Expanding windows, and floating windows

Al Het
Al Het Member Posts: 206 ✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

Am I right in assuming that the only way to expand a window (now called "panels," it appears) is to go into that panel's settings, set it to "float this panel," and then resize the window as desired?

Why would they do away with the little box in the upper right corner that allows you to do this, with any panel that is open in the program?  Once you "float the panel" that box is there, and with one more click, the window can be expanded, but what is the advantage to adding this extra step? 

Not a radical inconvenience, but just one more thing, with two or three more clicks, to do what has always been able to be done with a single click.  And they CHANGED this program to do this.  Older versions were standard, single click to expand the window fully.

I'm thinking that there MUST be some advantage to this change, but I can't figure out what it is.  Any idea why this is?

Thanks.

Comments

  • Al Het
    Al Het Member Posts: 206 ✭✭

    Okay, I'm seeing one benefit of having to "float the panel" and then expanding it.  It opens the window outside of the Logos program (as seen by the tab on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen).  This allows you to more easily toggle back and forth between the floated panel and whatever is open in Logos. 

    Most of the time when I would expand a window in Libronix, It would be a map that I opened, and can't be as easily seen on a smaller portion of the screen.  If I wanted to reference the text, I would have to reduce the size of the window, look at the text, and then perhaps expand the size of the map again. 

    Not sure of the extent of the benefit - it would depend how often you wanted to go back and forth from the existing screen, to the full-sized resource.

    For what it's worth.

    Any other obvious benefits of this?

    Al

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 55,165

    I assume you know that you can resize (not maximize) a panel by drag and dropping the edge or create equal sized windows by double clicking on the shared board. You can also equalize sizing via changing a layout. I only use floating windows for items such as the library or clause visualization where I need a wide of the data ... and it is usually a view then return to my main layout scenario.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 14,482 ✭✭✭✭

    I routinely pop the panels in Libby. Fast, efficient. And doesn't make a mess of the layout.  Click. Done. What's also good is that Libby remembers who's been popped, later. F11 was a failed attempt at Llb-efficiency.

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.

  • Al Het
    Al Het Member Posts: 206 ✭✭

    MJ. Smith said:

    I only use floating windows for items such as the library or clause visualization where I need a wide of the data ... and it is usually a view then return to my main layout scenario.

    Right, that is exactly what I'm talking about.  Things like maps, that require a wide view of the data, that you want to look at, and then close up.  Not sure why you would create an upgraded version of software and do away with the ability to single-click maximize any window, and then either single-click return the size, or close it, or whatever.

    MJ. Smith said:

    I assume you know that you can resize (not maximize) a panel by drag and dropping the edge or create equal sized windows by double clicking on the shared board. You can also equalize sizing via changing a layout.

    Yep, I did know that.  However, again, that is far less efficient than simply clicking on the Maximize button. 

    As I said, it is not a big deal, and maybe you only lose 4 or 5 seconds, each time you now use the floating window.  I just don't understand why Logos thought it was a good idea to change something from easier/more efficient to harder/less efficient.

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 55,165

    Al Het said:

    As I said, it is not a big deal, and maybe you only lose 4 or 5 seconds, each time you now use the floating window.  I just don't understand why Logos thought it was a good idea to change something from easier/more efficient to harder/less efficient.

    Perhaps little things like the common use of larger screens making maximize a rarely desired function or user labs showing the disadvantages of layout changes without conscious choice confirmation or tablets-->large screen all-in-ones providing a range of options that make it unwise for the software to guess what the user wants ...

    There are a number of things that in the era of L3 it would be "safe" to guess the users' wishes on that would be silly to design into today's options. What I miss from the "good ole days" is the explicit error messages when I entered something incorrectly rather than my machine making it's best erroneous guess.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."