Customize context toolbars

[zefrieira]

Just as we are able to customize the main toolbar, it would be very useful if we could customize the context toolbars. For example, this is the context toolbar when I select multiple objects:

I wanted to be able to add "Distribute" and "Space" tools to that toolbar.

 

Thanks

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @zefrieira

You can add those icons to the main Toolbar, which is available all the time (unless it has been hidden by the user), so why would you need to add them to individual Context Toolbars?
I can’t see what the advantage could be. Can you explain why you might want this?

[fde101]

I think the more useful customizations for some users would be the ability to hide specific controls which are already there.  Those with limited screen real-estate sometimes complain about things being hidden off the right side of the context toolbar and needing the extra click to get at them, but may not need some of the controls which appear to the left of those in the context toolbar.

Being able to hide or re-order the items in the context toolbar would enable them to tailor the visible set of controls to those which are more useful to them.

 

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

Can you explain why you might want this?

Personally, I think it makes sense for those to be there anyway.  Those options are only relevant when multiple objects are selected, so why have them using up space in the main toolbar if they are only relevant depending on the context and that multiple selection context toolbar mode is one of the shorter ones right now which could likely afford to have this added?

They could be added to a fly-out box for example, similar to the one for alignment that is currently on the main toolbar by default...

[loukash]

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

I can’t see what the advantage could be.

I can see it because I rarely even use the toolbar and would likely keep it hidden all the time, except for those few tools like "Distribute" and "Space" that aren't available anywhere else. (Did I already mention that I consider this an example for truly bad UI design? That was a rhetorical question: I did in at least one other thread, of course.)

That said, this whole distribute/space/align thingy should be a Panel. Period.

[loukash]

29 minutes ago, fde101 said:

Those with limited screen real-estate sometimes complain about things being hidden off the right side of the context toolbar and needing the extra click to get at them, but may not need some of the controls which appear to the left of those in the context toolbar.

Oh, I hear you!
The "Lock Children" tickbox being a "classic" example.

[GarryP]

Seems like there is a genuine requirement to be able to customise the Context Toolbar, along with various other changes that have been suggested regarding the UI.
I guess that’s my question answered.

All I will add at this point is that it might be better if, when people add a request, they give a reason why they want something rather than just saying that they want it.
Instead of “I want”, or “I would like” or “it would be useful if”, it might be better to say: “I’m having a problem because of <this> but if <that> was done then it would make my life easier in <these ways>.”
It helps people to understand the problem better when the problem is properly described.

[loukash]

1 minute ago, GarryP said:

I will add at this point is that it might be better if, when people add a request, they give a reason why they want something rather than just saying that they want it.

That's all fine and well, but I don't think anyone posting a request/feedback ever even reads the guideline forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/52-feature-requests-suggestions in the first place…

To "fix" that, we'd need more required fields when starting a new topic, i.e. kinda "submission form".

But… eh, that's again a different topic.

[Alfred]

2 hours ago, loukash said:

That said, this whole distribute/space/align thingy should be a Panel. Period.

If we could add custom panels and populate them as we see fit (like the custom ‘Studio tabs’ in Serif’s legacy software products) we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

[GarryP]

Many people like filling forms less than reading instructions.
And if they don’t bother reading the instructions they are probably unlikely to use a form properly.
If in doubt, put anything in the form fields that doesn’t cause an error and then put the whole thing in the “other instructions box”.

I had an idea a while back of how to check if people were reading the instructions but I don’t think the Serif moderators would go for it.

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, loukash said:

except for those few tools like "Distribute" and "Space" that aren't available anywhere else

They're available from the menu, Layer > Alignment (but you need to have at least 3 objects selected).

[loukash]

2 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Layer > Alignment

That's only the auto-space/auto-distribute thing.
The only way to get to the real thing where you can input numbers is this silly pseudo popup window from the toolbar button with a pointless "Apply" button because if you just accidentally dismiss the popup by clicking elsewhere, it will "apply" nonetheless.

[Alfred]

4 hours ago, Alfred said:

If we could add custom panels and populate them as we see fit (like the custom ‘Studio tabs’ in Serif’s legacy software products) we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

Apologies. It occurs to me that I was misremembering: the contents of the Studio tabs was fixed but you could add toolbars populated with your choice of icons.

[loukash]

38 minutes ago, Alfred said:

you could add toolbars populated with your choice of icons

Yeah, that was also a feature of my beloved Freehand 9, as far as I vaguely remember.

[sophie201]

On 5/19/2021 at 10:28 AM, fde101 said:

Those with limited screen real-estate sometimes complain about things being hidden off the right side of the context toolbar and needing the extra click to get at them, but may not need some of the controls which appear to the left of those in the context toolbar.

The lack of real estate is precisely why I too need to customize the context toolbar. I often change the crop overlay and it is always offscreen to the right.

[walt.farrell]

20 minutes ago, sophie201 said:

The lack of real estate is precisely why I too need to customize the context toolbar. I often change the crop overlay and it is always offscreen to the right.

In the meantime, you could just press the O key, which is the shortcut to cycle through the crop overlay choices.