But hey, it makes sense to have dialogs big. You don't have to scroll at all or much less.

But what makes it much worse in JA, even if the first size is to small, then after resizing, JA opens the dialog the next time in it's original size. A 100% no-go! My users would kill me for this, really.

The "hide excluded" choice is another one that's retained only for the current session. I suppose it should be remembered, but should that be for all projects, or only the one that was open when the user chose to hide the excluded objects?

This should be for all projects, IMO.

And maybe there should be some indication that there are hidden objects - an icon in the upper or lower right corner of the window? As it stands, there's nothing to tell you that there's other stuff there.

That's what I said some years ago. Of course, if this option is in effect, there should be a visible feedback that there are invisible (excluded) objects.

Except for the tick mark in the view menu and the contextual menu.

Except for the tick mark in the view menu and the contextual menu.

Yes, they're there, but fairly non-obvious. You have to go looking for them.

The unanswered question, of course, is how many users have large numbers of excluded objects in the project window? I never have any - I add to the project only the things that I want to have in the album. The only time I exclude things is when I'm testing stuff.

Me too, except for the obvious theme images. But if I was to have hidden excluded items I would add a note to the project and have the note shown on project load.

Jeff, this is a major issue of David and you. Things you don't use or do are (nearly) non-existing. But users have reasons to do things they like, and they think that they are right. Believe my, I have seen so many things my users do I never had dreamed of, but I can't say to them, hey, what you are doing is „wrong“. No, I have to deal with it.

Regarding excluded objects: Your approach—and presumably that of many other users (judging by the hundreds of posts I’ve read here in the forum)—is exactly as you described: you take 100 photos, pick out 10, and put just those into an album. That way, of course, you don't have to worry about excluding any images. I understand the concept, but I personally think it is completely wrong.

You end up with duplicates of those 10 photos: the originals and the 10 inside the album. You might argue that storage space doesn't matter—and I honestly don't care about storage space—but the real issue is what happens when I edit an original photo: I would have to copy it into the album again for the change to show up there. That is a completely absurd concept. I’m sorry to put it so bluntly.

There is a valid reason for having an option to exclude items, but the implementation simply wasn't thought through to the end. You can see this in the fact that the setting to hide excluded images isn't remembered when you close JA.

Please, everyone, don't get me wrong here. My criticism might be a bit emotional at times, but that doesn't change the fact that JA is a fantastic product!

I can go with that.

The reason why "Hide excluded" isn't remembered is most likely to avoid confusion if people tick that setting and then forget about it, but I see your reasoning too Markus, and propose the following change:

New behaviour:

• "Hide excluded" is remembered between launches of jAlbum. It's not a project setting, but a software preference.
• IF there are hidden excluded objects in the current view, a colourful icon shows in the lower-right corner

This way, the user always knows when the current view contains hidden objects.

Let me know what you think. I'll look into addressing the property panel resizing as well

That sounds perfect for me!

I'll look into addressing the property panel resizing as well

Thanks!

Jeff, this is a major issue of David and you. Things you don't use or do are (nearly) non-existing.

That's not what either of us is saying. It's not what we use or do, but what the vast majority of jAlbum users use or do, as best we can determine. A company that spends its time coding for 1% of its customers goes out of business.

You seem to think that a piece of commercial software should be customized for one user who has some fairly unusual requirements. "I do things this way, and I have this kind of equipment. Everyone else should be just like me, and I can't understand why they're not."

We used to know another user like that....

I definitely don’t want to get into an argument with you or David (or anyone else) about this. My intention is simply to present things as I see them and to ask whether or not others share my views. Sometimes you agree with me, and sometimes you don’t. If we don’t see eye to eye, that’s a pity, but there’s nothing to be done about it. And no, I certainly don’t want to end up in a bitter, heated conflict here—only to end up getting kicked off the forum. <g>

Thanks.

Thanks for the feedback. Try this update (v40.0.4):

Windows: https://jalbum.net/download/jAlbum-install.exe
Mac (M-series): https://jalbum.net/download/jAlbum-M.dmg
Mac (Intel): https://jalbum.net/download/jAlbum.dmg

This release addresses both points.

Hide excluded

• The setting is now remembered between sessions. It’s a program-wide preference, so it applies to all projects.
• When it’s on and the current folder has excluded objects, an orange “hidden” icon (a crossed-out eye) appears next to the filter button. Its tooltip says how many are hidden, e.g. “12 excluded items hidden”.
• Click the icon to turn Hide excluded off, right there.
• The icon is placed next to the filter button rather than in the window corner because it reflects the folder you’re looking at, just like the filter does.

Property panel width in Edit mode

• The panel now sizes itself to fit its widest section, including the skin’s custom panel.
• Expanding or collapsing sections doesn’t make it jump.
• Switching skins re-fits the panel, so it narrows again for skins with more modest panels.
• If you drag the divider wider, that extra width is remembered across sessions and skins.
• You can also drag it narrower, as far as the current panels allow.
• Double-click the divider to go back to “just fit”.
• The image always keeps at least 500 px. A skin panel that’s wider than that allows gets cropped rather than squeezing the image.

Markus, about dialog sizes: jAlbum already remembers the size and position of many windows. Could you tell us which dialogs open too small or forget their size for you? Then we can fix those specifically.

Jeff: Can you adjust your skins that today have VERY wide property panels. As you can see, with v40.0.4 they don't look nice along with the more narrow-designed panels. Use vertical room instead.