Suggestions for "New Document" window

[Jeremy Bohn]

There's a lot to like about the new New Document window. However, I can see some room for improvements:

1. You should be able to resize the window. I have a large monitor and would like it bigger so I can see more without scrolling.

2. Popup menus should respect the dark mode setting. Currently they're light even though I'm using dark mode.

3. Most of the settings are wiped out if you pick a different page size. For instance, I set up a Letter sized document, set it to use Picas, set my margins and bleed, and if I click on the Legal thumbnail on the left, it resets all of those things. I should be able to change to a preset page size without wiping out my other settings.

4. The "link" to set Inner/Outer/Top/Bottom the same in Margins/Bleed should take affect as soon as you click it. For example, right now if you have them unlinked and all set to 0, if you change one to 5 and then click the link, they end up being 5, 0, 0, 0 which isn't right if they're supposed to be linked.

[Old Bruce]

I am surprised we can't increase or decrease the New Document window, maybe in time it will change. The popup menus are honouring my dark mode settings here on Mac OS 10.14.6

 

3 minutes ago, Jeremy Bohn said:

I should be able to change to a preset page size without wiping out my other settings.

You are choosing that preset, not just the preset's page size.

4 minutes ago, Jeremy Bohn said:

4. The "link" to set Inner/Outer/Top/Bottom the same in Margins/Bleed should take affect as soon as you click it. For example, right now if you have them unlinked and all set to 0, if you change one to 5 and then click the link, they end up being 5, 0, 0, 0 which isn't right if they're supposed to be linked.

What would they change to 5 or zero?

[Jeremy Bohn]

1 minute ago, Old Bruce said:

You are choosing that preset, not just the preset's page size.

What would they change to 5 or zero?

Then they need to make a way to change just the page size like you could before.

[Jeremy Bohn]

4 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

What would they change to 5 or zero?

That was an example. See the recording below. If I change the inner margin to 5, then click the link button, nothing changes. The link button means make all 4 boxes the same value. The link button does nothing if you click it AFTER you type in a value. It only actually works if you click the link BEFORE and then change one of the values. 

[nwhit]

1 hour ago, Jeremy Bohn said:

That was an example. See the recording below. If I change the inner margin to 5, then click the link button, nothing changes. The link button means make all 4 boxes the same value. The link button does nothing if you click it AFTER you type in a value. It only actually works if you click the link BEFORE and then change one of the values. 

It would be convenient to have it fill all values, but I can't see how it could tell which value is the "master" value that should be used as the "locked" value. For example, if I had set up a margin of 0.25" Left x 0.75" Bottom x 1.0" Top and Right (which is quite common to have different margins), and then I change one of the values and click on the "Linked" icon, which value should it "guess" is the one I want as the "master" value? IIRC, all apps I currently use operate this same way. You first need to click the Linked icon BEFORE changing a value that becomes the new "master" value. Otherwise it might be difficult to determine which is the new "master" value. I imagine that you could say that it is the last field changed that becomes the "master" value, but I'm not sure I've seen any other app that uses that paradigm. 

[Jeremy Bohn]

Funny, because Adobe has this behaviour down pat. With them, once you click the link, the first value is the master value.

[thomaso]

5 hours ago, Jeremy Bohn said:

3. Most of the settings are wiped out if you pick a different page size. For instance, I set up a Letter sized document, set it to use Picas, set my margins and bleed, and if I click on the Legal thumbnail on the left, it resets all of those things. I should be able to change to a preset page size without wiping out my other settings.

For me bleed & color remain whereas orientation & margins don't.
( https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/103267-suggestion-for-the-new-document-window/&do=findComment&comment=554812 )

I can't see any rule in this decision, it appears like a mistake and kind of buggy.

 

4 hours ago, Jeremy Bohn said:

5 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

What would they change to 5 or zero?

That was an example. See the recording below. If I change the inner margin to 5, then click the link button, nothing changes.

They do change already, it just depends on your text cursor position when clicking the link icon.
In your video you  1.) type 5, then –> 2.) enter the next field and then –> 3.) click the link.

You simply can make your "5" work for all if you activate the link before you jump to the next field (and also before you enter the 1st field).

 

 

[nwhit]

My feelings for improvements on the "New" window/pane:

1. Agree, should be resizable.

2. Recent Items and Templates tabs should be off/collapsed by default. Recent Items are more commonly/intuitively accessed through the File menu (although it's nice to be able to access them in the New panel); and creating a new doc from the Templates would be less common than using Presets. Thus for visual clarity, speed, etc., nice to have those collapsed. 

3. User-created Presets should be at the top of the top-most pane. Most people will want to set up their own "complete" presets for common projects/docs, thus it would be faster/easier to have those topmost.

4. As mentioned, should be able to select and designate a Preset as the default, which would be selected initially when opening the New window/pane. Many users do a reasonable amount of work with a standard layout (for them). Again, ease of use and speed.

 

Love the new flexibility and options of the "New" dialog, but think there are some good improvements to be made for ease of use, intuitiveness and speed. Thanks!

[Patrick Connor]

This thread is locked

Now 1.8 has been released please post in the suggestions forum anything from this thread that is not implemented as you wish.