CSS Editor.

[Steve G Griggs]

This may sound quite minor but it can be a real PITA.
When you are in the design mode, and select a CSS class or ID in the code and use the "Look up in stylesheet" comand this works great, but once that window is open you cant do anything else with Actinic until you close it.
This means that you can't see what effect your change in the CSS has had until you close the editor, switch to the preview, decide it's no quite right, then back to the code and repeat the performance.
How about making the CSS editor window so it can lose focus and allow control of Actinic, and ability to minimise the window?
Maybe I'm missing something obvious here, if so I would love to hear what it is....
At the moment making frequent changes to CSS is driving me slowly insane..not the CSS itself just opening and closing windows.

[Duncan Rounding]

This has been mentioned before and I agree having a modal window for the css is a real pain. The option of course is to use an external stylesheet instead and keep it open in TopStyle or whatever editor you choose.

[Steve G Griggs]

I have tried to do that Duncan, but I never seem to find the correct file...me being dozy again probably . Wonder why it was made modal in the first instance

[brucet]

I agree this is a bit silly and annoying, I will try to get it changed during the lifetime of v11. We fixed the same issue for the help dialog in v10, it's not a difficult job, but neither is it just a matter of throwing a switch, unfortunately. The complication here is that (AFAICS) it's the same dialog as the Code Editor, so changing it may have implications that we will need to think through first.

[leehack]

Can we have the stylesheet button showing on the content tab also, hopefully also a quick change too or at least a button in the toolbar. It's annoying having to go to the design tab just to get to the stylesheet, reducing needless clicks makes happy users . It will also tie in with going modal much better, best to get this area perfect if being addressed.

[Steve G Griggs]

Yes that's an excellent idea Lee.
It would be a great Bruce, if it could be done, I do get a bit "frazzled" keep switching back and forth, as I do edit the CSS quite a bit at times.

[brucet]

I'm not sure putting the style sheet button on the Content tab is such a good idea from the POV of most users, who are not designers. And conceptually it doesn't really belong there.

If you're designing, there's mostly no need to use the Content tab at all, TBH. The Content Tree and item Details are both available in the Design tab, and you can rearrange the windows to suit however you work. That's what I do most of the time.

[leehack]

Concept should never be confused with usability IME. If you'd been designing using the software every day for the past 3 or 4 years, i think your opinion would hold much weight, as you don't and its your user opinions that are key, probably an idea to bow to their thoughts or at least ask the question on this one. Rarely the people who create the software actually manage to bridge the gap between themselves and the users, we only have to see the numerous threads on usability and niggles to see that in black and white.

If a user is scared by a button that takes them to the stylesheet, they will be equally scared by the design tab which you do not hide as standard, what's the difference apart from the design tab actually being able to create much more chaos?

Very simple solution though - if a user hides the design tab, hide the stylesheet button too, if not leave it.

I really dislike people in your position making decisions on this, you don't use it like we do, involve your users in these 'usability' decisions, you'll get it right first time then. No actinic designer would be unhappy with a modal stylesheet window and a button to get to it from the content tab, i'd put my house on that. Perhaps most importantly, no designer would have created it without those in the very first place.

I do most of my work on the content tab, that's how i like to use the software, i only switch to the design tab to do design or alter some code, 80% of those switches are just to get to the stylesheet, meaning i have a pointless click and wasted seconds 80% of the time.

[Steve G Griggs]

Hi Lee, Hi Bruce.
Personally I just don't like the modal CSS window, its a PITA for me. As to the contents and design tabs: I use content when working with products, and design when doing design changes, very, very rarely would I want to access CSS from the content tab and vice versa.
All I want to be able to do is switch from code to preview and back to the CSS again without opening and closing the CSS window every time. That's the whole issue for me.

[leehack]

Sorry Steve my mix up on the word modal, i presumed that meant a floating independent window, i can see it does not. I would like a non-modal (is that a word) that works like the help, always available and easy to switch to.

By going non-modal, by definition that will give you a stylesheet while you are on the content tab though, so isn't that conflicting with what you say? Are you saying that if on the content tab and the css is in a non-modal window, you will want to switch to the design tab before adjusting the css, why wouldn't you stay on the content tab and just adjust it there?

[Steve G Griggs]

You could do I hadn't thought about it that way..just from the point of view of right clicking on an ID or class in the code and opening the stylesheet. But yes now you put it that way it would be handy to access from anywhere really just as a non-modal (I believe that is the correct term) window.