Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

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DrJJWMac
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Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by DrJJWMac »

The restructuring done in the reference pane for the 14.0.4 update is superb. Thank you!

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Jon
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by Jon »

Thank you. I've wanted to modernize the edit pane for some time, I'm glad you like it.

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andrewperriman
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by andrewperriman »

Agreed. A big improvement. The only problem I've noticed is that long labels (eg. "Original language title") get cut off at the front. Could the space for labels be flexible? Or wrap them in the smaller space?
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by Jon »

I chose to favor space for data over long label names. I suggest you use reasonable abbreviations, so in this case "Orig. lang. title".

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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by Jon »

As expected, the new edit pane UI has elicited a lot of feedback. Mostly good, but some critical. In the next update we're adding "hint" text in empty fields, which softens the look a bit. But some, like the poster above, have also asked that the labels appear above the text field. This allows for longer labels, a minor benefit, but also increases the amount of text you can see because the text boxes are wider. The downside is that there is a lot more scrolling since every empty field, which most are, now takes over 2 lines instead of one.

I'm posting images of both views, the current "horizontal" and the hypothetical "vertical". The views are the same height and width. I know what I prefer, but I'd like to get feedback from this forum. What do you prefer?


horizontal.jpg
horizontal.jpg (66.65 KiB) Viewed 4223 times

vertical.jpg
vertical.jpg (59.81 KiB) Viewed 4223 times


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rwg
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by rwg »

I have to say that I prefer the hypothetical "vertical" view. It would also mean that the mismatch between the font size for the labels and that for the text fields (I prefer a larger font size for the text fields) would not be so distracting.
taja
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by taja »

I would favour the current, horizontal view, because it means less scrolling.
iandol
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by iandol »

I have a strong preference to keep the current horizontal view. Doubling the height to gain a bit more space for titles and slightly larger edit fields is challenging trade off...

If we could customise which fields were actively shown, then that could offset some of the scrolling problems?
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by Jon »

I thought of automatically hiding fields with no content, but that makes the UI more problematic. And frankly I've never seen that UI before. The user should feel in control, which is why I'm adding the hint text. I think having invisible empty fields that only open when you click on its label or tab to it might make one feel lost.

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taja
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by taja »

iandol wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:11 am I have a strong preference to keep the current horizontal view. Doubling the height to gain a bit more space for titles and slightly larger edit fields is challenging trade off...

If we could customise which fields were actively shown, then that could offset some of the scrolling problems?
I think the ability to customise fields actively shown, via preferences, would be a good compromise. I imagine few users utilise all the data fields (I only use 10). Of course then its function might end up overlapping with the summary view (which I never use). Tricky...
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by Jon »

We're not going to hide fields, that can get to be very confusing. You can already configure the UI to show the fields in a custom order. It's easy enough to move fields you never use to the bottom.

And, btw, the Summary view is great. That's what you should be using to read the metadata, not the edit pane. It's extremely configurable (i.e. show exactly what you want, where you want it) and you can even edit in that view (click on the text you want to edit and do so). Long time users stick to the edit pane for reading by force of habit, but they shouldn't. The Summary view is so much better.

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taja
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by taja »

I'll give it a try!
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by nicka »

The less scrolling the better, so I'm for the horizontal layout.

On the subject of minimising scrolling: There's quite a bit of white space on the left of the edit pane: i.e. to the left of the longest field titles (maybe 'Ser Editors'?). Could that be trimmed a bit? Then a little more text would fit on each line in fields like title and abstract, reducing the overall vertical height.

As one of the (relatively) old-timers I am indeed stuck in my ways, using the edit pane. I have tried using the summary view, but can't get past two things, both connected with the way that editing in summary view opens up one huge box for the field on is working on. 1) I think my preference for the edit pane is because when editing one field I'm often looking at, even copying and pasting to/from, others. 2) I'm not keen on having to ok or cancel each edit, especially by going all the way down to click on a button at the bottom of the pane.
This is no complaint: the edit view serves my purposes very well. Just feedback on why I (and maybe others) resist the suggestion to use the summary view.
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by Jon »

I could reduce it a bit, may 10-15 pixels. Of course some who like to create their own labels, like andrewperriman above, might like to use more text than we do. I'll play with that.

As for your points around the summary view -- you *can* edit text in it, but that's not what it's intended for. I'd use the edit pane, too, for editing (hence the name). But in many instances the user opens the edit pane to *read* the text in the fields. And while of course that's OK, it's inefficient, as this scrolling discussion suggests. The Summary view is perfect for viewing, superior to the edit pane in almost every way (the ability to edit in it is a bonus, one I would expect to be used rarely).

Finally, instead of moving the mouse to the bottom and clicking to close the editable field in Summary, can use the Escape to Cancel and Tab or Enter (not Return) to accept and Save, respectively. Please try it, just to see how much nicer that is.

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lyndondrake
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Re: Great update of reference pane in 14.0.4

Post by lyndondrake »

I too prefer the horizontal layout. And this is a great update - really makes things look much nicer!

My only additional thought is that I quite like the look of the DT pane's text boxes, with a soft outline, which also allows the field names to be regular rather than bold. But I realise such choices are unlikely to meet universal approval, and I'm really appreciative of the change.
Screenshot 2022-01-17 at 12.47.16 PM.png
Screenshot 2022-01-17 at 12.47.16 PM.png (150.05 KiB) Viewed 4141 times
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