Suggestion: Improve group visibility on layer lists for Affinity Photo2 Windows

[StyleMaven]

I am working in a large document with many similar layers and groups. I am constantly losing my place in the layer list. I haven't had this problem in other programs, and I realized the UI needs some improvements. This is what I noticed in the Windows version of Affinity Photo 2:

• The folder icon for the group doesn't change when the group is open vs when it is closed.
• The gray guides (I'm in dark mode) by the side of the group layers don't appear when the group is selected, only when a layer inside the group is selected
• The gray guides would be very helpful if they all appeared for every open group, and then were a brighter gray for the group with a layer currently selected.

When all the guidelines are black, it is impossible to quickly see whether I am looking at an open group, sub-group or a single layer. I'm not talking about the blue highlights. Those are helpful for keeping track of where I am, but useless for finding where I want to be. I'm talking about scrolling through a long layer list trying to find the layer I want. If the layer is locked or hidden, I can't click on an object to quickly find the right layer.

[carl123]

4 hours ago, StyleMaven said:

The folder icon for the group doesn't change when the group is open vs when it is closed.

In the Layer's panel hamburger menu, the option Show Group Thumbnails may help if this option is switched on

 

[StyleMaven]

Thank you. That is indeed helpful.  Appreciate it.

[Dybkjær]

On 11/29/2022 at 7:27 AM, carl123 said:

In the Layer's panel hamburger menu, the option Show Group Thumbnails may help if this option is switched on

 

Thanks. I had this very question, as the thumbnails was what I saw in Designer 1.x.

The enclosed pictures show the group icon with AD 1.x, AD 2, and AD 2 with Show Group Thumbnails. All from the same document.

I wonder why anyone would want anonymous group icons, making navigation difficult.

Is there some significant performance penalty with Group Thumbnails? 

[Brian_J]

28 minutes ago, Dybkjær said:

I wonder why anyone would want anonymous group icons, making navigation difficult.

Is there some significant performance penalty with Group Thumbnails? 

I think it’s a matter of personal preference rather than performance considerations. I usually prefer folder icons, and rely on group names to quickly identify contents. I imagine the type of graphic/artwork and how complex it is affect whether thumbnails or folder icons are more helpful.

[carl123]

35 minutes ago, Dybkjær said:

I wonder why anyone would want anonymous group icons, making navigation difficult.

Anonymous group icons were always available in V1 but not, I believe, as the default setting

Not sure why they changed this particular default for showing groups 

(Windows)

[fde101]

5 hours ago, carl123 said:

Not sure why they changed this particular default for showing groups 

(Windows)

This is not specific to Windows; they made this change on the Mac version too.  I'm not sure why either.

[Dybkjær]

12 minutes ago, fde101 said:

This is not specific to Windows; they made this change on the Mac version too.  I'm not sure why either.

Apparently anonymous icons could not be selected on the iPad, at least I cannot find the checkbox for that (in AD 1.x, it's there in version 2).

I can see the usefulness of being able to select one or the other as it makes it quick to spot the type (group or curve).

As regards names, the group name is written next to the icon whether it is anonymous or not.

Thanks to you and carl123 for helping me out.

 

[Pšenda]

On 11/29/2022 at 2:48 AM, StyleMaven said:

When all the guidelines are black, it is impossible to quickly see whether I am looking at an open group, sub-group or a single layer. I'm not talking about the blue highlights. Those are helpful for keeping track of where I am, but useless for finding where I want to be.

Personally, I would like the following color highlighting of groups and their items (idea vs reality).
 

[powsimian]

On 12/4/2022 at 6:54 AM, Brian_J said:

I think it’s a matter of personal preference rather than performance considerations. I usually prefer folder icons, and rely on group names to quickly identify contents. I imagine the type of graphic/artwork and how complex it is affect whether thumbnails or folder icons are more helpful.

I can not imagine a single instance in which folders are more helpful. You can always name the groups if you need to stay super organized.

[Pšenda]

On 12/4/2022 at 6:54 AM, Brian_J said:

I usually prefer folder icons

For Groups, I also prefer the display of icons - some thumbnail of a partial part of the design does not contribute to easier orientation and organization of layers. Despite the fact that the icon takes up less space (the row is lower), which suits me.

[Brian_J]

9 hours ago, powsimian said:

I can not imagine a single instance in which folders are more helpful.

Right on. That supports my statement "I think it’s a matter of personal preference". You can't image it, and others can. Personal preference.

[powsimian]

On 12/8/2022 at 10:31 PM, Brian_J said:

Right on. That supports my statement "I think it’s a matter of personal preference". You can't image it, and others can. Personal preference.

No I don't think anyone can. It's definitely not the preferred default. Switching the default from preview to icon on the update was an oversight.

[MikeTO]

On 12/8/2022 at 7:13 AM, powsimian said:

I can not imagine a single instance in which folders are more helpful. You can always name the groups if you need to stay super organized.

Here's that instance. 🙂 I have groups with hundreds of of tiny text objects that contain just one or two characters spread over a large area. Thumbnails for these groups are essentially blank regardless of the thumbnail background colour so they're useless. The folder icon helps me identify folders in the panel, especially since the indentation lines are difficult to see.

  

 

[Pšenda]

16 hours ago, MikeTO said:

Here's that instance. 🙂

I will add the second aspect I wrote about. If you're using large previews to make out anything at all, group icons take up significantly less space, making them easier to organize.

[Designwiz]

I would like to add that in Affinity v1 apps I could see a lot more easily what was what in the list of layers and groups. However, in v2 I am having a hard time working with layers, because everything is so confusingly just simply dark grey and the worst experience for me is NOT being able to properly see the hierarchy, where disabling "Show Group Thumbnails" helps a lot, but I miss the preview... (in v1 I worked with previews on, in v2 I am unable to do it as it makes me very slow to work that way).

To me, to overview of the new Layer panel in v2 is a lot worse that it was in v1, especially when I have to deal with the hierarchy.

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by Designwiz
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