What can we do to improve the designer interface?

[gbishop]

I have a few things that I really hate about it. I bet you do too. Please share them here so we can make it better.

[sofia-bg]

This doesn't help for aesthetics, but with patterns and our confusion around selectors we (a) were wanting to think about a different name for that, or if there was a way to number them? (b) just like in actions if when the patterns tab is open and I am scanning through if the "selector" that is being activated/used could be highlighted with each keystroke?

We thought that might help people to learn/understand selectors and places where breakdowns might be occurring?

[aetkie]

That would be helpful. It can be confusing knowing which part of the design is controlled/connected to the Selector when there are more than 1.

[gbishop]

Good idea. I think I could highlight (somehow) all the elements that are selected.

What about group by? Maybe it highlights the groups it creates in different colors? Or highlights the first group? What do you think?

[sofia-bg]

Oh that is interesting, so that as you start to declare things it shows you what would be included? I was also thinking the reverse, that as you scan through the UI that then it highlights in the programming what selector is being activated. But your suggestion might be more helpful for the actually designing stage.

[aetkie]

I wish that when you hovered over a component, a little dialog box would appear explaining what that component did/could do without having to go back and forth between OS-DPI and the wiki

[gbishop]

I like the idea but those popups could get really annoying if they appear automatically. I find such things often get in the way of what I'm trying to do.
Maybe there is a spot you have to hover over?
How does a keyboard user access this?

[sofia-bg]

Maybe an that can be clicked?

[aetkie]

We often have multiple designs open at the same time. It would be cool if tabs in the browser updated with the file name in it for faster selection.

[gbishop]

Excellent suggestion and easy. In fact maybe it used to do that?

[sofia-bg]

I don't think I remember it ever doing that, but would be so helpful if it just auto-populated with the name

[gbishop]

I have pushed the change to production to make it display the page title.

[aetkie]

Yes! This works and I like it. Thanks Gary

[sofia-bg]

Oh and to Andrea's point, a faster way to offload designs. As I work I save so many iterations my imported to list to choose from is long. If there was a way to select multiple to offload at once that would be so helpful. Or a way to put them in folders/tree hierarchy so could collapse and effectively hide ones you aren't working between.

[gbishop]

Yes we need an Unload... menu entry that brings up a dialog.

[gbishop]

Try out the new Unload... menu entry. It seems to work for me. It will even close the tab if you unload something that happens to be open.

I'm wondering if we even need the plain Unload entry?

[aetkie]

the plain Unload entry prompts you to save the open design. Exporting does the same thing. Seems like it's redundant.

[gbishop]

That was a safety mechanism to prevent accidental loss of your work. Hitting menu entries by mistake happens. With no confirmation your work would be gone.

The Unload... dialog provides that safety by requiring you to check a box and warning you at the same time.

[gbishop]

How about drag and drop for rearranging components in the layout?

[gbishop]

That happens to me also. I hate the ambiguity. I need to do a better job of indicating the target of a menu item.

[aetkie]

drag and drop sounds like a great solution

[gbishop]

I have pushed a new version that enables Shift-ArrowUp and Shift-ArrowDown to move components. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

[aetkie]

Works perfectly!

[gbishop]

I've made a few more changes so you should see less of the cases where some internal part (such as a condition) moves instead of the component. Now it should prefer moving the component wherever you are focused inside it.