If Adobe competed against Microsoft Word... (important, please read and participate!)
PierreLouisBeranek Oct 23, 2013 11:35 AMEver wonder what a word processing program by Adobe would look like?
I have. It would be full of Adobe-style timesaving Shortcuts, such as:
Being able to delete text on page 34 while you're looking at page 2, or
Being able to bold, resize and italicize text on page 7 while looking at page 15
Sound ridiculous? That's because it is! Yet, as ridiculous as it might sound for a word processing program to allow users to do this, that's the same nonsense that goes on in Premiere Pro.
For example, here are some of the things users can all too easily do to selected media that isn't even in the visible portion of their Timeline:
- Delete clips
- Ripple delete clips
- Modify Video/Audio effects
- Modify Motion settings
- and now in PP CC, even add video/audio transitions
Which long time Premiere editor has never deleted an unseen selected clip by mistake, only to discover the mistake long after the fact (when no number of Undos could fix the problem)?
Which new CC editor has never mistakenly added transitions to unseen selected clips?
Are there any situations when users would actually want to change Timeline content that isn't within the Timeline's visible bounds?
Apparently Adobe thinks so. Could it be Adobe programmers feel that actually seeing the clips you're modifying is somehow unnecessary and even passé?
It doesn't take a genius to see just how incredibly stupid this is! IMHO, the ability to erroneously modify unseen clips in so many different ways, makes Premiere Pro unnecessarily prone to user mistakes, while providing 0 benefits in return.
My proposed solution is simple. Let's unite and all send Adobe (www.adobe.com/go/wish) the following official Feature Request, for the benefit of PP users:
*******Enhancement / FMR*********
Brief title for your desired feature:
Only allow clips that are within the visible portion of the Timeline to be modified.
How would you like the feature to work?
Never allow selected clips that fall completely outside the visible bounds of the Timeline to be:
-Deleted
-Ripple Deleted
-have video/audio transitions added to them
-modified in the Effect Controls window
-etc.
Note: If a clip selection is partially within the viewable bounds of the Timeline, then all relevant actions above should be allowed.
Why is this feature important to you?
I can't think of a single instance in which any user would ever want to modify selected clips that are completely outside the visible bounds of their Timeline. The ability to change unseen clips provides zero user benefits while making Premiere Pro extremely prone to user errors. Please fix this by only allowing users to modify clips that are within the visible portion of their Timeline.
User attempts to modify unseen clips could bring up a discrete warning, such as a small red bar that would flash once over the track(s) that have the unseen selected clips. For example, if a user hits the Delete key while there's selected clips on V1, V2 and A2 to the left side of the Timeline's visible portion, small red bars would flash once on the left-hand edge of tracks V1, V2 and A2. This would visually inform users that they have unseen selected clips on those tracks, and therefore the current 'Delete' command can't be used since the selected clips are outside the visible range of the Timeline.
For the sake of accommodating the preference of all users, this visual warning could be turned on/off in PP CC's new Timeline wing menu.
*********************
The more we speak up to let Adobe know how we want our software to work, the bigger our chance of eventually getting it, so lets all pitch in! If you've ever modified an unseen selected clip by mistake, please do your part and Copy/paste the FR above to send it to Adobe, or write your own version. Thank you!





