Feature Request: toolbar options

[parvatiquinta]

I have finally updated to version 1.3.0 - it made me an offer my eyes could not refuse, dark theme support.

However I find the decision to make the headings tools and especially the set case tools collapse in the toolbar to be unbearably clunky.

If it's not too hard to do, I would like to request an option to make those toolbars expandable so that all buttons are visible at once.

EDIT: if the option exists and I have overlooked it, I do apologise - could you point me to it in that case?

[KevinH]

We decided against that approach to conserve toolbar space. Sorry.

[Turtle91]

I also don't care for the new, condensed, buttons mostly because I was used to the old way. You can, however, set keyboard shortcuts for the different set-cases in Edit/Preferences. That is actually a bit faster than using the toolbar. I set Ctrl+space for Title Case, and Ctrl+Alt+Space for Capitalize (Sentence Case).

The different headings are already set with Ctr+1-7 (H1-6 and P).

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by parvatiquinta

EDIT: if the option exists and I have overlooked it, I do apologise - could you point me to it in that case?

You can use the Clip Bar to define your own buttons. Here's a link to an older post that explains how to add a <p> button. (You'll need to repeat the instructions for each button that you want to add.)

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

That is actually a bit faster than using the toolbar.

Can someone please explain the situation where case and heading changes need to happen "fast" ?

I joke, but I'm at least partly serious. Do people commonly begin with such rotten source that tons of manual heading and case changes need to happen often and quickly? I would imagine the thing that always takes the most time is accurately highlighting the text that needs to be changed. I can't imagine the actual button clicking (toolbar or combo-box) being the bottleneck in the process.

But like Kevin said. It's done. Giving the user a choice in how the buttons are presented would be waaaaaayyy more work than I'm willing to put in for so little gain. The change to what it is now was not at all cosmetic-only

I would suggest the OP go with @Turtle91 and/or @Doitsu's alternatives if they can't live with the changes.

[parvatiquinta]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Can someone please explain the situation Do people commonly begin with such rotten source that tons of manual heading and case changes need to happen often and quickly?

I use Sigil as a text editor. In fact it has become my main editor of choice together with notepad++.

When I type, normally it's not too bad, but if I'm taking notes as people are speaking, the quality goes downhill. English is not my first language and taking notes is therefore harder for me, not to mention that on some voice communication programs I use Caps Lock as a push-to-talk and you can imagine what that does to my typing. Yes, being able to change case fast is something I need when I'm taking notes.

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Can someone please explain the situation where case and heading changes need to happen "fast" ?

Mostly just editing multiple things in succession... I use a regex to find, and highlight, the offending text, but then I need to select what case (title, sentence, caps, etc.) to switch to. The regex supports UPPER, LOWER, and in most cases Sentence, but it doesn't support Title. Having to click the button, then move the mouse to find the proper case, then clicking again takes a bit more than just clicking the button.
However - I'm totally cool with the keyboard shortcut. Like I said, it was just a change to my habit patterns. Hitting Ctrl+Space is super easy.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by parvatiquinta

I use Sigil as a text editor. In fact it has become my main editor of choice together with notepad++.

When I type, normally it's not too bad, but if I'm taking notes as people are speaking, the quality goes downhill. English is not my first language and taking notes is therefore harder for me, not to mention that on some voice communication programs I use Caps Lock as a push-to-talk and you can imagine what that does to my typing. Yes, being able to change case fast is something I need when I'm taking notes.

An interesting but rather non-standard use for Sigil. It's an epub editor and I personally would prefer the maintainers keep it focused on that task. I know Swiss army knife style programs are rather popular but I prefer programs that are written for a single task and do it well.

As two suggestions for notetaking in meetings, I've been switching between Microsoft's OneNote and SimpleNote.

[Turtle91]

Slightly different topic-ish....

I can't find - and can't remember if it was ever an option - how to edit the toolbars. eg. In the "File" toolbar I only want to display the "Add Existing File" and "Save" buttons.....OR.... create a custom toolbar that I can add specific buttons.

If it's not a built-in function, can someone point me to the right Sigil process where I can "tinker under the hood" to make one?

[KevinH]

You can drag and drop each toolbar area group to rearrange them, and you can use the View -> Toolbars menu to hide/show specific toolbar area groups.

[Turtle91]

OK - I got that. But if I want to only show specific icons on a group(s) ??

I don't need to see the Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste icons on the "Edit" group; I only want to display the Launch External Editor and Find & Replace icons. Similar with the "File" group I mentioned before.

I understand if it's not a built-in option to edit those groups - not trying to add to your workload. Can you, or anyone, point me to the right process where I can make those changes myself?

[Thasaidon]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

OK - I got that. But if I want to only show specific icons on a group(s) ??

I don't need to see the Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste icons on the "Edit" group; I only want to display the Launch External Editor and Find & Replace icons. Similar with the "File" group I mentioned before.

I understand if it's not a built-in option to edit those groups - not trying to add to your workload. Can you, or anyone, point me to the right process where I can make those changes myself?

Are you thinking of writing a plugin to do this as I would really like to have the facility you describe? Or is it more likely you will just produce an amended version of Sigil for your own use?

[KevinH]

You would have to rebuild from source yourself after modifying the relevant Toolbars sections in Sigil/src/Form_Files/main.ui

It is a strict XML file so be careful how you edit it (keep opening and closing pairs, etc). There is also a Qt based gui editor tool that could be used to edit that xml file.

In the next release we could split some of the larger Toolbar area groups to make them smaller to give more granular controls.

See after line 457 in main.ui to this clump of code:

<widget class="QToolBar" name="toolBarTextManip">
   <property name="windowTitle">
    <string>Edit</string>
   </property>
   <attribute name="toolBarArea">
    <enum>TopToolBarArea</enum>
   </attribute>
   <attribute name="toolBarBreak">
    <bool>false</bool>
   </attribute>
   <addaction name="actionUndo"/>
   <addaction name="actionRedo"/>
   <addaction name="separator"/>
   <addaction name="actionCut"/>
   <addaction name="actionCopy"/>
   <addaction name="actionPaste"/>
   <addaction name="separator"/>
   <addaction name="actionXEditor"/>
   <addaction name="separator"/>
   <addaction name="actionFind"/>
  </widget>

Then delete the addaction lines that you would guess from this clump.

[KevinH]

Sigil plugins have their own Tk/PyQt5 gui and have no interface to modify the main Sigil gui in any way.

[KevinH]

For the next release, I can split the edit group into 4 smaller groups:

UndoRedo
Edit
XEditor
Find

That should provide the granularity you need.

Are there other Toolbar groups that should be split up in your opinion?

Note: I do not want to make too many groups as they get hard to manage in View->Toolbars.