Is clicking on a ruler supposed to turn the Preview Mode off?

[GarryP]

Windows 10, Publisher build 174.

I only found this by accident.
I can imagine why, when dragging a new guide out, it might be useful to turn the Preview Mode off - if only temporarily at least - but I don't see why a simple click should do it also since clicking on a ruler doesn't actually do anything else (as far as I know, it doesn't look like it does).

[fde101]

Only seems to happen with the Move Tool selected.

Suspect this is related to dragging guides out: when you mouse down it is probably preparing to drag out the guide and prematurely turning off preview mode for the reasons already outlined.

[GarryP]

Yeah, as far as I can see, it only happens while using the Move tool.
It's not a major problem - as I said, I found it by accident - but I didn't know if it was deliberate and/or was also doing something else which I didn't know about.
I think you could be correct that it's pre-empting the user dragging a guide out but I don't know if Preview Mode should be restored after a guide drag operation. (I rarely drag guides out so I don't know how useful it would be, or otherwise.)
Anyway, only a minor issue either way; just thought I'd mention it.

[fde101]

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

don't know if Preview Mode should be restored after a guide drag operation

I think it should be if no guide is actually placed (as in this case).

In the event that a guide is placed... maybe that should be a preference?

[GarryP]

It would seem reasonable to me that, after simply clicking the ruler - with no guide being created - the Preview Mode should be re-established, unless clicking on a ruler also does something else (nothing I have read so far gives me that impression). In this way, it would seem reasonable to say that if clicking the ruler effects no change on the internal state of the application then doing so should not change the visual state of the application. (Obviously, normal/basic UI things like gaining focus should be allowed for so that clicking a ruler isn't a completely "dead" operation.)

I have a feeling that there will be a split between people who want the Preview Mode to stay off once that have dragged a guide out - "I've started to do layout stuff so I need to be able to see things" - and people who want Preview Mode to be automatically restored - "I only wanted to create a guide and go back to what I was doing quickly". And I imagine there are people who want it one way most of the time but want it the other way some of the time too.

As you say, a preference setting could let people decide, but adding too many preference settings can make some people frustrated/annoyed. They can get bogged down in preference settings and the whole thing starts to look too complicated.

Maybe a modifier key could be used - Drag and go back to Preview Mode; Shift+Drag to keep Preview Mode off - but too many modifier keys can be confusing sometimes, and you can bet that some people want them the other way round.

Even if you try and please most of the people most of the time you will generally end up annoying someone so this sort of thing is rarely easy.

Maybe one of the developers will read this and give the official stance on the issue. As long as it does what it's supposed to do then I have no real complaint. Basically, I can learn to live with it, whatever it does.