The column headed ‘Day’ is a list-type custom metadata field.
Select it in one of the rows.
Issue 1: Scrivener has replaced all the list elements with three dots, making it impossible to select one. Presumably this is because the full width of the element name will not fit in the drop-down. The elements can be seen again if the column is widened. But it should not be necessary to mess up the page layout to use the drop-down, and this column is not unreasonably narrow.
Issue 2: As soon as the drop-down appears, the list element already selected disappears.
If no further action is taken, and the focus is moved elsewhere, the data is lost.
This is a usability issue common to the type of control they are using for this. It shows up as well in the Contents list in the compile overview window, where selecting Section Types from the dropdowns in that list often resorts to maybe one or two letters and then dots. It’s not actually not listing the values, its just drawing the dropdown so narrow it can actually print anything. So what makes sense as “A very long ti…” is what is causing “…” and nothing else.
The problem isn’t the dots in other words. The problem is that there should never be a condition where it draws the list so narrow it can’t even print more than three letters.
There are other issues with this type of control as well, such as how many times you have to click to use it. We would want to see it where you can just click and hold right in the outliner once, drag to the selection you want, and release the button, like a normal menu.
Thanks for the explanation. Does this mean it’s something you can’t address?
I have found that if you roll the mousewheel after selecting the control, but before the drop-down opens, it scrolls through the list items, which makes it a lot easier to select one. Maybe this is why it takes two clicks to open it.
You didn’t mention the data loss part of the problem.
I don’t know if it can’t be, and I also don’t know why they use this type of control here, but one that seems to work a lot better in every way, with very similar capabilities, in the Inspector label/status fields. Maybe it is not possible to use a better field type in this context.
I’m just letting you know the problematic field type is something we’re aware of, and have been for a long time now.
You didn’t mention the data loss part of the problem.
I’m not sure what you’re looking for, isn’t this all part of the topic of how this control works?
Issue 2: As soon as the drop-down appears, the list element already selected disappears.
If no further action is taken, and the focus is moved elsewhere, the data is lost.
Yes, I see what you’re describing, but this is all part of how this control works. Changing that or this all falls under the same umbrella, is what I mean.
In the meanwhile though, if I use Esc to clear the control then that acts as “cancel”. Clicking elsewhere counts as “confirm”. I’ve never actually seen what you describe before because I always use Esc if I bring something up by accident and don’t want to do anything with it.
