Feature Request: Make Studio more flexible

[EntusDictus]

I'd love to see more flexibility in Studio.

For example, I'd love so see docking options for panels not only on the bottom or top of Studio, but also docking panels on the side. This is possible in solutions of competitors (Ado.. InD.....) and one of the features I miss the most. 

[Hilltop]

+1!

I also like direct access to the many panels and there is so much empty space for these. 

[dominik]

44 minutes ago, Hilltop said:

there is so much empty space for these. 

 

In regard to screenspace you'de be surprised to read this:

 

 

To each his own 😉

d.

 

[Hilltop]

I might not have been clear enough. I don't mean that all panels should be open and docked at the same time but that they could be opened as needed by clicking buttons or the like.  

I included the screenshot that was part of the thread you referred to and indicated all the free space on the user's small screen. Of course, not all of it can be used as I suggest but just to give an idea of the vacant real estate at the top of the UI. 

[Rick G]

How about letting the studio stay open? Often I want to open more than one panel and have to keep going back in. A pin when it first opens or perhaps a small button on toolbar?

[garrettm30]

4 hours ago, Hilltop said:

I included the screenshot

In that screenshot, the top row of space is the menu section and title bar, where that might be a Windows issue that is out of Serif's control. The new 1.8 version cleaned it up on the newer Mac systems by basically condensing that row and the row below it into one. Windows is a different case because the menu has to be in that section, while proper Mac apps do not put the menu in the title bar.

The second row is user-customizable, so it is quite possible to fill that space entirely with extra buttons.

The third row in your screenshot is the context toolbar, which changes based on the active tool and the object selected. It is quite often filled to overflowing on smaller to medium screens, but in that screenshot nothing was selected.

I think the greatest potential improvement here would be to make the studios accessible by toolbar buttons, as currently most or all of the studios do not have optional toolbar icons. That seems like "low-hanging fruit" in terms of improvements: easy to do (I suppose) and by default left out of the way for users who do not want them. If I had the option, I would add a couple studios to the toolbar if I had the option. I keep my most-used studios docked on the left or right, but a few of the occasional studios aren't out all the time, and a quick click to show a studio in the toolbar is one click and two drags less than finding the same item in the Studio submenu. 

 

[Hilltop]

45 minutes ago, garrettm30 said:

...................

The second row is user-customizable, so it is quite possible to fill that space entirely with extra buttons.

....................

I think the greatest potential improvement here would be to make the studios accessible by toolbar buttons, as currently most or all of the studios do not have optional toolbar icons. That seems like "low-hanging fruit" in terms of improvements: easy to do (I suppose) and by default left out of the way for users who do not want them. If I had the option, I would add a couple studios to the toolbar if I had the option. I keep my most-used studios docked on the left or right, but a few of the occasional studios aren't out all the time, and a quick click to show a studio in the toolbar is one click and two drags less than finding the same item in the Studio submenu. 

 

+1

[Jeremy Bohn]

I miss the feature from Creative Suite where you can make a panel into a collapsable button.

[Hilltop]

9 hours ago, Jeremy Bohn said:

I miss the feature from Creative Suite where you can make a panel into a collapsable button.

That might even be better!