Improving the User-Friendliness of the Layers Panel in the Design Tool
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02-22-2024 11:25 PM - edited 02-22-2024 11:30 PM
This probably belongs in Ideas & Suggestions but that forum is setup to discourage discussion ("If you’d like to have a conversation with your fellow community members then we’d suggest using the General Discussion board.") and many posts go unseen there by other members due to its odd sorting behavior. So I'm posting here so everyone can chime in with their own aggravations and suggestions.
Here is how the Layers panel currently looks for the new glassware set as example (Left) and my mock-up (Right) of the type of improvements I'd love to see.
First, and minor, is the Layers title row at top. We already know we're in the Layers panel so that is unnecessary and just a waste of vertical space.
Second, I'd like to see the Background layer operate like any other layer meaning you can click on the little square preview icon and the background options open in the right-hand panel just as the options for text and images do. Make your edits, then simply click on another layer from the left panel to activate the options for that layer in the right panel, same as it works for other layer types. As is, you have to click the add/edit button which opens the background options panel on the left, eliminating the layers panel, and then the only way to get back to the Layers list is to click the Layers tab from the left menu.
Also, the only way to see the hex# of the background color you chose is to click that edit button, then click the + symbol from the grid of swatches to "choose a custom color", and then you can see & copy the hex value from that dialog box. Making the Background layer operate like other layers would be a huge overhaul, but at the very least, it would be super helpful and time-saving to show the hex# of current background color at the top of the dialog box where it says "Current Background".
Next, When the product is a set of items that can be designed independently and each item has its own different design areas, each of which in turn can have its own multiple content layers, it gets very visually difficult to sort out. I'd like to see everything labeled clearly and with each individual item "nested" that we can then expand/collapse at will. Other sets are like this (bath towels and the 4-piece coasters for example) but the new glass sets are still quite a mess.
On the topic of expanding/collapsing at will, currently we can only have one layer open/expanded at a time. This is seriously inconvenient when trying to compare the contents of different layers and/or copy & paste from one to the other. It would be marvelous if we could open/expand as many layers at one time as we want.
As mentioned below, when you click on a Layer title block, say Front 3 for example, it automatically opens/expands (great!) but then also automatically defaults to highlighting the first/top content layer as the active one. I would like to see it instead highlight the Front 3 title row (which is what you clicked on) which would tell you this is the design area you are currently in; then you could choose which content layer within to click on to work on.
Finally, my biggest complaint with the Layers panel that has existed since my Day One here: It is extremely frustrating to work with locked or hidden layers.
1 (left image):
When you first click a layer block (Front 3 in this example), it opens and the first/top layer within by default becomes the highlighted active layer. One of the layers in this block is hidden but it's very difficult to tell which one it is.
2 (middle image):
When you start moving your mouse around, whatever layer your cursor happens to be over gets a light blue highlight. My cursor is over the shamrock layer so it's highlighted in light blue which makes a lock icon and eye icon appear. But this layer is not locked or hidden!
3 (right image):
Now I've moved my cursor over the oval layer and see the exact same thing, light blue highlight with both lock and eye icons evident. But in this case, the layer is actually hidden. ????????
This makes it nearly impossible to tell what's what when mousing around the layers panel trying to figure out what you want to click on.
Now, if I actually click on the oval layer it becomes the active layer and gets highlighted in dark blue.
But because I just clicked on it my cursor is still over it so the lock and eye icon are both shown just as they are on every layer regardless of whether it's actually locked and/or hidden or not. (Left image)
When I move my cursor off the area, the lock icon goes away and only the eye icon remains. (Right image) This is what finally tells me the layer is actually hidden (but not locked).
With the light blue highlight needlessly following your mouse around (we all already have cursors on our screen telling us what our mouse is over), the lock and eye icons both appearing even though they are not activated, and having to click and mouse OFF something to tell for sure if either option is activated for it ... it's exhausting and a real exercise in frustration.
What I would like more than anything else on this wish-list is something like in my above mock-up: very evident icons for Lock and Hiding that are ALWAYS visible and that you can toggle on/off simply by clicking on it even if it's not the active layer, and without then making it the active layer just because you hid/un-hid or locked it. Grayed out if not on, red if on. Then we'd have a very clear visual when looking at the layers panel of which ones are locked/hidden and we could change its status without making it the active layer and then having to re-find the layer we were actually working on to make it the active one again.
I know Zazzle has been working hard on bringing us new tools & features within the Design Tool and that is great and appreciated, but I would like to see some love given to also improving the over-all user-friendliness of it.
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02-23-2024 01:00 AM
Ha! The hidden layer eyeball that appears and disappears drives me absolutely batty! (I've never noticed the locked thing, but that's only because I never lock layers.)
Just today I was experimenting with a variety of different fonts (fancy stuff with special characters for the swashes) in a new design. Since it's such a pain to go find the special glyph characters and paste them into the text boxes, I don't want to delete one that might work, until I'm absolutely sure I've found one I like better. So I end up with about half a dozen layers with the text in different fonts or with different swashes etc., and I hide and unhide them until I can decide which one works best with the design. But the way it currently works it's REALLY hard to tell which layer is which, and which are actually hidden vs. just showing the eyeball because your mouse is over it.
So yeah, I give a heartfelt thumbs up to that suggestion!
It would also be nice if we could give the layers names - that way I could name them Elizabeth, Morgana, Julietta, etc (after the font) so I could easily tell which one was which. Especially when all the layers have the same text in them it gets super confusing trying to tell which is which.
Cat @ ZingerBug Designs
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02-23-2024 01:25 AM
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02-23-2024 10:17 AM
I agree. It’s also necessary when you add multiple Elements like circles,etc. You can’t tell them apart. Some may be wider, etc. I want to be able to name them —- “outer circle”, “inner circle”, etc. And it will be more transparent for customers who want to customize.
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02-23-2024 06:41 AM
Good suggestions. I would hope all of the above would be made operable on iPad, as well.
I also do Postcrossing!
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02-23-2024 08:24 AM
Since I work almost exclusively on the iPad I would love to see the ability to select multiple layers at once without having to reach for a keyboard. Or maybe there is a way that I don’t know about? Sorry, I know this is not responding to the original question.
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02-23-2024 11:00 AM
I can't even get the eye to turn on or off to hide or unhide layers on the iPad!
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02-23-2024 11:13 AM
I agree - the Design tool could do with some upgrades.
I would love be able to name layers or give names to groups
@OrchardBerry @Windy Have you tried the 2 finger tap? I just asked gemini if there was a way 'Two-finger tap: Simply tap two different options simultaneously with two separate fingers. This will select both options' maybe worth a try (I don't have access to a ipad to check)
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02-23-2024 12:23 PM
I have used the 2 finger tap on an iPad but it’s frustrating as it only sporadically works. And it’s useless for more than 2 layers, especially when they’re not contiguous.
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02-23-2024 08:02 PM
That two finger tap idea could be promising. I tried just now and it does SOMETHING. I will try to use it when I am designing this weekend to see if I can harness it to do what I want it to do. Thanks!
I also do Postcrossing!
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02-23-2024 10:09 AM
We used to have “move to first” and “move to last” but that ability was for some misguided reason taken away. That made designing far more difficult.
Selecting multiple layers is impossible unless you “select all”. We used to be able to click individual layers to choose them, even when they’re out of order, but then zazzle made some changes that made the width of the area smaller and that took away our ability. Grouping multiple layers is mostly impossible.
Hiding and locking layers on an iPad drives me nuts. It works in a haphazard manner.
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02-23-2024 11:42 AM - edited 02-23-2024 11:43 AM
Move to first & last is still there, but it's sorta hidden. You have to select the layer, then go to it in the design area (not the layers stack) and right click. That brings up a menu that allows you to move it to the front or back.
I've never used an iPad so I don't know how or if you can right click on one of those things, but there must be some way to get that menu.
Don't know how to select multiple layers using an iPad either, but on a PC you just hold down the control button and select them all. Maybe @Sara_H's 2 finger tap would work?
Cat @ ZingerBug Designs
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02-23-2024 12:35 PM
Thanks! The right click menu does appear on an iPad when you tap on it with a finger, but it didn’t work when using a pen. The right click menu still feels more cumbersome than having it at the top under “backward” where it used to be, but at least it there in some form.
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02-23-2024 12:51 PM
We can still group out-of-order layers by clicking each layer and holding down the CTRL button at the same time. At least that's how it works on my PC.
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02-23-2024 01:13 PM
I should have been more clear. I’m talking about working on an iPad where we don’t have the same keys and functionality as on a PC.
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02-23-2024 11:51 AM
This is slightly off topic, but I'd LOVE to have undo included in the edit menu. I know it exists on the bar up top, but my brain seems to be hardwired to look for it in the edit menu, so I ALWAYS end up there and then have to remind myself that for some crazy reason it doesn't live there in this app.
Cat @ ZingerBug Designs
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02-23-2024 11:55 AM
@Cat ctrl -z works for undo
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02-23-2024 12:24 PM
Yeah, I know. I just can't seem to convince my brain not to look for it in the edit menu!
Cat @ ZingerBug Designs
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02-23-2024 12:54 PM
Naming layers has already been mentioned and that's a big one for me. I'd like to make sure that masked layers and groups are included in that request.
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02-23-2024 10:14 PM

