Open & Close Embedded Document Navigation – UX

[kartoffelstranger]

Heya folks,

When I open an embedded document and close it again, Photo & Designer will jump to the first document in the tab list instead of the previously open document with the embedded document.
It would be very welcome if it would go back to the original document with the embedded document. Working with multiple files open is a hassle.

Kartoffel

[GarryP]

Interesting.
I’ve just done a quick test of this in Designer 1.9.2 on Windows and, when I double-click on an embedded document in the middle document of three, and then close the embedded document, I get put back to the third document (the last one), not the first one as you have reported.
See attached video.
I agree that the software should take me back to the document which contained the embedded document that was just closed but there seems to be a discrepancy between what you get and what I get.
Which OS are you using, and which Application(s) and version number(s).
Maybe other people can check this to see what they get.

[kartoffelstranger]

Indeed interesting, while pretty much the opposite, it still behaves wrongly from a UX perspective.

I'm on MacOS with the lastest 10.0.1 version and had the same issue with 10.0.0, on Designer and Photo.

Edited August 26, 2021 by kartoffelstranger
replace link with video

[GarryP]

I wonder if there’s an inherent difference between how the underlying UI APIs work in Windows and OS X, or whether it’s a difference in the Affinity code, or something else.
Hopefully other people will try it and report what they get.

[Dan C]

Hi both

I can confirm that this certainly doesn't feel like the right behaviour, especially if you are experiencing differences between OS versions.

I have raised this with our QA team, we're going to perform some tests here and report our findings to the developers now.

I'll be sure to update you with our findings here!

[Dan C]

I can confirm I've been able to replicate the same as your reports here - that on Windows you are returned to the right-most document tab, whereas on Mac you are returned to the left-most document tab.

In either case, I believe you should be returned to the document your embedded document was opened from, so I've logged this as a bug with our developers.

I hope this helps

[GarryP]

Thanks for logging this Dan.

I thought of an extra wrinkle in this which may need some consideration.
Say you have two open documents, Document A and Document B.
Document A contains Embedded file X and Document B contains Embedded file Y.
You switch to Document A and open Embedded file X – now have three open windows.
Then you switch to Document B and open Embedded file Y – now have 4 open windows.
Then you switch to Embedded file X and close the window without making any edits.
Should the software take you to Document B, the last document you were looking at, or Document A, the document which contains the last embedded file you were looking at?
Maybe not a massive problem but I would bet that some people would want it one way and others the other way.

[Dan C]

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

Should the software take you to Document B, the last document you were looking at, or Document A, the document which contains the last embedded file you were looking at?
Maybe not a massive problem but I would bet that some people would want it one way and others the other way.

I would argue you should always be returned to the document that the embedded document you've just closed originates from (at least this is what I've written in the bug report).

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

Maybe not a massive problem but I would bet that some people would want it one way and others the other way.

After switching to and then closing 'Embedded file X', where would you expect the app to return you to? 'Embedded file Y'? 

Either way, I can certainly include within the request to add a preference option, depending on the solution the devs decide