Desired improvements to SP3

[axys]

Can we start a thread on desired improvements to SP3? Here's my initial thoughts -

1. PLEASE bring back fine control of commands with up/down arrows - the loss of these is a real drag on usability, particularly the rotate and text tools. The new arrangement doesn't seem to have any fine control using a mouse. For instance in SP2, spacing between characters clicks up/down 0.2 at a time, but, in SP3, the slider jumps by 10x that amount, which is hopeless, then needing a typed entry to control it, and again and again if its not right.

2. Split the 'View Mode' button into two so that each button can logically sit above its respective part.

3. Bring back the floating Inspector - the fixed arrangement is a big waste of screen space.

4. Move the Pages control back to the side - now possible with the Inspector floating! The new arrangement just doesn't work in any meaningful way.

5. Better control of guides - bring back right-click to add guide. Option to add guide where arrow is would be even better rather than always in the middle.

These are my main desires at the moment - there is much to like about SP3, but it can be a lot better with a little fine tuning!

[Nick]

axys,

Thanks for putting all the suggestions in one place. We will consider them.

Nick

[pepperonijoe]

axys, all points are my wishes too....but the absolute biggest point is the handling with cmyk... sorry to post it here too, but for me is this the main point!

Joe

[Troody]

Great points, axys, and very well stated! I am finding SP3 much harder to use--more clicks and/or typing needed to accomplish the tasks I do most often, such as spacing. I liked being able to locate the Inspector to an out of the way portion of the screen, and I really miss the sidebar. It is much harder to rearrange pages now.

I want to add that the Inspector no longer shows me the formatting that's already in place in a document. Say, for example, that I used a 5 pt space between paragraphs on page 1 and a 7 pt space on page 2. I work on page 1 for a while. Then I put my cursor in a line on page 2, and the Inspector does not show me the actual space set on that page; it shows me the last setting used on the other page. Moreover it uses the page 1 setting if I add anything to page 2. This is not only annoying, it means I have to write down on a piece of paper any time I do something different within a document so that I will know how to match it if I need to add more text.

Can we start a thread on desired improvements to SP3? Here's my initial thoughts -

1. PLEASE bring back fine control of commands with up/down arrows - the loss of these is a real drag on usability, particularly the rotate and text tools. The new arrangement doesn't seem to have any fine control using a mouse. For instance in SP2, spacing between characters clicks up/down 0.2 at a time, but, in SP3, the slider jumps by 10x that amount, which is hopeless, then needing a typed entry to control it, and again and again if its not right.

2. Split the 'View Mode' button into two so that each button can logically sit above its respective part.

3. Bring back the floating Inspector - the fixed arrangement is a big waste of screen space.

4. Move the Pages control back to the side - now possible with the Inspector floating! The new arrangement just doesn't work in any meaningful way.

5. Better control of guides - bring back right-click to add guide. Option to add guide where arrow is would be even better rather than always in the middle.

These are my main desires at the moment - there is much to like about SP3, but it can be a lot better with a little fine tuning!

[Nick]

Hi Troody,

You have described a problem with the Spacings controls in the Inspector. When you move from one portion of text to another, is it located in independent text boxes, or in linked text boxes.

Nick

[Troody]

This happens in linked text boxes. It also happens within the same text box on a single page.

Also within a single text box, say I'm doing a list of names/addresses.

name
street
city

2name
2street
2city

Between name, street, and city I want no spaces. Between city and 2name, I want a 5 pt. space. I want to follow that pattern down the page. I type in the info, add the spaces, and realize that a 6 pt. space would balance the page better. I go back to the space insertion point and change that one to 6 pt. (I have to type this because there's no way the slider will recognize a 1 pt change.) Then I move the cursor to the second insertion point. The inspector is already showing 6 pt. because I just did one of those. I hit enter, but the second spacing does not change. The only thing I've found to do at this point is to change the spacing I'm asking for from the 6 pt. I actually want to a 0 pt. and hit enter. Now if I change the 0 pt. to 6 pt. and hit enter again, the spacing between my two lines of text will change--but I have to do this back and forth dance at every insertion point. And if it then looks as though a 7 pt spacing would have been better still, I just close the computer to avoid weeping.

[Nick]

Troody

Thank you. We'll work on this bug.

As far as I understand, the problem not with inputting a new value (on my computer it did apply) but with displaying the current when you put the cursor to a new position in the text. This is confusing and forced you to retype the desired value to make accordance between what you see on the canvas and in the Inspector.

Nick

[Troody]

Definitely displaying the current value is an issue.

But--

I can change the value on one line from 5 pt to 7 pt. Then when I move to the next place where I want to change the value from 5 pt to 7 pt, 7 pt is already typed in that field on Inspector. I press enter and nothing happens. I erase the 7 and retype it, press enter, and nothing happens. I have to take the slider to zero pt and retype 7 pt, and hit enter again, for the spacing to change. I have to do that all through the text box every place that I want to change from 5 to 7 pt.

So it's not so much that it's confusing (although it IS confusing to be seeing "7 pt" when the spacing clearly hasn't changed)--it's that it's a lot of work, over and over, to change the spacing.

Thank you, Nick, for your quick response!

[Troody]

A new note: Why is it that when I change the font size on some already-typed text, and then choose "undo" from the Edit menu, the font size doesn't revert? Instead, I have to remember what it was and change it in Inspector.

[axys]

I have to say that font control generally - colour, size, spacing etc, is so buggy and hard to fine tune that, along with other reported issues, SP3 has become unusable for me. I've gone back to SP2.

[Nick]

Hi Troody,

How to repeat this bug? Let's say, I have opened a document containing text. How do I need to increase the font size?

Nick

[Troody]

I'm sorry you asked that. Trying to reproduce it made an even bigger mess! I think that it doesn't matter which way I change the font--whether I do it using the little font field in Inspector or if I open the font box and choose the size there--it doesn't revert to the previous size when I hit "undo."

And now I have a new question. How do I insert a special character? I go to Edit-->special characters, the box opens, and I click on the character I had in mind, but there are no commands available--nothing like "insert" or "add." Double-clicking doesn't do it. The only button I see is "add to favorites."

[Nick]

Hi

I'm sorry you asked that. Trying to reproduce it made an even bigger mess! I think that it doesn't matter which way I change the font--whether I do it using the little font field in Inspector or if I open the font box and choose the size there--it doesn't revert to the previous size when I hit "undo."

I've managed to repeat this bug. It will be fixed in the next version.

And now I have a new question. How do I insert a special character? I go to Edit-->special characters, the box opens, and I click on the character I had in mind, but there are no commands available--nothing like "insert" or "add." Double-clicking doesn't do it. The only button I see is "add to favorites."

On my computer with 10.7.4, I can add a character by double-clicking on it in the Characters pane, or by drag-and-dropping it into a text box.

Nick

[Troody]

Nick, thanks for figuring out the font bug!

I'm not sure what was going on regarding the special characters. I went back to try drag and dropping, and couldn't get the special characters box to appear until I restarted my computer! (Just closing and reopening SP3 didn't fix it.) Now double-clicking does work, as does drag and drop. Thank you for that info!

[YvonneinSonoma]

I started a thread on this a few months ago and am disappointed the Pages Sidebar didn't come back with the update. Having all the pages visible in the sidebar with the ability to reorder and click into each page as necessary is vital to me. I find having to click in and out of pages at the top and then have the page pane disappear when I click back into the document annoying. PLEASE put back the Page View Sidebar. Thank you.