Suggestion: Interface making better use of wide screens

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jctracey
Posts: 7
Joined: 2007-04-06 16:09:11

Suggestion: Interface making better use of wide screens

Post by jctracey »

Hello folks. I love NW Express, I'm using the current version. There are not many interface suggestions I would make for this product right now. One thing I notice is that on my computer, which is a 17" inch MacBookPro, the toolbar at the top of the writing area as I use it has a TON of unused real estate. And I love having the window nice and wide so the text goes almost the full width of the screen. When I turn on the tools, obviously, the palettes appear to left (or right) of the editing area.

I think it would be great if some of the tools/palettes could be customized to appear on the top toolbar, so I could put word count up there, or see the font drop down screen, etc. I know this is not a simple thing, but the Word toolbars are very customizable. If the NW palettes could have toolbar variations, or some mechanism for making some use of the wide screen monitors/displays so many of us have, it could be very useful. Just throwing this out there.

Thanks.
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mrennie
Posts: 173
Joined: 2004-11-10 07:31:31

Post by mrennie »

Maybe you could achieve something very similar by *hiding* the top toolbar. I agree that the toolbar takes away a lot of valuable screen estate, so the use of palettes seems to be the move in the right direction: they extend the program's functionality to the left/right instead of top/bottom, thus allowing you to make more efficient use of your widescreen. I use the tool drawer with the top toolbar hidden (just click on the "pill" button in the upper right corner of the Nisus Writer window), and I access all of the features in the toolbar either through menus or keyboard shortcuts.

Furthermore, have you already used full screen view? If your focus is on writing (instead of formatting), this view allows you to get the most out of your screen.
jctracey
Posts: 7
Joined: 2007-04-06 16:09:11

Post by jctracey »

I have tried the full-screen review, and use it sometimes. I know what you mean, but when you look at, for instance, the way Apple's Numbers application handles a ton of formatting and options in a really low profile across the top of the screen, you see what you can do if you really want to make use of the space efficiently.

Thanks!


mrennie wrote:Maybe you could achieve something very similar by *hiding* the top toolbar. I agree that the toolbar takes away a lot of valuable screen estate, so the use of palettes seems to be the move in the right direction: they extend the program's functionality to the left/right instead of top/bottom, thus allowing you to make more efficient use of your widescreen. I use the tool drawer with the top toolbar hidden (just click on the "pill" button in the upper right corner of the Nisus Writer window), and I access all of the features in the toolbar either through menus or keyboard shortcuts.

Furthermore, have you already used full screen view? If your focus is on writing (instead of formatting), this view allows you to get the most out of your screen.
HeatherKay
Posts: 78
Joined: 2004-04-13 04:44:40
Location: Chatham, UK
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Post by HeatherKay »

You do realise that if you Command-click the pill button, it will cycle through all the various sizes of buttons, buttons with text, text only settings?

I tend to work with the toolbar set to small text only, and it suits me well.

Top Tip: this cycling through toolbar sizes trick works in every app that has a toolbar with the pill button. :wink:
jctracey
Posts: 7
Joined: 2007-04-06 16:09:11

Post by jctracey »

Yes, I know about the changing of toolbar sizes/profiles. Thanks. I don't think it addresses my point about using the horizontal space though. Look at the status bar at the bottom of the screen as well. I would love to see word could there (configurable). I think it would be useful if NWE or NWP allowed us to configure our work space a little more than it does -- to have some of the functionality of the palettes and some more feedback (word count, etc.) occupying some of the open real estate already on the screen, you know?


HeatherKay wrote:You do realise that if you Command-click the pill button, it will cycle through all the various sizes of buttons, buttons with text, text only settings?

I tend to work with the toolbar set to small text only, and it suits me well.

Top Tip: this cycling through toolbar sizes trick works in every app that has a toolbar with the pill button. :wink:
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