Latest Contributions by alex_friant

I often find myself switching between tabs in the Content Pane. I go from List by Selectability, to List by Snapping layers, back to List by Order (Visibility). It would be so very helpful if there was an ability to "pop-out" those Content Lists into separate panes so we don't have to constantly switch back-and-forth between Content List tabs. The interface would be something like this:   Once it's open, you could have them side-by-side. This would allow for an interface with less clicking when you need to adjust various settings for layers. --OPTIONAL IDEA-- Instead of pop-outs, keep the single pane but move Selectability, Editability, Snapability from tabs to 3 separate check boxes next to the layer names. Below sketches out the idea with the check boxes to the right of the layer names, but they could be off to the left, as well, with perhaps a "eye" icon above Visibility. ... View more

It used to be easy to find the latest Patchfinder.exe, which allows you to see which versions and patches are installed on a machine. For the life of me, I can't locate that program anymore in the downloads area. I've also checked in the patches download area, but nothing like that is there. Did the name change or did Esri stop making it? ... View more

While the term by itself "Change Version" makes perfect sense, in the context of the ribbon I feel it should be renamed to "Switch Versions". Here's why. When I'm looking for either "Change Version" or "Version Changes" tools, my brain has to pause and make sure I understand what I'm reading. Maybe I'm alone on this, but in UI/UX any similar sounding phrases, especially when the words in the phrase are almost identical, but reversed, it can cause users to hesitate or choose the wrong option. It's not perplexing, it's just... a mild irritation? Change Version Changes (huh? wait...)  What I believe would help make these two tools distinctive immediately would be to alter the name of the "Change Version" tool to "Switch Versions", like so: Ahhh, much better!   See how much easier it is to immediate see the difference between the two tools now? They now only share one similar word "Version(s)", but even the plurality is different now which has a distinctive impact. "Changes/Switch" in this context disambiguate the intent of the tools without even reading the other words, but "Version/Versions" also expand on that. Together, "Version Changes" vs. "Switch Versions" is much faster to process (and less irritating) than "Version Changes" vs. "Change Version". It's a minor change to the code (the label really) with a big benefit to the user.   ... View more

The existing documentation doesn't mention that you can edit a license file for Portal. It only states that you can generate a new license file. It would be super helpful to new admins who need to add a license (i.e. extra user types like Creators) to a Portal if the documentation here included the instructions from this Technical Article. Without that hint, clue, or suggestion, a newbie can get stuck when following the documentation as it is. The documentation makes it appear as if there is only one way to obtain a Portal license - by generating a totally new one. However, the second method, the method needed, is how to Edit a License File. It's super simple, but the misdirection due to the lack of this simple information creates unnecessary confusion. Adding that simple step/guide to the documentation would hopefully prevent future newbies from ending up at the same dead end I did. Thanks to Esri Support for showing me step 1. ... View more