Please add some useful information to the ‘background’ when no document is open, especially useful when the UI is also toggled OFF

[GarryP]

This problem has come up so often that some kind of resolution would be useful.

When the user has no open document and the UI is Toggled OFF (often accidentally, as it’s so easy to do) there often isn’t anything to see except a ‘blank window’ and a menu.

This has been proven to cause confusion.

A selection of related threads posted to just in the last month:
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/166817-affinity-publisher-black-window-only/
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/166631-where-are-my-tools-what-happened/
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/166573-side-bar-tools/
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/166859-lost-tool-bar/

I think it would be nice if the window, when no document was open, could display some calming text such as:
“You currently have no open document; please open a document to start working. If you cannot see any tools, please use menu ‘View → Toggle UI’ to get them back.”

I did add a similar feature request about this (not quite the same) a while ago but after some searching – e.g. toggle , tab , empty , black , UI , tools , and others – I cannot seem to find it.

Edited August 28, 2022 by GarryP

[R C-R]

Personally, I think it would be annoying if I toggled the UI off & there was still something visible other than the application menu, particularly what might be considered a 'nag screen' advising me that I should open (or create a new) document to show it.

[GarryP]

Just toggling the UI off wouldn’t show the user anything different to what they see now.
My suggestion is for when the user has no document open (or when they also have the UI toggled off).
I’ve attached an image which shows what my idea could look like, it’s nothing more 'invasive' than that; just a helpful little piece of text which will only be seen under certain circumstances and can be ignored if necessary.

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I’ve attached an image which shows what my idea could look like, it’s nothing more 'invasive' than that; just a helpful little piece of text which will only be seen under certain circumstances and can be ignored if necessary.

That is exactly the sort of 'nag' screen I would find annoying. If I toggle the UI off, I do not want it to show me anything presuming to tell me what I should be doing. I would consider it a distraction & a bit insulting. Basically, I am the only one who knows if or when I want to open an existing or create a new document & if & when I want to hide the UI for whatever reason.

[GarryP]

I have no problem with this being something that users can switch off if they want to do so, but I think it should be ON by default for the sake of beginners.

[jmwellborn]

@GarryP I really like your suggestion.  I can easily remember that day I bought Photo, downloaded and installed it, and then looked at that lovely blank screen.  “Now what?”      A little bit of text would have been very welcome.

[carl123]

On 8/26/2022 at 12:57 PM, GarryP said:

“You currently have no open document; please open a document to start working. If you cannot see any tools, please use menu ‘View → Toggle UI’ to get them back.”

Reminds me of my fridge, sometimes, when I open it but I don't need a note inside it to tell me...

"You currently have no food; please buy some food to start eating. If you cannot see any cutlery, please toggle the cutlery drawer open" 

[iconoclast]

2 minutes ago, carl123 said:

Reminds me of my fridge, sometimes, when I open it but I don't need a note inside it to tell me...

"You currently have no food; please buy some food to start eating. If you cannot see any cutlery, please toggle the cutlery draw open" 

The note will reliably come from the yawning void inside your belly. 😅

[AdamStanislav]

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

I’ve attached an image which shows what my idea could look like

Oh gosh, please, no! Or at least make it optional.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

I have no problem with this being something that users can switch off if they want to do so, but I think it should be ON by default for the sake of beginners.

Maybe it is just me but I think common sense should be enough for anyone with even a tiny bit of computer experience to understand that there is no document open then the document window will either be empty or if it was closed in the usual fashion before it was last quit then it may still be closed the next time the app is run.

Similarly, if the app seems non-responsive but the main menubar is visible, the first thing I think common sense would suggest to try is to see if any of the menu options (like new or open) will work.

Personally, i only want to see 'nag screens' telling me the consequences of what I am trying to do if I am about to do something non-reversible, like closing a document with unsaved changes without saving it. For me, accidentally hitting the Tab key to hide the UI does not qualify for this because it is easily undone. Similarly, I do not want any other easily undoable action pop up a warning about its consequences enabled by default just for beginners for two reasons. One is because there are quite a few things any user could do by accident that would qualify for such warnings & it would be tedious to have to turn them all off. The other is users would have to wade through even more user preference settings to find them all & turn them off, one by one.

So as a compromise, maybe the apps could show this kind of warning just once, the first time the app was run & that action was performed.

[debraspicher]

3 hours ago, carl123 said:

Reminds me of my fridge, sometimes, when I open it but I don't need a note inside it to tell me...

"You currently have no food; please buy some food to start eating. If you cannot see any cutlery, please toggle the cutlery drawer open" 

Don't say "cutlery", someone will complain and then Serif will have to remove all the sharp tools from the program. Comments like this are risky.

Though in all seriousness, just add a little snippet of code that throws up a toast message in top-right once the program is toggled to foreground. The same code that's triggered when fonts being updated except have it say something like "You currently have no documents open, please blah blah handlebars", etc and it'll disappear. Simple UX tweak that will probably still go unnoticed.

[R C-R]

2 minutes ago, debraspicher said:

Though in all seriousness, just add a little snippet of code that throws up a toast message in top-right once the program is toggled to foreground.

I am not sure what a "toast message" is but isn't it enough that the menu bar of the app is displayed along the top? Besides, why should any app have to tell you when you do not have a document open? Isn't that self-evident?

[jmwellborn]

@R C-R  Your compromise would be an excellent idea.  It is that first time the app is run that seems to surprise some people (including me back then, having been used to all of the blather that appeared with InDesign) and that first time that a person accidentally hits the Tab key and is faced with a blank screen that has so often resulted in cries for help on the Forums.

As for common sense, don't know whether I have any, but I did belong to Mensa many years ago, before I got really, really bored with their meetings, where everybody was bragging about how smart they were.  It seemed sensible to stop going.

[debraspicher]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

I am not sure what a "toast message" is but isn't it enough that the menu bar of the app is displayed along the top? Besides, why should any app have to tell you when you do not have a document open? Isn't that self-evident?

It doesn't bother me personally but if you've installed fonts in app, then you've seen a toast message. It will say fonts refreshed, etc.. they're more common on phones. The little box with text that pops up very small on the screen to show you notification. For example new message with what was in the message or notifying you an app was finished installing... it appears and then disappears.

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, debraspicher said:

... but if you've installed fonts in app, then you've seen a toast message. It will say fonts refreshed, etc..

I do not see that on any Mac I use, so I guess it is a Windows thing. Besides, there is no "in app" installation of fonts for any of the Affinity apps. But regardless, I think I understand what you mean by 'toast'; that a popup notification appears & then disappears without any user interaction. Right?

If so, I wonder how many users would complain that the notification is not obvious enough or on screen long enough for them to read & understand what it means.

Basically, I think most users just need to apply common sense & be careful about what actions they perform when they start using the Affinity or any other apps & they should be fine.

[R C-R]

12 minutes ago, jmwellborn said:

... and that first time that a person accidentally hits the Tab key and is faced with a blank screen that has so often resulted in cries for help on the Forums.

But the screen isn't really blank because the menu bar is still there.

[debraspicher]

18 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I do not see that on any Mac I use, so I guess it is a Windows thing. Besides, there is no "in app" installation of fonts for any of the Affinity apps. But regardless, I think I understand what you mean by 'toast'; that a popup notification appears & then disappears without any user interaction. Right?

If so, I wonder how many users would complain that the notification is not obvious enough or on screen long enough for them to read & understand what it means.

Basically, I think most users just need to apply common sense & be careful about what actions they perform when they start using the Affinity or any other apps & they should be fine.

Yes.

Affinity does this in Windows version but it is an Affinity-styled toast message. It's not in-app installation of fonts. It's when it detects the user has moved new fonts into the Windows/Font folder. It puts up a message that it refreshed or is refreshing fonts (forget which...)

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

Windows thing.

Should be on Mac, too, but possibly for other situations. For example, when an Affinity document contains a Linked file, and the file is updated by a different application. It's a tiny dialog window, easily missed, that Serif calls a toast because it pops up.

[R C-R]

45 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Should be on Mac, too, but possibly for other situations.

It is for other things but in the Mac versions of the Affinity apps there is no need for a notification about font-related refreshes because that happens immediately. There is no delay.

[Pšenda]

On 8/29/2022 at 4:04 PM, R C-R said:

I would consider it a distraction & a bit insulting.

Explicitly assuming that the user is a total "llama" who has no idea what he is doing is not exactly at the level of a professional tool, which Affinity Suite definitely wants to be. If, in addition to the New button, the Welcome screen contained a list of recently opened files, as has been requested many times here, then this window (or part of it) could be displayed whenever no file is open (that is, not only when the application starts). Then this information "you have nothing open" would not be just a passive evaluation of the low level of the user, but a practical shortcut to open the file. Of course, as with the Welcome screen, it could be turned off.

[R C-R]

53 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

If, in addition to the New button, the Welcome screen contained a list of recently opened files, as has been requested many times here, then this window (or part of it) could be displayed whenever no file is open (that is, not only when the application starts).

I would find that very annoying! If I have toggled off the UI, I want it to stay completely hidden, even when the app is frontmost & I do not have a document open. IOW, for me, it isn't just for use when I already have one open.

I also rarely want to see the Welcome screen, nor do I want to wait for it to try to 'phone home' to check for new items to display in that window.

[Medical Officer Bones]

I kinda like Krita's start screen approach myself. I wouldn't mind if something similar (as an option) would be implemented. Photoshop offers a similar new start screen nowadays, which I actually find quite helpful to continue to work on projects. But it should be free from unwanted advertisements, of course.

[Pšenda]

Since some users obviously don't know anything like that, just a sample of the Welcome Screen/Page I wrote about in the previous post. Welcome Page is of course fully editable (it's an html page), so according to the user's needs, it can contain the most frequently used projects and documents, a list of recently opened files, links to help, tutorial videos, articles and other documentation, links to forums and their posts, etc. - just what the user needs for his work. This Welcome Screen/Page opens first, and remains visible even after the last document is closed (thus solving the problem pointed out by GarryP), and serves as a basic signpost for work. And of course it can be turned off if the user does not want to use it.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Pšenda said:

Welcome Page is of course fully editable (it's an html page), so according to the user's needs, it can contain the most frequently used projects and documents, a list of recently opened files, links to help, tutorial videos, articles and other documentation, links to forums and their posts, etc.

Does any Affinity app include a full-featured browser that could support all of these things? Is the Welcome Screen just a web page, or is there more to it?

[Old Bruce]

On 8/29/2022 at 11:06 AM, debraspicher said:

Don't say "cutlery", someone will complain and then Serif will have to remove all the sharp tools from the program. Comments like this are risky.

What sharp tools? I am waiting for a knife tool, or scissors. Something to cut a vector or pixel layer with.