CMD-N / Ctrl-N - Safety feature

[Aux]

Hi all,

Not sure if it's a bug or a feature .... but: When using the shortcut cmd-n / ctrl-n (open new set) Resolume doesn't verify if you want to save the current live set or give a 'Do you really want to quit' message.

This is potentially really dangerous, as when loading in new content during the show (slow managers with an USB stick), you usually want to open a Finder or Explorer window to go to your drive and the shortcut for this is the same as opening a new set in Resolume.

You can turn on 'Quit confirmation' in settings but it doesn't kick in when opening a new set.
So why isn't there a safety mechanism when using a shortcut for opening a new set?

[Zoltán]

Not sure if it's a bug or a feature .... but: When using the shortcut cmd-n / ctrl-n (open new set) Resolume doesn't verify if you want to save the current live set or give a 'Do you really want to quit' message.
....
So why isn't there a safety mechanism when using a shortcut for opening a new set?

Feature: at this point you had to press 2 buttons simultaneously.
Command and N are pretty hard to push accidentally at the same time.

This is potentially really dangerous, as when loading in new content during the show (slow managers with an USB stick), you usually want to open a Finder or Explorer window to go to your drive and the shortcut for this is the same as opening a new set in Resolume.

You can use the Files panel in Resolume to look for your files, where you can also store favorite folders and even see the thumbnail for your files.

[Aux]

It's a choice for the developers if they either want users to work exactly like they want them to or give the user a bit of freedom to use the app within their workflow. Personally I don't like using an in-app browser. I've got my OS explorer/finder window configured to reach my files really quickly and then drag/drop the files in Resolume.

I would reconsider thinking about a 'feature' that is potentially dangerous to your live show. In my opinion a program used for live shows needs to be extra concerned about hazards like this. Yes cmd-n/ctrl-n are hard to press at the same time if it would be some random shortcut..... but not if it's exactly the same shortcut as a new Finder/Explorer window, which is one of the most used shortcuts when browsing for files.

Another reason for adding this safety feature is to prevent losing previously done work on your set. If you forgot to save, and you press ctrl-n/cmd-n by accident while you think a Finder or Explorer window is active you also lose your work.

From a usability perspective I think this is a really stupid design decision. You gain a little bit of speed at the costs of potentially losing work/messing up your show and I really think this needs to be reconsidered.

[PERCYJOSEPH]

I fully agree to this. Quit a program or closing the present workflow and starting a new one should never be on a combination of short keys. we are using these software for live presentation and award shows and using mac or windows we use a lot of short keys but never a short key to quit a program or start a new project. It might be a good things but please give a confirmation option too.

[Zoltán]

I see your point, thank you for explaining!

Currently we have no plans implementing this.

Topic moved to Feature Requests.
Looking for input from others on this too.

[Programfeed]

There have been several times during prep, though thankfully not during an actual show, where I accidentally created a new comp and lost a bit of work.

To me, creating a new comp is a very deliberate decision that happens maybe a couple times a day on a multi-artist event like a festival. I'm much more likely to be doing a 'Save As' each day to branch a project than create a new one.

I can't think of any instance where I've had to create a bunch of comps extremely quickly, such that the keyboard shortcut for 'New Composition' would have been useful. I get why the shortcut is there as a standard UX action, but in my personal experience it has caused more unintended actions than benefits in the context of Resolume workflow.

So my 2 cents would be to remove the keyboard shortcut for 'New Composition'.

[Aux]

.... or just add the popup with 'Are you sure you want to quit / Do you want to save changes' like other programs do which would remove almost all of the unintended actions.

[Equa]

Yes! this is a 'feature' I desperately want to get rid of as well.

Some shortcuts are in your muscle memory, like cmd+N, and this one should at least give you a confirmation message like quitting resolume already does.
I figure something like that wouldn't be hard to implement, or get rid of the shortcut entirely, it's not like new project is being used so often in a short time span that it should have its own shortcut.

[Aux]

I still don't get why this is not been addressed/patched....
It's a potential show stopper on one of the most used shortcuts in computer software.

Seriously ? What's the reasoning ?

[Joris]

Any software worth its salt will have an overall design or philosophy behind it. This design is not so much visual, but more about the general way that users experience the software. It's as much about the features it offers as it is about how it offers them.

One of the core principles at Resolume we feel very very strongly about, is that your flow gets interrupted as little as possible. Pops up, confirmations, dialogs, etc force you to stop doing what you're doing and listen to the software. We feel that's the world upside down. The software should listen to you and it should just do the thing it needs to do, at the moment you tell it to.

It's a great philosophy and overall it's worked out pretty well for us. Resolume just flows with whatever you're doing. You don't even notice the places where other software would have gotten in the way. But in some cases, like this one, you can argue that it gets taken too far.

That's a valid opinion. Hearing other opinions is awesome and it's why we have this forum. You can't always see all sides of a topic and having your opinion changed can be the best feeling in the world. But even then, it's not like you then drop everything and throw all of your old opinions out the window. Sometimes that can take time. Especially when it's about something you used to feel really really strongly about.

Like always, good things come to those that wait.