When you reduce the spacing between cards it would be nice to get that down to zero. I have it to a minimum and there is still a larger space than I would like. I am partly doing this book on a Netbook but even on my external 17" monitor I could do with the extra space.
If my Synopsis runs over the end of the card, if I hover over it I can see it in a tooltip (not ideal but it will do). HOWEVER if the TITLE is too long, the only way you can read that is by expanding the card or opening the inspector.
I still feel these are valid observations - any thoughts.
Steve
PS A simple, but inelegant, solution to point 2, would be to add the TITLE info into the tool tip. Ideally a hover over could expand the card to a size necessary to show all text, not to edit just a view layer - quite a normal interaction in Win and I am sure in Mac too.
Spacing could maybe be pushed a little smaller, but it can’t go down to making the cards flush with one another. For one thing, that would really just look messy and confusing; for another, it wouldn’t allow the clean rearrangement of cards via drag and drop which is a big part of using the corkboard. I frequently work on an 11" screen, too, so I understand space being a premium, but you can do a lot by hiding other elements of the interface (toolbars, binder, footer, etc.). Once the Layouts Manager is implemented (it’ll be in the next release), you’ll be able to save the layout so that you can switch easily into and out of your “corkboard” layout.
The ability to automatically shrink the title font on longer titles or to display two lines for the title just got added to the new Mac release for Lion, so I’ll venture to say they’ll make it into the Windows version too, but I don’t have an ETA on when that will happen. Lee’s got plenty on his plate as it is as he finishes up the current “needs to be done” list before the initial 1.0 release. For now, try just changing your index card title font or the “small font” size in the Appearance tab of Options (you’ll need to turn on “use small font” from the corkboard options in the footer) and rejig the card size and ratio to better accommodate your titles. Or write shorter titles.
While I agree with that, it was NOT a problem for what I was doing. The whole point with Scrivener is its flexibility. I cannot see that an adjustment, contolled by the user, should have a preset minimum just because you believe I would have a problem if I used if. We ain’t that dumb.
If I wanted to drag I would change the spacing. This was a very specific and important need for me and made thing significantly more a pain than they needed to be… IM(V)HO!!!
Oh and on the titles thing - at this stage they need to be descriptive so they are a tad long. The zoom-out layer would be REALLY nice - I will post an example when I see it.
But THANK YOU for your response. And I promise $500 for every million this makes!
Much respect, gratitude and affection
Steve
EDIT: That $500 was for Scrivener not for you… although!
One thing to think about: sometimes the wise programmer doesn’t implement the full range of configurability that would be possible, not becuase of the 1% of users who will user that option with no problems, but because of all the others that will use it and cause problems that require support.
I’ve just started to try the Windows beta and would like to add my voice to this. On my small laptop I need every bit of space I can get and it is an irritation to see so much of the screen wasted on the space between index cards. This is a feature I would use a lot, and would like to be able to line up the cards as close as they could go.
The line that indicates which card is in focus could be thinner, too.
If you aren’t already, you might also find it helpful to hide various parts of the interface that you don’t need when working in the corkboard to maximize space–under View>Layout you’ll find options to hide the editor header and footer; you can hide the format bar and ruler from the Format menu, and you can hide the main toolbar directly from the View menu. Binder and inspector likewise can be hidden to maximize space. Once you’ve got a setup you like, you can use View>Layouts to save your layout to make it easy to switch into when you need to clear off the screen.
Here’s what my screen looks like when I use the corkboard. IMHO there are several ways to the reduce the clutter on the page, and make room to see quite a few more cards.
Are all these yellow and black lines meant to be there? What are they for?
The border on the highlighted card could be a lot thinner (and surely it could change the colour of the card border rather than increase the thickness of it).
There is a lot of unused white space at the right - enough for another card to fit. (I know that I could specify the number of cards, but then I’d have to change the setting every time I hide the binder).
Less white space between cards please!
Please restore the option to have cards with no ruled lines across them.
None of this has prevented me pre-ordering this marvellous program, but when I’ve got a folder with a lot of cards I do wish the corkboard would display more of them. Please say that you’ll be having a look at this at some point!
I’m afraid this is going to be rather a summary response, but in general, yes, some corkboard adjustments are underway. The yellow and black lines in your screenshot are a bug; there are also some spacing issues being worked out that are probably part of what you’re seeing with the extra gap on the right. The customization options for the lines is reverting to the earlier method, with the themes scheduled for implementation in addition to that post-1.0.
On the second card where the title is being unnecessarily truncated, have you double-checked there’s no white space at the end? I’m looking into this one to check the bug list, but I just want to ensure that’s not part of the problem. Also, are you using version 046 or 049? (You can check under Help > About Scrivener.)
