Combine "Colour" and "Swatches" Panels

[Pigs_On_The_Wing]

While working on a file, having both the "Colour" and "Swatches" panels open, I thought both offer a fair amount of wasted white space.  Secondly I thought "why are these two panels separate anyways?".  Both utilities compliment each other, complimentary colour pun intended, and it would clear up the UI a bit more for users with preference for minimal opened panels and/or smaller screens.

Why not split the revised Colour panel into two columns: colour wheel/meters/editing components on the left-hand side, and the swatches on the right.  I've made a quick, rough mockup of this as attached.

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums.
I guess the idea is that some people work with Swatches – they have a set of standard colours that they have to stick with – and others work with a fuller palette.
Because of this, having two different Panels means that less screen-space is taken up than a big panel including both areas of functionality, which is especially useful on smaller screens such as laptops (and iPads, but I don’t know if it works the same on iPad).
Of course, not everyone has the same requirements but I think it’s a reasonable compromise.
P.S. Sometimes I feel like I would prefer them to be combined but it’s not too much extra work for me.

[fde101]

If I am working on something using swatches, most of the time I will set up my swatches at the beginning, then just about the only thing I would use the Color panel for would be to adjust the Tint of a selected spot or global color, so for everything else it would be wasting space.

If I am working on something using the Color panel significantly, chances are I am not using swatches.

 

If anything I would like to see the Tint option added to the Swatches panel.  There is enough room that if the Opacity control were slid up a bit it could fit underneath and work the same way without making the panel any larger.  At least for my way of working, I don't think any other changes are needed here, and I think the rest of the division between the two panels is ideal.

[dominik]

10 hours ago, Pigs_On_The_Wing said:

Why not split the revised Colour panel into two columns: colour wheel/meters/editing components on the left-hand side, and the swatches on the right.

Hello @Pigs_On_The_Wing,

you can have this already in some way. Note: you can have multiple panel panes next to each other by dragging around panels. If you drag out the Colour panel and move it to the left of the Swatches panel you will see at some point a blue line from to to bottom indicating a new panel snap position. The result looks something like this:

Not bad in comparison to your mockup 

The only drawback: you can't save workspace layouts. You'll have to do this manually each time you want this setup.

Cheers,
d.

[fde101]

44 minutes ago, dominik said:

Not bad in comparison to your mockup

If you go back and review the purpose of his request, it was to reduce the "wasted" blank space in the panels by combining them in such a way that reduces the redundant features and crams things closer together so that they do not occupy as much space on the screen.

Placing the existing panels side by side only serves to emphasize the "wasted" space so I don't think this is an answer to the perceived problem he was presenting.

[Pigs_On_The_Wing]

Hello everyone, 

Thanks for your feedback on my suggestion.  I know it reflects my workflow and some others' and that it does not suit everyone's needs.  I'm a big believer of having customizable options so perhaps opting in preferences to have both panels combine or separated was something I thought of additionally.

Twas only a snippet of thought but am glad to see, because I am so fresh to Affinity and these forums, that it's thriving with active members and conversation. 

[dominik]

18 hours ago, fde101 said:

If you go back and review the purpose of his request, it was to reduce the "wasted" blank space in the panels by combining them in such a way that reduces the redundant features and crams things closer together so that they do not occupy as much space on the screen.

In this regard you are certainly right. But I still like the idea to have both of these panels next to each other for certain e.g. initial setup procedures or during experimenting with colors. And as I mentioned it is a little limited without the capability to save workspaces.

d.

[Pšenda]

On 12/24/2019 at 1:22 PM, fde101 said:

There is enough room that if the Opacity control were slid up a bit it could fit underneath and work the same way without making the panel any larger.

If anything should be added to Opacity control, then certainly the Noise control (which is currently so hidden), which has been requested many times.

[fde101]

1 hour ago, Pšenda said:

which has been requested many times

I believe that has been requested for the Color panel, while my comment was targeting the Swatches panel.

I suspect tint is more important to add to the swatches panel, while noise makes more sense to increase the visibility of on the Color panel.