[Vote] Do you want more notes displayed in the note list?

Thank you for sharing your layout.

Laying out the information in order of importance is like solving a puzzle. It's fun, isn't it?

In fact, my Sidebar (Notebook list) shares the first column with Favorite plugin (it is omitted in the above image for the sake of clarity). Available area is always insufficient!

2 Likes

@ken1kob I used to use your layout, but gave it up because it broke search. I was forced to turn off the outline with the F-key (F9 I think), when I wanted to search and it was a hassle. Search results use that area and would not co-exist with outline.

I decided to forgo the benefits of having the outline on the side and just use the TOC in order to have a functioning search without toggling outline.

That's exactly what I'm struggling with.

NoteList shows indispensable information such as a note list, search results and TODOs. Always want to see more note items.

Trying to shrink the vertical height of the notes list is the very first thing I tried to do with Joplin's userchrome.css. I went straight to the issue tracker and found #5178.

This is my layout, which derives from my being a heavy Notational Velocity / nvALT user for years and years, now looking for an alternative. As such, I'm keen to maximize information density in the vertical direction as much as possible.

Screen Shot 2022-02-17 at 12.58.17 AM_thumb

Regardless of layout, an option to increase the density of notebook/note lists—like Gmail's "Compact" vs. "Comfortable"— would be most welcome. :)

Even just the ability to do it in CSS, without the dead space described in #5178, would be super.

cf. nvALT's main window

Screen Shot 2022-02-17 at 12.06.30 AM_thumb

…which uses an old-school multi-column, sortable list control for the notes list. That's about as dense as it gets!

here is my favorite layout

1 Like

Thank you all for so many votes!

Although I'll keep the vote open, I'll summarize the current result:

Summary:

  • About 60% people wants more notes displayed.
  • About 40% people wants selectability/configurability.
  • Of course, selectability/configurability satisfies 100% people's needs (both slim and wide).

The goal of this vote is to collect the information of users' needs about note list items. The information would be used to decide whether a new feature is added or not.

Already, a feature that the height of note list items can be configured using CSS was pull-requested. The discussion is summarized here. This vote shows the feature is needed by fair amount of people and not niche. Hopefully, such people will be able to benefit from this feature.

1 Like

My understanding of the conversation is not that the feature shouldn't be implemented but that it should wait until the code for the sidebars can be refactored to avoid temporary and hacky workarounds. I don't think the feature request itself was ever a problem rather the issue is extending the already problematic code.

2 Likes

It is the matter of trade-off between adding a new feature or keeping maintainability. It's hard to say which is right and which is wrong. There is no absolute solution.

In this case, the point is the feature was considered as niche. Actually, it is found the feature is demanded by many people.

I'm not sure what consequences this information will have, but I created the vote because better information leads to better decisions.

Whilst I have no problem at all with the idea of changing the note list entry height, I would just like to point out that:

None of the questions, as posed, could be seen as a "demand". 21% said slim notes were "preferable" and a larger 38% said "sometimes".

Combining the "Preferable" and "Sometimes" votes suggests 59% of voters would not be adverse to slimmer note panels. However the sample size, at the time of writing, is just 39 replies from only those Joplin users that frequent the forum and have done so over the last two weeks. That equates to about 23 people. I have no idea what percentage that is of the total user base but I cannot see it being that "many".

It seems even the Joplin devs do not have any problem with the suggestion however @Daeraxa tells us that the feature would require a "hacky workaround" to already "problematic code".

I think that there is a solution and that is not to try to introduce a new feature at this time that, with the code as it stands, could unnecessarily impact upon the software.

I guess my problem is not with the suggestion but forum polls in general :slight_smile:

Indeed I picked "Sometimes, yes" because, in the long term, I would indeed like to see this panel to be available for configuration for theming purposes. I wouldn't want the "slim" design in the original post but I may well like to see a theme that uses the configurable height to its advantage.
i.e. I voted for long term customisation options rather than a pressing need for more items shown.

1 Like

At this point it seems we have quite a few issues with similar outcome: it's either the solution exists but it is not a long term one or it's blocked by some other unsolved problem

For example:

  • Performance improving PR #5770,
  • background sync on mobile,
  • hierarchical tags (reverted because of performance issues)
  • etc etc

I think If there would be some kind of bleeding edge canary Joplin version, it would allow power users get the features they desire before the stable release. At the same time the included features might prove to be more stable than they appeared on the first glance.

The fork doesn't need to be official, just a personal build that bring experimental features. As long as it is backward compatible and doesn't stray too far from the main branch, it should be relatively easy to maintain.

I wonder what do Joplin contributors think of such custom forks?

1 Like

It is not necessary to think that a certain rule is absolute, but we can make appropriate decisions as needed to make the community happy.

There is a good example. Recently, @laurent introduced a new feature, notebook icons, which changes one of legacy codes, Sidebar.

That's apples and oranges though. Adding a standard React component in a clean way is fine, but as we discussed many times there's unfortunately no clean way to add what you want to add.

The long term plan for the note list is to make it customisable via plugins, but that will start with a refactoring of that list so in the meantime I don't want to add complex code that will be hard to maintain and port.

I'm looking forward to it. When are you planning to do it?

No ETA, but it's been in my list for some time.

Thanks for your plan. We are happy if the vote contributes to make you a better decision.

This topic is not for an implementation but for a feature. So, it is no matter if some implementation is adopted or how to be implemented. The matter of the vote is to know how much the feature is wanted.

Picking up my PR was only for showing the feature can be available immediately. Telling my opinion, it is not my concern that whose PR is adopted, but when the feature becomes accessible for users.

Of course, it is the designers' decision to chose either/both of an elegant full-set implementation after several years, or early minimal implementation. And, we'll appreciate the decision.

Even if the former was chosen, I want to access the feature as soon as possible, and the result of the vote shows more than a few users would expect so.

It seems to be a very practical solution.

One of the current weak points of the Joplin project is that manpower of reviewers is insufficient and many PRs are left without reviews.

This idea would facilitate that new features are tried by many users, and their feedback could reduce reviewers' workload. Besides, such opportunities might motivate early adopters to become reviewers.

1 Like

That notebooks and notes stacked arrangement is so obvious now and has freed up a tonne of space! Thanks!

1 Like

Finally, the height of note list items can be styled using userchrome.css in v2.9+!
Thanks to Laurent and all involved!

How to style is documented here.

7 Likes