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Auto-title suggestions

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:38 pm
by digimarkus
I am new to Mellel and one feature that I find quite useful (as I like to write in a structured way) is auto-titles. For the most part this feature seems to function like a continuous numbered list, but in a more strictly structured way (in comparison to other products). Three enhancements that I would find useful are:

Edit-in-place: The new edit in place feature is a nice improvement to auto-titles, but I think it can go even further. In my mind you don’t need the pop-up at all. As soon as you select to add an auto-title Mellel should just insert a highlighted “untitled” title and let you start editing the title right in place. This would feel more natural and less disruptive to my flow of writing.

Keyboard shortcuts: It would be nice if I could enter and manipulate auto-titles with keyboard commands. This would be less disruptive to my writing flow, especially in full-screen mode. One way I image this might work is similar to how list keyboard commands work. In fact, something like: CMD + option + [ , CMD + option + ] , and CMD + option + \ would be a very flexible (and mentally consistent) way of adding and manipulating auto-titles. I understand that you can add many different types of title flows, but my thought here is that this method could be used just for the main title levels. This would allow me to quickly outline the structure of my document using only the keyboard. Mapping direct keyboard shortcuts could also be useful (i.e. Charts, Figures, etc), but a toggle system would be a great way to use auto-titles to outline.

Set-ups: In my mind it seems logical to bundle style sets and auto-title set-ups together, both in terms of UI interface and the settings file. I see these two things as being strongly tied together and I think it would make sense to manage them “as a set” in the same place. This would make it easier to share, add, and delete complete “document set-ups”. I realize that there is a certain logic to having one auto-title set-up that might be used with several different style sets; however, it seems to me that most often there is one-to-one relationship between the two.

- Mark

Re: Auto-title suggestions

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 6:00 pm
by zoul
digimarkus wrote:The new edit in place feature is a nice improvement to auto-titles, but I think it can go even further. In my mind you don’t need the pop-up at all. As soon as you select to add an auto-title Mellel should just insert a highlighted “untitled” title and let you start editing the title right in place. This would feel more natural and less disruptive to my flow of writing.
Exactly. Mellel could insert a name of the title so that you know you pressed the right key [or selected the right menu item] and you would simply go on writing.
digimarkus wrote:It would be nice if I could enter and manipulate auto-titles with keyboard commands. This would be less disruptive to my writing flow, especially in full-screen mode. One way I image this might work is similar to how list keyboard commands work. In fact, something like: CMD + option + [ , CMD + option + ] , and CMD + option + \ would be a very flexible (and mentally consistent) way of adding and manipulating auto-titles.
I’d prefer if I could set my own keyboard shortcuts. (Or at least make a standalone shortcut for each title.)
digimarkus wrote:In my mind it seems logical to bundle style sets and auto-title set-ups together, both in terms of UI interface and the settings file. I see these two things as being strongly tied together and I think it would make sense to manage them “as a set” in the same place. This would make it easier to share, add, and delete complete “document set-ups”.
Exactly, I vote for this one too.

Re: Auto-title suggestions

Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 5:49 pm
by digimarkus
zoul wrote:
digimarkus wrote:It would be nice if I could enter and manipulate auto-titles with keyboard commands. This would be less disruptive to my writing flow, especially in full-screen mode. One way I image this might work is similar to how list keyboard commands work. In fact, something like: CMD + option + [ , CMD + option + ] , and CMD + option + \ would be a very flexible (and mentally consistent) way of adding and manipulating auto-titles.
I’d prefer if I could set my own keyboard shortcuts. (Or at least make a standalone shortcut for each title.)
Perhaps a mix of both strategies would work. One for setting the different type of auto-title and an indent/outdent strategy for adjusting Structure title level. In fact, the outline pane already allows keyboard shortcuts for changing the title level. However, it will not work within the document view, because the command is already used for a different purpose.

- Mark

Re: Auto-title suggestions

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:47 am
by anothersite
digimarkus wrote:
zoul wrote:
digimarkus wrote:It would be nice if I could enter and manipulate auto-titles with keyboard commands. This would be less disruptive to my writing flow, especially in full-screen mode. One way I image this might work is similar to how list keyboard commands work. In fact, something like: CMD + option + [ , CMD + option + ] , and CMD + option + \ would be a very flexible (and mentally consistent) way of adding and manipulating auto-titles.
I’d prefer if I could set my own keyboard shortcuts. (Or at least make a standalone shortcut for each title.)
Perhaps a mix of both strategies would work. One for setting the different type of auto-title and an indent/outdent strategy for adjusting Structure title level. In fact, the outline pane already allows keyboard shortcuts for changing the title level. However, it will not work within the document view, because the command is already used for a different purpose.

- Mark
I have started trying to use the auto-title feature, so I searched this forum today hoping I was missing something regarding auto-titles not having keyboard shortcuts. I am a miserable typist. (My typing makes most good typists scringe.) However, I find the current auto-title insert method clumsy. I want to leave my fingers on the keyboard and not reach for the mouse, which appears to be my only option.