Format and Content Buttons as Open/Close Toggles

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The format and content buttons on the right of the toolbar ... Could they act as toggles to close the panel too? So, by example ...

• click Content --> open panel on Content and highlight the button
• click Content again --> close panel and unhighlight the button

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JJW

@DrJJWMac thanks for the suggestion! Could you name another app that behaves in an analogous way? Reason I'm asking is that what you're proposing would not really match any OSX app that I am aware of and I'm therefore not enthused.

We do offer a keyboard shortcut for toggling the inspector on / off (Ctrl+Cmd+I) and for jumping to one of the two tabs in the inspector (Shift+Cmd+1 / Shift+Cmd+2).

@mz2 said:

... Could you name another app that behaves in an analogous way? Reason I'm asking is that what you're proposing would not really match any OSX app that I am aware of and I'm therefore not enthused.

Curio. OmniFocus. Pages. Numbers.

Edit: Skim. Moneywell.

Please also look at how these apps open/close their right pane. Rather than expanding out, the pane expands in. The window stays the same size.

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JJW

@DrJJWMac yes, those all indeed slide the inspector in and out. Difference to for instance Pages is, we don't keep a margin in the editor area that would retain a constant text editing area width, and I'd also like to avoid that as that adds to the window width in the case the inspector is hidden, and it shifts the text area. We intend to improve the window sizing behaviour though by so that it doesn't jump outside the screen bounds, and so that the sliding in is made as an option.

Just to clarify the intended improvements, we intend to:

• Make the slide in / slide out behaviour a preference.
• Make the slide out not resize past screen boundaries.
• Make returning from a fullscreen window size the window with inspector / outline shown in a more logical way.

Also, the other reason I am not a big fan of the Pages like behaviour is that it requires a margin in the window outside of the "page margin", but with small window sizes the inspector slides on top of the editing area. The fully covered keyboard shortcuts we offer for managing the inspector are really the preferred route for regular management of the inspector area. All of this is of course something we are happy to change our view on depending on the popular demand of requests we receive!

@mz2 said:

The fully covered keyboard shortcuts we offer for managing the inspector are really the preferred route for regular management of the inspector area

That is all well and good until you get a four-button trackball to be more efficient in your workflow. Then, you will wish that you would not have to take your hands away from it so darn often because someone has set their preferred way and allowed no other reasonable option.

Just saying.

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JJW

@DrJJWMac I'm totally open to changing my mind regarding this if there's demand. Perhaps the issue is in fact that the Ctrl+Cmd+I keyboard shortcut practically involves two hands? In retrospect this is perhaps not the best of keyboard shortcuts for the action and I'd be more than happy to change that.

No problem. Keyboard shortcuts ... I know how to change them using System Preferences as long as they have corresponding menu options. It really never matters what they are, I usually re-write the ones I need to suite my tastes anyway.

Just allow that a click on the Content or Format button will either open or close the panel depending on its current state, not just be "stuck" as an open-only button. Then, I can quickly toggle the panel open, review a note that I have made, and toggle it closed. Think ahead especially when that panel will contain other content that folks might want to see then close out. Click(open) - review my note about this paragraph - click (close) - go back to editing.

The question of how the panel expands is a design that I defer to your best judgement.

Thanks for the dialog on this!

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JJW