Hi,
In Scrivener 2.7 the “Inspector panel control strip” was moved to the top of the inspector. I’m a bit puzzled by this move because it’s remote from the middle or end of the document where typewriter scrolling or coming to the end of the visible page would seem to recommend that the middle was the idea location for moving back and forth between writing and controls in a fairly natural manner.
I’m finding that on a large monitor, especially in split screen, those tiny little controls are way up there in the clouds of El Capitan in the distant right hand corner. Even on my Air, however, they seem out of place.
BTW, I found the the Inspector panel control strip on p. 9 in the user’s manual. Is there a nickname for it?The terminology didn’t come up in a search. Is it really possible that there is any feature of Scrivener that has gone unremarked in all these years? Perhaps I’m not the only one making this suggestion.
Thank you, Jerome. Indeed that works–101 results for “inspector tabs!” I had to laugh.
Maybe the name of that little bit of real estate should be changed to its nickname in the next revision of the manual. In addition to an option to placing the inspector tab in the middle.
Linn, I agree with you that the new placement of the Inspector control strip is awkward. My cursor is usually at the bottom of the screen when I’m in the Editor, as that’s where new words are added. If I want to look at a Snapshot or Comment now, I need to swipe my trackpad or mouse (depending on which computer I’m at) all the way up the screen to click on the icon. Coupled with the flat appearance of the interface forcing me to hunt for buttons and panels that used to stand out by virtue of drop shadows, it takes me away from my writing long enough to serve as a distraction rather than a helpful toolset.
I suppose I’ll get used to it eventually, but the fact that Apple’s horrible interface decisions are now directly and negatively impacting my writing environment in a meaningful way makes me twitchy (and occasionally something that rhymes).
If it’s efficiency in panel switching that you’re looking for, consider learning the keyboard shortcuts for these panes (they are in the View/Inspect menu). The button layout will on most keyboards require very little memorisation, and using them also has the advantage in that if the Inspector is closed, you can go directly to what you wanted rather than opening it with one click, and then changing panels with another (and speaking of mouse efficiency, for those that click buttons, the ‘i’ Inspector button is now right next to the tab buttons—no more turning it on and then moving your mouse all the way down to the bottom ).
If it means anything, I’ve been using this approach in test builds for a little over a year now. At first it bothered me as well, I’m used to glancing down at the bottom of the screen to check for content asterisks, and it took me a while to get used to looking at the top of the window instead. After a few weeks I got used to it though. You may find you habitually leave your mouse at the top of the screen, it’s one quick and haphazard diagonal swipe to get it up there with the intention of “storing” the pointer, after all.
Good point with the terminology in the manual though, I’ve added a note to fix that up. I think I might in fact have gone with something other than “Inspector tabs” because with the buttons at the bottom at the time, it was a bit strange to formally refer to them as “tabs”. That was in fact one of the reasons for moving them. It is quite unorthodox to put tabs at the bottom of the view they control.
P.S. I do incidentally agree with you on Apple’s modern take on UI design. I don’t feel it has usability and accessibility in mind at all, but like most fashion trends, we don’t have to live with them for very long if we don’t like them.
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