With the latest AnyType version, 0.42.4, the cursor starts blinking on the page whether the user clicks on it or not.
It seems this has been requested by users, but for me, it’s not only distracting, but also potentially an issue when long lines of texts are present, and I don’t spot the cursor right away, with the risk of start typing and deleting messing up existing text.
WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND?
An option to turn off this feature would be ideal.
HOW COULD IT BE DONE?
There could be a setting in the Vault options to let the user switch on or off this feature.
RECOMMENDED ALTERNATIVES
Unfortunately, I can’t see of alternatives in this case. This new feature is quite distracting and, again, potentially an issue. Not all users have the same habits, preferences. It would be extremely helpful to have the option to simply turn it off.
As far as I can see, the blinking cursor is always located at the beginning of the first empty line of a page. If there is no empty line, there is no cursor.
How exactly do you see the risk of text being accidentally deleted?
If that’s the case, the first empty line can potentially be anywhere in the page, which is why I see the cursor jumping from one area to another when I switch pages.
But the issue with the text I was referring to happened to me the other day.
I have a page with lots of text. Most likely, there was an empty line at some point after the first few paragraphs, although the part of the page I was looking at was at the very bottom of the long text.
So, I didn’t see the cursor, and I pressed CTRL + F to search a text in the page. I must have pressed the wrong shortcut and instead of searching, I was actually typing on the page itself, which lead to the insertion of random text right next to the actual content.
On a second thought, it’s not that I deleted the text, but messed up the existing content, which still, is not ideal.
Then you already have the option to turn the focus off:
Simply click somewhere outside of the text area and the focus is gone, as well as the cursor.
If you type then, nothing happens.
Btw.: long ago I wrote a FR for the opposite: in my opinion should the cursor always be somewhere.
That’s the thing, having to click every single time I open a page, it’s quite annoying, hence my request for a global setting to turn it off if needed.
From a UI standpoint, with the clean interface AnyType has gone for, the cursor is just plain distracting in my opinion.
Also, as in my previous post above, in some cases the cursor/focus could go completely unnoticed if the empty line is on some part of the page where the user is not looking at, which can lead to typing errors without the user even noticing it.
Even if you get the option you’re asking for: at some point you want to write. Therefore it’s needed to place the cursor somewhere.
Then, after some time, you scroll a bit in the page and so on. And you’ve lost the cursor by doing so.
– How would your desired option safe you, if you now type blindly without seeing the cursor? Or how would it safe you if your intention was to do a search but you’ve pressed a wrong key combination (this was your given example)?
I have the impression the idea is a bit half baked.
– But that’s only my personal impression, maybe the devs get it what you really want and have a good idea how to make you happy.
I can understand the problem if you have already used blank lines as spacers on a page. Then it definitely makes no sense for the cursor to automatically jump to the beginning of the first blank line.
I think this automatism was intended to allow you to continue writing very quickly after opening a page. However, this only works if, as said, there are no blank lines within the page content. I also wonder why the cursor jumps to the first blank line on a page and not to the last?
I myself often use blank lines as spacers between larger sections of text to increase clarity.
I can therefore understand that the function, which was well-intentioned, can also be perceived as annoying and could therefore be optional.
Alternatively, the cursor could automatically jump under the last block of a page if there is already a blank line there, or even create a new line if there is none.
UPDATE:
I just realized that even the first empty table cell on a page also serves as the focus for the automatically positioned cursor.
So, that really doesn’t make any sense anymore. It’s just annoying and has no practical benefit.
I therefore support the wish of @candidchronicles to make this blind automatism optional.
But even in that case, it would be a half-baked solution.
Here’s an example. I have a page with an article I’m writing. I open this page, say several days after I started jotting it down. The first thing AnyType does is to jump at the very bottom of the page, occluding the important part at the very top which set the tone for my article, leaving me sort of clueless of why I started writing the article.
I then have to scroll to the top, catch up with the original thought in order to connect with the last part of the article.
I’m kind of lost on why someone would request such a feature, but even acknowledging that we all have different needs, it seems to me this has been implemented without much thought. Providing the option to turn it off, would be ideal.
I requested that the cursor appears there it was the last time when a Page opens.
Why?
Because: if you have a long long Page - let’s say you write a book - and you can’t so it in one session, but you’re working for days on it. You have always need to do something in other Pages meanwhile and to com back after that, for continuing writing.
It’s very cumbersome if the cursor then stands somewhere, but not on its last position!
.
What you miss in your example is not what you requested in the start post. What you seemingly really miss is the feature to have the table of contents separated from the top of the Page. For example in a widget. Or as a kind of pull-down menu.
There was a request for that.
And I believe this would fit your needs better then your request you’ve made here.
Imagine this combination:
The cursor appears on its last position if you open a Page (my request).
AND you have always access to the table of contents, no matter where you are in the Page.
One key combination (or a move with the mouse to the right border etc.) and the table of contents appears.
Wouldn’t this fulfill your needs, as well as mine?
I was responding to @VisualNotes explanation of why this feature was implemented.
I stand by my original request.
As for the Table of Contents idea, to me, it only opens another can of worms: how is it going to be implemented? How busy the UI will look? We’ve all seen what happened with the sidebar, imagine how wild this Table of Contents con go. I can probably see it working only on full-screen.
But even assuming it’s implemented in the best way possible and everyone is happy, I still don’t see what’s wrong with my request. In what way that wouldn’t work for you?
Because so far, you defended the change of this automatic focus, but I don’t understand how an option to turn it on or off based on used preferences would hurt your experience.