Adobe has Firefly and all sorts of crazy stuff going on recently – but Search and Filtering in Bridge still give me 2003 Pentium 2 vibes. I find Search / Filter performance and filtered data presentation equally lacking.
Great performance does not need a database
Some might reflexively state that a file browser for tasks like searching cannot compete with database-driven programs – but I call this nonsense for moderate data volumes (some thousands or ten thousand files). You don't believe me? Just download apps like Everything or Listary* and have a play. Both apps have small, yet blazing fast indexes and support Algolia style Search As You Type – any instance of a file you have on your system is retrieved in milliseconds.
In the mentioned tools, you may interact with search results right away. And search result lists remain live. As soon as new file versions arrive, they are immediately added to the results list. No, there are no big enterprises involved to make this kind of interactive performance happen. Both mentioned apps were written by just one developer.
Insanely ineffective: The Bridge Index
Example: We have an output folder that holds all images we use in a web-project – about 4000 PNGs. This folder is known to Bridge and indexed. For performance reasons, we use the fastest display option, embedded thumbnails. Bridge does not have to create thumbnails – it only needs to display what's there already. The machine uses fast NVMe drives and has 64 GB RAM, it runs on Win 10.
Bridge knows the folder (normal local folder) and may work with existing file-miniatures. Even with this minimal setup, the program fails to deliver a snappy interactive performance. Thumbnail render speed, scroll performance – there are many forum threads on this topic alone. I also shared some hints, how to improve the user-experience when things are a bit slow, unfortunately this input got disregarded as well.
Terrible UX : Presentation of Search and Filter results
What's even far worse for us is access to the Filter Panel. Again, my sample folder is known to Bridge, its data is not volatile. We only add files, never remove. Effective indexing should not be hard.
In reality, Bridge may need minutes until one may interact with the Filter Panel. If you are impatient and have already selected a filter-checkbox before the program is ready (there is no indication that it is not) Bridge will very likely freeze so that you have to kill it via Task Manager.
Let's assume, you after minutes of wait were finally able to search and filter on your indexed folder. You're shown a grid of files with any set of common properties. We constantly use such filtered views to isolate series of numbered files which still need work – often RAW files which end as PSDs and exported PNGs (each with retained names). You may create any number of new files which match the filter pattern in Bridge's active Content panel – yet they'll never show up here.
Proper search tools like Everything or Listary will show changes right away. Bridge has no idea that your new files exist, which isn't acceptable. Pressing F5 (forcibly refresh view) will do not anything either. Ctrl+F (rerun Search) fails as well. You actually need to completely cancel out of your current Search operation (with several clicks) and set filters anew to get an updated filtered result. How incredibly inelegant and annoying.
Dear Bridge Team, please find someone to take the foundation of this File Browser into the year 2023.
*Windows, there are similar apps on Mac
👀 @nikunj.m Mods please leave this Employee-Ping put (that forum handle is public anyway).
6
Replies
AdChoices