Keywords - category or keyword, under Windows

[Graham1]

I have previously made a feature request for this under PM6, but being in the course of having PM6+ take over my full DAM from Lightroom, I am now considering this to be a bug which urgently needs to be fixed.

Keywords can be keywords, synonyms or categories.  Categories, of course, do not export.  On Mac systems, each is separately visible, bold or colour distinguishing synonyms and categories from plain text keywords - you can tell which is which at a glance.

But in Windows, there is absolutely no visual way of telling whether an entry in the Structured Keywords panel is a keyword or a category.  All you can do is right click, to look at the options to which it may be changed, in order to identify whether an entry is a keyword or category: something that is of course hopelessly impractical for a large collection of structured keywords.  My failure to notice that a particular keyword was in fact a category has recently caused me a lot of wasted time and work.

This is solved for Mac, why not for Windows?  If PM6+ is to be used seriously as a standalone database for keywording and to replace Lightroom, this is an omission that urgently needs to be fixed for the Windows version.

Please tell us whether there are any plans to fix this, and if so, when?  I hope that the answer is very soon.

Thank you for considering.

Graham

[Kirk Baker]

Graham,

I have previously made a feature request for this under PM6, but being in the course of having PM6+ take over my full DAM from Lightroom, I am now considering this to be a bug which urgently needs to be fixed.

Keywords can be keywords, synonyms or categories.  Categories, of course, do not export.  On Mac systems, each is separately visible, bold or colour distinguishing synonyms and categories from plain text keywords - you can tell which is which at a glance.

But in Windows, there is absolutely no visual way of telling whether an entry in the Structured Keywords panel is a keyword or a category.  All you can do is right click, to look at the options to which it may be changed, in order to identify whether an entry is a keyword or category: something that is of course hopelessly impractical for a large collection of structured keywords.  My failure to notice that a particular keyword was in fact a category has recently caused me a lot of wasted time and work.

This is solved for Mac, why not for Windows?  If PM6+ is to be used seriously as a standalone database for keywording and to replace Lightroom, this is an omission that urgently needs to be fixed for the Windows version.

Please tell us whether there are any plans to fix this, and if so, when?  I hope that the answer is very soon.

I'll add it as a bug.  I can't tell you for certain when it will be addressed.

-Kirk

[Graham1]

Thanks, Kirk.

Graham

[Kirk Baker]

Graham,

Thanks, Kirk.

I just compared the macOS Structured Keywords panel to the Windows version and I can see that categories are drawn in the same color as the macOS version, the synonyms are bold green on both platforms, simple parent/leaf items have the same color, etc.

I'm missing something.  Could you please post an annotated screenshot showing what you are having difficulty with?

Use the 'Attachments and other options' link when you're composing your reply to this message and there you'll be able to upload your JPEG format screenshot.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[Graham1]

Hi, Kirk

Thank you for the reply. 

Definitely no colour here.  The synonyms are bold, as you can see, and therefore easily visually identified, even if they are same font colour as keywords. 

On the Structured Keywords Panel extract attached, there are three entries which are "categories".  One is "location" in the first column.  I can see that it is in fact very slightly fainter than the normal keywords, although almost imperceptibly so.  Again, no colour difference.  Challenge: can you see the other two?  Answer: the second is in the fourth column (southeast England); the third is "Kent" in the sixth column, which is completely indistinguishable from a keyword even on the closest examination because it is highlighted.  To all intents and purposes, keywords and categories look the same, and it is very easy not to be able to distinguish them (as has happened to me).

Graham

[Kirk Baker]

Definitely no colour here.  The synonyms are bold, as you can see, and therefore easily visually identified, even if they are same font colour as keywords. 

On the Structured Keywords Panel extract attached, there are three entries which are "categories".  One is "location" in the first column.  I can see that it is in fact very slightly fainter than the normal keywords, although almost imperceptibly so.  Again, no colour difference.  Challenge: can you see the other two?  Answer: the second is in the fourth column (southeast England); the third is "Kent" in the sixth column, which is completely indistinguishable from a keyword even on the closest examination because it is highlighted.  To all intents and purposes, keywords and categories look the same, and it is very easy not to be able to distinguish them (as has happened to me).

OK, it's in the Light UI (which I rarely use) that the colors are so bad.  I can fix this, but not for the next build which is in progress.

-Kirk

[Graham1]

Thanks, Kirk, brilliant.  I will give the Dark UI a run until there is a fix.

Graham

[Graham1]

OK, it's in the Light UI (which I rarely use) that the colors are so bad.  I can fix this, but not for the next build which is in progress.

Wow, but I see you already did this for the non-Plus version!

One comment, if I may.  Making Categories blue helps, but they still do not show up if they are the selected entry along the keyword branch path, the highlight of which is also blue: the result is that these categories still look like any other keyword.  That was, as it happens, the cause of my original problem which prompted me to start this thread.  The same comment applies whichever UI is selected.

Would it be possible to to make Categories some other colour, please?  I think that red would work well for both the dark and light UI's.  If this might cause an issue for anyone with r-g colour-blindness, perhaps categories could also be in italic font, contrasting with synonyms which are in bold font.  In fact, both red and italic for Categories would increase the contrast between types and be a welcome solution generally.

Thank you.

Graham

[Kirk Baker]

Graham,

OK, it's in the Light UI (which I rarely use) that the colors are so bad.  I can fix this, but not for the next build which is in progress.

Wow, but I see you already did this for the non-Plus version!

The Plus version was built before I could get your feedback and address the problem.

One comment, if I may.  Making Categories blue helps, but they still do not show up if they are the selected entry along the keyword branch path, the highlight of which is also blue: the result is that these categories still look like any other keyword.  That was, as it happens, the cause of my original problem which prompted me to start this thread.  The same comment applies whichever UI is selected.

Would it be possible to to make Categories some other colour, please?  I think that red would work well for both the dark and light UI's.  If this might cause an issue for anyone with r-g colour-blindness, perhaps categories could also be in italic font, contrasting with synonyms which are in bold font.  In fact, both red and italic for Categories would increase the contrast between types and be a welcome solution generally.

Sure, it could work that way.

-Kirk

[Graham1]

Brilliant, thank you.

Graham