Anyone else think these buttons should be moved here?

[AlleyDukakis]

Photoshop lists all the app windows under the Menu button called "Windows"

Why doesn't Affinity Publisher do that?

I'm sick of messing with a sub menu.

And my cat doesn't like it either.

 

[Winsome]

Agreed. They are obviously hidden too far away in the user interface.

I believe macOS guidelines recommend them where they are in Adobe's applications, but am not sure.

I also wish you could right-click a studios tab and get the list and selection there too, easily accessible.

[Pšenda]

3 minutes ago, AlleyDukakis said:

lists all the app windows under the Menu button called "Windows"

Because Studios isn't app windows? By app windows I assume you mean open documents.

[Pšenda]

1 minute ago, Winsome said:

They are obviously hidden too far away in the user interface.

But that shouldn't be the reason why they should be placed in the wrong menu. If nesting them bothers you, then you should request their placement in a separate Studio item in the main menu.

P.S. There are already a lot of requests for easier setting and hiding of panels.

[AlleyDukakis]

8 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Because Studios isn't app windows? By app windows I assume you mean open documents.

In Photoshop, they use the Menu heading "Windows" to encompass both uses.

E.g. when you click on Windows there, you can interact with any open window document, as well as any app window (tool palette)

its very logical

My cat has considered writing a firm letter in regard to this oversight.

Edited August 18, 2022 by AlleyDukakis

[Old Bruce]

At times I wish there was simply a dialog that listed the studios so I can call up that dialog and hit a couple or three or five items at once without having to renavigate the Menu > Submenu find the item twice or more times. Oh and it should have a space where my Presets are listed along with an Add and Delete preset buttons.

[Winsome]

"I think that" does not work within the walls of companies and laboratories. Well, in some companies apparently.

Let's instead at least refer to macOS human guidelines as a sort of starting point, Apple knows something about usability, sets the standard for macOS apps anyway and remember that Affinity was originally designed for this particular operating system:

Apple macOS Human Interface Guidelines

It is these guidelines Adobe has followed and also uses under Windows and everyone is used to them, so why deviate. 

Calling them studios... no comments.

But in short, there is a lack of quick access to these panels... studios. 

[Dan C]

Hi @AlleyDukakis,

Thanks for your feedback, it's certainly appreciated!

I believe this post fits better in the Feedback for Affinity Publisher on Desktop section of the Forums, so I have moved the post there for you now

[Old Bruce]

9 minutes ago, Winsome said:

Calling them studios... no comments.

But in short, there is a lack of quick access to these panels... studios. 

I have thought about this, actually worried about it and the conclusion is I need to get out more. I have spent a fair amount of time contemplating the Studios or Panes or Panels term. I try to use Panel because the View menu item is called Studio, singular. If the Panels were to called Studios then the View menu item would be Studios, plural.

Regardless, I do not like having to navigate all the way through the list in a menu to check, uncheck several items. See my earlier comment.

[AlleyDukakis]

I asked OpenAI's DALL-E2 to draw a picture of a kitten who cannot understand the odd UI windows placement

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by AlleyDukakis

[tudor]

2 hours ago, Winsome said:

But in short, there is a lack of quick access to these panels... studios. 

You can assign a keyboard shortcut for each studio.

[Pšenda]

6 hours ago, AlleyDukakis said:

In Photoshop, they use the Menu heading "Windows" to encompass both uses.

So among the list of dozens of open documents there are dozens more showed/hidden panel items? Very smart and clear. Just because something is in Photoshop doesn't mean it's right.

 

6 hours ago, AlleyDukakis said:

E.g. when you click on Windows there, you can interact with any open window document, as well as any app window (tool palette)

So there are only "open" panels in this list? And how do you open/show (by the way, therefore the View menu, because Panels not "opening" - via menu File/Open, but only show and hide) panels that are still hidden? Is that controlled in a completely different menu?

[Pšenda]

6 hours ago, Winsome said:

and remember that Affinity was originally designed for this particular operating system:

And remember that the Affinity apps are based on the Windows-only Plus apps. And in this OS, the Window menu item is intended only for open documents and manipulating them, not for displayed panels.

[Winsome]

40 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

And remember that the Affinity apps are based on the Windows-only Plus apps. And in this OS, the Window menu item is intended only for open documents and manipulating them, not for displayed panels.

No, actually they are not based on these apps. They are based on a new architecture and a fresh start. Serif also wanted a new brand. They did so entirely on macOS. And a lot in the apps is inspired by macOS and follows human interface guidelines. Sometimes a bit clunky and sometimes horribly wrong (Just navigate around in preferences). But at least trying to imitate. If they still had to carry over user interface features from their now archaic Plus range despite the wish for a new start on a new OS, then they really have been Windows fundamentalists then. There was no reason to carry over a bad design idea from Plus, was there. 

But they do not follow good usability and the recommendation to place panels exactly where you expect them as a mac user. In the first level of the menu, by the way. That's what it's all about. Usability. Quick access. Seamless work flows.

I could easily find them in the View menu instead, but they're tucked away in a submenu and clunky workflow, and Serif haven't been able to embrace a common term like panels. Studio Tabs in Plus range and now Studios. Adobe is probably forgiven that in the Windows versions of their software they have put the panels easily accessible in a logical place, don't you think? And forgiven that Adobe simply call them panels. Studio is a pointless and confusing term someone must have protected with all he got in Nottingham. And I will never understand that a product that inspired by Adobes product had to do it their own way. It is not better, so why.
 
So what I do remember from education and work experience is that you shouldn't invent your own logic. Lean against best practice from guidelines, competitors, knowledge from the world and user surveys. 

[Alfred]

11 hours ago, Winsome said:

Studio Tabs in Plus range and now Studios … Adobe simply call them panels.

Serif also calls them panels now, but — like the ‘Tabs’ in the Plus range — the ‘Panels’ in the Affinity suite are arranged in groups within one or more ‘Studios’ (although there was only one Studio in each of the Plus products).

[PaulEC]

21 hours ago, AlleyDukakis said:

I'm sick of messing with a sub menu.

I sort of get it with this particular menu, although I can't say a couple of clicks bothers me particularly. But if you extend this to all menus, it will either be a case of scrolling through dozens of items, trying to find the one you want, or having a lot more menus, that you have to remember and navigate. As a general rule I think having sub menus often makes it easier to find a particular item quickly and easily.