Which side are you on?

This is not a big deal but I find that when I open a single window in Logos, I would prefer to have it on the left than on the right where it goes by default. I think it may have to do with being right-handed and how it affects how we approach tasks, but I am not sure. I am curious whether it is just me or what others think of that. So which side are you on left or the default right?

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Comments

Rokas

I am not sure why it is, but just like you, I prefer to have it on the left - I always replace my single window to the left once it opens on the right

Greg F

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763476#Comment_763476

I would happily pay at least 10 dollars on community pricing to have texts open on the left by default..

Whyndell Grizzard

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763484#Comment_763484

I have complained about this forever- 99% of people work left to right- when working on there computers- fixed window to left- add additional info to right- your brain is on auto pilot.

James C.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763486#Comment_763486

I wonder if it has to do with the way we read, left to right. In any case, I prefer the window in the left as well.

Whyndell Grizzard

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763487#Comment_763487

I wonder if it has to do with the way we read, left to right. In any case, I prefer the window in the left as well.

In a way yes- you have spent your life, wobbling left to right while looking at books, kinda like the "old dog syndrome"- and that is subjective reasoning of course.

John Murphy

Agreed! I always immediately drag it to the left and put additional resources on the right.

Bruce Dunning

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763495#Comment_763495

I don't think that I have a preference about this but I hear the reasons why people would want it on the left.

John Kight

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763496#Comment_763496

I don't think that I have a preference about this but I hear the reasons why people would want it on the left.

I'm with Bruce.

James C.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763496#Comment_763496

I think Libronix opened up the first window on the left? If that's correct I wonder why they changed it.

Whyndell Grizzard

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763498#Comment_763498

Believe you were right- this should be a 'tools' option to select, or at least in the bible tab to open to the left or right

Mark Barnes

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763501#Comment_763501

I think the logic is the guides go on the left, and resources on the right, so you naturally move from guides to resources.

Personally, I quite like resources opening on the right because:

I have a dual-screen setup with Logos on the left screen. Resources on the right are more in my eye line.
I'll often have the library or a guide open on the left.
I can drag to open instead of click to open if I really mind where they end up.

Whyndell Grizzard

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763502#Comment_763502

I think the logic is the guides go on the left, and resources on the right, so you naturally move from guides to resources.

Personally, I quite like resources opening on the right because:

I have a dual-screen setup with Logos on the left screen. Resources on the right are more in my eye line.

I'll often have the library or a guide open on the left.

I can drag to open instead of click to open if I really mind where they end up.

Generally I agree- but perfer my bibles to the left, all the time I have all my commentaries and other resources opening to the right. That is why I mentioned the option for bibles to be opened left or right as a preference selection.

Matthew C Jones

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763487#Comment_763487

I wonder if it has to do with the way we read, left to right. In any case, I prefer the window in the left as well.

I learned to read Japanese right to left but I learned English first. I prefer the resources open on the left. If it were a left-brain/right-brain issue there should be a more equal divide, one would think.

Earl Sheneman

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763513#Comment_763513

I would choose left if I had a choice. Seems much more natural.

Eli Evans (Logos)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763502#Comment_763502

I think the logic is the guides go on the left, and resources on the right, so you naturally move from guides to resources.

To follow on to Mark's point and answer the "Why?" questions: It's because of the Logos 3 ("Libronix") Home Page. In L3, the Home Page opened as a window, and since it was the first thing you encountered (by definition), it opened on the left. Any resources you opened from it opened on the right. If you opened the very popular "Passage Guide +Bible" combo, the PG opened over top of the Home Page and the Bible opened on the right.

This is in keeping with the general expectation of Western left-to-right readers that the first thing goes on the left, and the second thing goes on the right.

We then changed the layout system in L4 to be a tiling system rather than an overlapping window system, and we changed the Home Page to be a temporary overlay that didn't participate in the work layout. This, I think, was a vast improvement on the old (and by then, out of fashion) MDI interface. In some of the early betas of L4, we opened the first panel, no matter what it was, on the left — following the logic that people read left to right, as expressed above. But that didn't feel right for long-time customers who had grown to love the "start from guides (on the left), and work from into the resources (on the right)" workflow that Mark mentions (and which is still implicit in much of the software even post L4).

So we preserved that peculiarity of the pre-L4 layout system in L4 and forward.

In future, I would like very much if we would let you decide these sorts of things for yourself -- which things open in the layout, in the sidebars, as floating windows, on the left, on the right, and so on -- and (someday, Lord willing) hope to get us there. In the meantime, if you want precise control over where a panel opens in the layout, train yourself to drag shortcuts and links rather than just click. I know that's asking a lot, but it is the least worst option at the moment. [:)]

In short: Why? Because of adherence to a norm that was established within the user community (within the historical context of Logos Bible Software versions 1-3) which is different than the wider general norm (ie, what many people expect at first).

Bruce Roth

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763502#Comment_763502

I think the logic is the guides go on the left, and resources on the right, so you naturally move from guides to resources.

Personally, I quite like resources opening on the right because:

I have a dual-screen setup with Logos on the left screen. Resources on the right are more in my eye line.

I'll often have the library or a guide open on the left.

I can drag to open instead of click to open if I really mind where they end up.

I agree with Mark on this one. That is the way I approach using it.

SineNomine

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763543#Comment_763543

In future, I would like very much if we would let you decide these sorts of things for yourself

Please!

I wouldn't think that it would be too complicated to create the option and build the toggle switch into Settings. I could be wrong.

EDIT: This option is particularly important to those of us who spend a lot of our study/reading time without having a guide open.

abondservant

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763607#Comment_763607

I think the logic is the guides go on the left, and resources on the right, so you naturally move from guides to resources.

Personally, I quite like resources opening on the right because:

I have a dual-screen setup with Logos on the left screen. Resources on the right are more in my eye line.

I'll often have the library or a guide open on the left.

I can drag to open instead of click to open if I really mind where they end up.

I agree with Mark on this one. That is the way I approach using it.

Me also - though I have a three display setup.

Left display are guides. center screen are the resources I'm actively looking at on the top half, and word on the bottom half, and left display are resources I've used, but am not using at this exact moment.

Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763623#Comment_763623

I agree that when there is a guide open, I prefer it on the left because it is a reference point. I think that this is also an indication of our preference for the left because in this case it functions as a "go to" window, an anchor we return to whereas resources on the right are being opened and closed. This is one kind of study scenario.

But, in the case mentioned above: one resource window opened mainly for reading. It is weird to have the empty space on the left and the resource on the right. It feels more natural the other way around.

Thanks Eli for the explanation. I have been with Logos since 2.1 and would find it unsettling if all the sudden guides opened on the right, but I think that having an option that reflect user preference would be nice. For now, I suppose I'll train myself to drag (hopefully it won't be too much of a drag [:P]).

GaoLu

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/763623#Comment_763623

I have dozens of saved layouts, but probably don't start from scratch more than once every couple weeks--sometimes months. Depends what I'm doing.

Mostly my current layout is window-upon-window, panel-upon-panel, here a little, there a little.

Being haphazard by nature, I tend to be scrupulous, fastidious about ordering my windows--Left to Right. But what about my Hebrew or Asian Brethren who like it right to left or top to bottom? What about Thai people who write with little corkscrews? Or Mongolians who write with little tornadoes?

Maybe a teensy weensy option box? I love options. In the spirit of not having many in "Program Settings" they could be hidden behind a secret panel.