Auto-title suggestions
Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:38 pm
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
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