Why are the pallets not highlighted?

DxO PhotoLab DxO PhotoLab Mac
#1

For some reason I find myself with a lot of questions about PL5 that I don’t remember having for PL4 or any of the preceding releases. This one is about why some pallets are highlighted and others are not.

The highlighted pallets are easier to read and clearly selected and ON, while the unhighlighted pallets are working and ON, but are not highlighted. Does anyone know why? Clicking on them does not highlight them, but you can see they are ON by the blue indicator to the left of each unhighlighted panel (Chromatic Aberration, Vignetting and Moire).

Screen Shot 2022-01-01 at 7.26.40 AM

This is my pseudo-PureRAW workspace which I have been using with the PhotoLine pixel editor. I have added Moire to the 5 PureRAW selections since it seems reasonable to do so. All of the pallets are set to Auto and I export them to dngs to use with the pixel editor.

#2

The highlighting of “key functions” can be switched off with in the help menu or a context click on a highlighted item.

#3

I think that perhaps I used the wrong term when I wrote “pallet”. What I really meant was each individual adjustment label, so I guess that was my mistake.

As for a “context click”, I assume that means a right-click on the unhighlighted adjustment label, but that does not give me any option other than to expand or contract the display. And I get no help from the Help function when I type in “adjustment”, so perhaps you can expand on your comment about turning on or off of the highlighting of “key functions”, whatever those are. I can find nothing in the Preferences section that helps me.

I am asking why the adjustment labels are not highlighted for some of the adjustments while they are for others. I see no difference in anything about the settings for each other than the fact that some are bright and some are not.

Or are you saying that the Chromatic Aberration, Vignetting and Moire settings can not be highlighted because they are not “key functions”.

#4

How to switch off the tool with the menu:

Bildschirmfoto 2022-01-01 um 15.57.55.328
Bildschirmfoto 2022-01-01 um 15.57.55.3282382×624 143 KB

Context menu: My fault, a simple hover will do:

Bildschirmfoto 2022-01-01 um 15.58.20.400
Bildschirmfoto 2022-01-01 um 15.58.20.4001276×770 82.6 KB

#5

Hovering over the Denoising, Distortion and Lens Sharpness adjustments do show the display you mention, but hovering over the Chromatic Distortion, Vignetting and Moire adjustments do not show the display. And I don’t see anything on the display you mention that tells me I can turn the highlighting on or off.

What am I missing here?

#6

Well, perhaps I know the answer now.

The Help pulldown has a function to Show/Hide Feature Highlights. When I select Hide it turns off the highlighting of the “Feature” adjustments and when I select Show it turns them back on.

I am guessing that some adjustments are considered Feature adjustments and only those can be highlighted, and the non-Feature adjustments are just not considered to be important enough to allow them to be highlighted.

Seems pretty silly to me, but I guess there is no way to highlight those items.

#7

Highlighting a few tools is a marketing instrument imo, it does not do anything else like making PhotoLab easier to use (imo) or deliver better results.

#8

Perhaps I am not the most unbiased person about this, but it seems to me not allowing highlighting of the “non-Feature” adjustments makes it harder to read the labels (because they are darker and the text is not really very visible to begin with) and so makes PhotoLab harder for me to use.

I will continue playing around with using it as a PureRAW type of tool as I learn PhotoLine, and in that capacity it makes no difference, but when and if I switch back to using PL5 as my main photo editing tool this will just make things more difficult.

Perhaps I should file a ticket about this, but I suspect you are right. It is a marketing tool and so not a bug.

#9

Readability of tool titles has been addressed in here: Better User Interface

I think that the GUI should be improved by better interface design. If highlightable tools are what you want, create a feature request.

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#10

“Feature Highlights” means that PhotoLab 5 offers a visual presentation for certain tools and adjustments. Turn “Feature Highlights” on in the Help menu and those tools will be highlighted; now, move the mouse to one of those highlighted tools (just move the mouse to it, don’t click on anything) and you should see a small explanation of the tool appear. I’m using Windows and it works for the few tools that get highlighted. I’m hoping it’s a step toward something more useful than some marketing info, like real tutorials that show how some of the tools can be used effectively.

#11

It works exactly like that on a Mac as well.

My personal feeling is that highlighting makes it easier to see and identify the adjustment label within the pallet, and so ought to be used for all adjustments, not just the “Featured” ones.

I find the type on the adjustment name to be too small and too dark when the label is not highlighted and thus difficult for me to read. Highlighting the adjustment label solves that, but only for some of the adjustments. At least for me and my aging eyes.

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#12

…you’re another candidate to vote for the feature request mentioned in my post above.

#13

:grinning:

I can’t create the feature request and also vote for it.

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