Accordion control is confusing

Hello.

I'm evaluating the plugin, and generally I find it very easy to use ... except for the accordion control (the list of available elements on the right). I always disliked those. They are very confusing. Something that was right under your nose suddenly disappears and you have no idea under which tab has it gone. :( It slows down the work and simply annoying.

Would you consider to switch to a fixed menu of elements (drop-down style)?

Just my $0.02.

Vladimir,

You mean the Palette View. I see how it can be confusing sometimes. Do you use the latest version of the plugin? I've done some work on the Palette so that it's state is remembered across editors and across Eclipse sessions. This should allow you to put the Palette in the state you like and leave it like this. Can you confirm that you've seen this version?

Yes, Palette. And yes, I have updated yesterday.

The confusing scenario is like this: you select an item (let's say a radio button), place it on the sketch; then you need another element, so you have to click on one of the headers, which moves radio button out of view. Then you need radio again, and your hand automatically moves to the location radio was before... but it's not there anymore. You scan headers in an attempt to figure out under what group should it be, and open that one -- closing something else.

So the selection turns into never ending process of opening one group while closing another. Quite annoying.

At the same time, if I just make the Palette 20% width of the screen, the All group is only 60% filled. I mean, Palette is to save the display space, but developers monitors have some much space and the number of elements in Sketcher is so small, that Palette becomes nuisance, not a help.

P.S. Would you also consider smaller price with annual paid updates? I mean, you essentially ask me to pay for eternal support and updates, while I'm not so sure I will be using the plugin (or Eclipse for this matter) next year. Wouldn't it be better to ask $25 up front, and then $10-$15 annually for updates? I think I'd buy it for $25... but not for $75.

Vladimir,

Thank you for your explanation. I see what you mean. However I am not sure how the drop-down approach is better. If you to use the drop down to select a category then you need two clicks already. So apart from saving some space I am not sure how the drop down is better. Are you saying that you prefer to see all elements at once and you rarely use the category selection?

Regarding the price points please see my email.

I'm not saying it shall necessary be a dropdown. All I wish is a stable location of every element. I kind of worked around the problem by enlarging the palette window and opening All group only.

As for two clicks, it's still better than need to search where to click every time :)

Vladimir,

You are making me hate the Palette view now :) Yes, you are right. There is place for a better UI and I will consider other alternatives. However I can't promise that I'll do it in the near future as I have a lot on my plate right now. But thanks again for pointing to me this problem.

Hi,

I finally got to this one. Read about the new palette UI in my last blog post:

http://wireframesketcher.com/blog/2010-10-26-new-palette-ui-and-small-improvements.html