SlipBox

mg · Joined: 24 Nov 2006 Posts: 179 Location: Edinburgh

I'd like to get some ideas on what you think about an overhaul of the user interface.

I thought that it might make sense to move all the views into different windows, at least all the scent views (slip, keyword, alternating). Advantages: the views can be displayed simultaneously and a cleaner main window. Disadvantage: more windows.

Search View and Slip View should then probably become one, where the search predicate editor can be displayed on top of the Slip Text field. But that will make it more difficult to keep the window small (which is handy if you're displaying it beside a PDF, for example).

What do you think? Ideas, preferences?

AsafKeller · Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 46

mg · Joined: 24 Nov 2006 Posts: 179 Location: Edinburgh

AsafKeller · Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 46

mg · Joined: 24 Nov 2006 Posts: 179 Location: Edinburgh

AsafKeller · Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 46

burak · Joined: 08 Mar 2010 Posts: 10

Replacing the Slip Scents with the Alternating Scents View in the sidebar would make it much better. Then one could see all the notes with their titles and tags, switch between the notes and set tags for current slip easily, all without constant recourse to different views, separate windows and many clicks. And that's why all the note taker apps as well as iTunes, Finder, Pages etc. implement this. It looks nice, much nicer and much less cumbersome than separate windows, and above all is very functional.

mg · Joined: 24 Nov 2006 Posts: 179 Location: Edinburgh

What Finder et al. do is present flat lists in the sidebar, that's what it's for. Even in Pages you will see that the maximal width of the sidebar is quite limited. The scent browsers in SlipBox both are Outline Views (Slip Scents are obviously treated differently), which means that instead of being flat lists, their nesting is, in principle, infinite.

Perhaps you're thinking of the different categories (devices, places, shared, etc. in Finder, for example) that have the disclosure triangle, but note that that is only one level.

So, the only thing, really, that could go there is the Keywords List in addition to the Slip Scents and perhaps the Searches, but to do that I'd have to go back to a simple search field (like in Pages). But the Saved Searches would be possible (again, the same system like in the Finder).

burak · Joined: 08 Mar 2010 Posts: 10

Yes, in Pages the maximal width of the sidebar is limited, but in Finder and iTunes it's not, one can widen it infinitely, as one can widen your current sidebar infinitely too.

In Alternating Scents View the "nesting is, in principle, infinite", but in practice it is only one level. One only needs to expand them one level. So it would be just like Finder.

And in iTunes the nesting is infinite, you can infinitely create New Playlist Folders all under just one folder.

And, once again, all the other note taker apps naturally implement this.

burak · Joined: 08 Mar 2010 Posts: 10

And instead of slip numbers and brackets in Alternating Scents View, just titles in italic.

mg · Joined: 24 Nov 2006 Posts: 179 Location: Edinburgh

I agree that the square brackets are not nice. Italics usually are harder to read, but perhaps that'd be neater. As for using only titles, well ...

Concerning sidebars (officially called source lists), in practice I do use a lot more than one level in the scent views. And quoting from Apple's Interface Guidelines (although I hate to do stuff like that):

burak · Joined: 08 Mar 2010 Posts: 10

Then you might just give us (the people!) the option to view in the sidebar:

1. Alternating Scents or
2. Keyword List or
3. Slip Scents (better with the titles instead of the IDs!) or
4. Type or
4. Whatever

Come on, don't behave like a Jakobin, let people do what they want to do! Aren't you an anarchist?!