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Improve ProveIt's 'Add' page
Closed, DeclinedPublic

Description

Fields take up a lot of space, and if you want to fill everything, you have to scroll the window often. I want to suggest a little design change of the page:

  • Reference content: Render it to normal text. When you click on 'Reference', you can open edit menu.
  • All fields must have half width. Only marked fields should have full width.
  • Add a 'dropdown arrow' for 'Cite template'.
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Event Timeline

I would like the scroll-point for the list of references to be separated from that for the list of fields.

At the moment, if you're working some distance down a long reference-list, when you flip to the field-list you have to scroll back up to the top to see the most commonly-used fields, and then when you update that reference and return to the reference-list you have to scroll back down to find where you were working.

I suspect that this is because the two lists share a scrollable container.

It would be nice if ProveIt either saved where you were in the list each time and restored the position when you flipped back, or used two separate containers so that the two lists could scroll independently.

Also, the reference-list numbers all the references: would it be possible for the field-list to show this number so that you have at least a fighting chance of recalling how far through the list you have progressed?

I like the idea of making the distinction explicit between editing the whole "reference content" and editing individual fields: I'm never quite sure whether those are being kept in sync properly.

What's a "marked field" that would be shown full width? Who does the marking?

What's a "marked field" that would be shown full width? Who does the marking?

I think, this should be specified in the TemplateData.

@Iniquity I really like the idea of the reference output being shown on the top as the fields are filled. I'm not sure how to accomplish it yet, but probably the Parsoid service is the key.

As to the fields that take up half the screen, I think a better approach may be that EVERY field takes half the screen. A few may fall short (such as the URL field) but for most it will be better, don't you think?

@Phil_Boswell I have re-published your bug report as T177830, thanks!

@Sophivorus wow, sorry for delay:) I think if we create only half-screen fields than we will have problem with URL and title fields.

@Iniquity, I did already! It's merged and online. ;-)

@Sophivorus Hi, do you have plans for this improvement? :)

@Iniquity Hi, sorry but I'm not about to implement this. I like the idea and appreciate the design, but I think that the benefits of implementing this are not enough to justify the time and effort it will take. Sorry!

I evaluated this once more. Again, the difficulties seem to outdo the benefits. Deciding which fields should remain full-width and which ones half-width would require more fields in the ProveIt template map, which would require many difficult-to-explain edits to the template data of many wikis. Also, this two-column layout is not mobile-friendly and mobile support is on the roadmap.

So for now, I'm closing this as Declined, but if new reasons or supporters for this appear, let me know!