More options for article listing

Hopefully I'm not overindulging in feature requests... But considering how demanding I can be when I open my big mouth, it's actually a very short list

One last thing I'd like to wish for would be to expand on some of the view options for blog, list and directory views.

The directory is nice, but I wish if you chose a parent category, it would be possible to:

a) list out all items in category and all nested categories in a flat list (subcategory names are absent). This is what choosing a "section blog" or "section list" in joomla does out of the box. Have a parameter for either title only, with intro text, or all text. Parameter for choosing how many levels deep.

b) like a) but divided by visible subcategory names. Parameters for choosing nesting level and maybe options for all subs on one page vs. deeper levels taking you to another page(s).

c) similar to the directory, add an option to blog and list views to directly list all articles in them on the first screen (to x number of levels deep).

Most of the time, I don't put items directly into a parent category (if it has children that is). The items actually go into the children, and the parent is just a container. (which I think is pretty common). Right now, a blog or list view aren't always great for usability as they force the user to drill down and click on a subcategory. That's not to say that they sometimes wouldn't want to, but I think it's confusing in some cases.

Here's an example: jgallagher.dreamhosters.com/joomla/

If you choose "products" (top right), that's a link to a category view for products. Nothing is filed under products itself, but in subcategories. It would be nice to have an option to list everything in products directly on the first screen, especially if there aren't many products.

Lastly (ok, I better stop before I get myself in hot water!), it would be nice (unless it's already possible?) to include a category and subcategory images next to their category names.

Thanks for listening!

Just thought of a workaround, but it isn't glamourous. If you assign the parent category as an additional category for each item in a subcat, they will list in the first view. How wonderful is multi-mapping?

But I still think it would be nice to have an explicit option because it's nice to not have to load your content managers with something else to remember.