Multiple columns for palettes

[icreate]

I love the Affinity suite of products but the one thing which bugs me about the interface is that I can only have one column of palettes on the left, one on the right.

In Indesign I have three columns on the right, two of which I usually minimise and one (normally for character and paragraphs etc) expanded all the time. On the left I have one (minimised) with not-so-frequent-but-handy-to-access palettes.

At the moment I have so many tabs next to each other and on top of each other that it drives me mad!

We really need to have multiple columns for storing/organising palettes, especially since monitors are so large these days - there's a lot of space being wasted which could be used more efficiently.

I also think it would be handy in publisher/design to be able to share docked palette locations for similar functions; i.e. character, paragraph, swatches etc, but understand this may be unworkable due to the difference between the available palettes in the respective apps (unless Affinity want to prove me wrong - please, prove me wrong!).

[Cuando]

+1

[Fixx]

I would rather have NO columns but call up needed palettes by kbd shortcuts when needed.

[Cuando]

11 hours ago, Fixx said:

I would rather have NO columns but call up needed palettes by kbd shortcuts when needed.

Both are possible 🙂

[USD]

+1

[GarryP]

Haven’t we already got this?
My attached image shows two columns on the left and three columns on the right (not my usual set-up, just for demonstration purposes).

[icreate]

I'm guessing you're on Windows judging by your main menu?

On the Mac, I can't drag my pallets into a second (or third column) - is there some other way you're docking them or maybe it only works on Windows at the moment?

[GarryP]

Yeah, Windows.
All I’m doing is dragging the Panels until a semi-opaque blue rectangle appears where I want to drag it to.
There are some differences in functionality between the OSes, for example Windows users don’t get Separated Mode.
Maybe this is just another one of those differences.

[walt.farrell]

2 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Maybe this is just another one of those differences.

Yes, it is. Mac users get only one studio column on each side.

[GarryP]

Oh well, swings and roundabouts I guess.
Might be nice to have some mention in the original post that this is an OS X-only issue.
That way, Windows users won’t be confused into thinking that they have the same problem and don’t try it for themselves.

[walt.farrell]

Unfortunately, a Mac-only user wanting a function has no way of knowing (except for reading the forums) that they've stumbled on a Mac-only limitation. And a Windows-only user often won't know of the difference either, absent reading in the forums.

[Cecil]

53 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Oh well, swings and roundabouts I guess.
Might be nice to have some mention in the original post that this is an OS X-only issue.
That way, Windows users won’t be confused into thinking that they have the same problem and don’t try it for themselves.

 

41 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Unfortunately, a Mac-only user wanting a function has no way of knowing (except for reading the forums) that they've stumbled on a Mac-only limitation. And a Windows-only user often won't know of the difference either, absent reading in the forums.

Just add fly out when creating new post to add Application & OS, lol.

[walt.farrell]

4 minutes ago, Cecil said:

 

Just add fly out when creating new post to add Application & OS, lol.

It wouldn't help in this case, as responders still might not know the application works differently on their OS.

[ashf]

+1

[Tominko]

multicolumn layout will be great. i have 49" widescreen monitor and i have loads of space there  ...so far i'm using floating windows but i dont like it much as its very easy to click outside and they are gone - not forever, switching back to the app will bring them back - but its very annoying 

[fde101]

On 2/1/2022 at 3:15 AM, Tominko said:

very easy to click outside and they are gone - not forever, switching back to the app will bring them back - but its very annoying 

This is a classic Mac behavior for floating palettes, toolboxes and the like.  I believe it is because such windows need to float on top of other windows, and if you switch applications, where the floating palettes would not be useful, it is not desirable for those palettes to float on top of the windows for that application too - so they simply get hidden when you are working in a different application.

I agree that there are times when this can be annoying, but I attribute that primarily to application designers abusing this type of floating window for things it wasn't originally intended for.  When used for things like the studio panels I don't really see this as being a problem - just something you get used to - but sometimes I have seen applications use them for things like content or memo editors, and if you are displaying content that you want to reference when you switch to another application, it disappears, so that is much more of an annoyance.