Buttons for sorting in single column view?

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benjaminpelissie
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2014 8:06 am

Buttons for sorting in single column view?

Post by benjaminpelissie »

Hi,

I think sorting in single column view is really far from ideal. I do it all the time and would greatly appreciate to have a dedicated button in the toolbar for it, or at least that clicking on the "Sorted by ..." at the top of the list would open a pop-up menu where we could choose the sorting parameter in one click. Just like how clicking at the top of the sidebar allows you to quickly choose what you want to display in it. Could we get such a function?

Ben
MattN
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:12 am

Re: Buttons for sorting in single column view?

Post by MattN »

Just a suggested work-around:
I am just exploring Bookends and I find the multicolumn view of the reference list much more powerful (and useful).
I always used to turn off single column view in Sente too.
I also use classic multi column view in Mail for the same reasons.

it seems to me that single column (multi-line) views have started to appear in software - perhaps because they look nice, but are not as functional.
benjaminpelissie
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2014 8:06 am

Re: Buttons for sorting in single column view?

Post by benjaminpelissie »

Thank you. I still find single column views very useful, and mustn't be the only one, otherwise it wouldn't be available in BE. It could be easily improved though, for example by making the sorting function simpler and more straightforward. Other ways to improve it (IMO) is by moving the star ratings to the lower-right corner of the box, so that at a quick glance we could select refs based in ratings thanks to this then "virtual column". Also, a thiner font for the titles would be welcome. Oh and smooth scrolling (but that applies to the entire app). Other than that, I find it quite useful.
Jon
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Re: Buttons for sorting in single column view?

Post by Jon »

Clicking on the "Sorted by" already has a function -- it toggles between ascending and descending sorts, just like in the multicolumn view. I could add a right-click to that, but you already have the right-click option in the list itself, just a few pixels below

As for the font, have you selected one that is thinner in preferences?

Jon
Sonny Software
benjaminpelissie
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2014 8:06 am

Re: Buttons for sorting in single column view?

Post by benjaminpelissie »

Thanks Jon. Note that toggling between ascending and descending sorts could still be achieved by clicking once more on the already-selected sorting strategy in the pop-up menu (ie. the one that would show the ticking mark, if we take the sidebar's behavior as a reference). I think I've seen that in other apps (can't remember which ones); it's very convenient.

As for the font, we can't modify only the titles' fonts, can we?

Ben
Jon
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Re: Buttons for sorting in single column view?

Post by Jon »

No, but you can use whatever font you want for the entire listing if you prefer something else.

Bookends already sorts the multicolumn view by clicking on the column header (pretty much the universal way to sort columns in macOS). I think implementing a different UI for this in the single column view would be confusing.

Jon
Sonny Software
MattN
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:12 am

Re: Buttons for sorting in single column view?

Post by MattN »

I've been able to modify the font/size for the multicolumn view, but not for the single column view.
If this is possible, please can you point out where to do this? Thanks!
Jon
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Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2004 6:27 pm
Location: Bethesda, MD
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Re: Buttons for sorting in single column view?

Post by Jon »

It's the same preference setting for both: preferences (Main tab) -> Lists -> font and size.

Jon
Sonny Software
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