Repository navigation
Prefs search feature #1926
Description
Consider adding a search box to the prefs panel UI.
When text is typed and the Search button clicked:
- Hide the sidebar.
- List all prefs on the screen that (partially?) match the given text.
- Indicate on each pref in the list which subtab group they belong in, to aid future location without resorting to search.
- Add a 'clear search' link. Just like we do on tabular panels, which cancels the search and restores the sidebar.
- Bonus marks for using the URL
?q=so that searches can be performed from other tabs.
Activity
bloatware commentedon May 18, 2024
Hmm, would this mean search in the user language strings and then map them to pref names?
rwetzlmayr commentedon May 18, 2024
It might even be useful (and probably expensive as there is no fulltext index on the
../lang/$lang.xmlfiles) to include pophelp strings into search.Bloke commentedon May 18, 2024
Ah, hmm, yes. This isn't pure content searching is it, like on the other panels? That is indeed more tricky to dereference the lang strings and potentially pophelp (perhaps a choice of Search Location via a drop-down arrow, like we do for the columns in tabular panels?) and match them to their prefs to display.
Might not be worth the hassle then.
Open to other suggestions to help people find settings. OSX does it by greying out app tiles that don't match. We could highlight any subtabs that contained the given phrase (or hide the others), then it's up to you to click each group to find the setting you want. Better than nothing.
That would still require a language string search, so it does need some thought. Alternatively, we could rethink the panel's layout or UX to assist with finding relevant prefs. It may also be possible to move some prefs to other panels where they're more readily accessible and in-context. Like the Default Section drop-down. That's a pref, but it's located on the Sections panel.
If there are any prefs we can move to other panels to reduce the burden of dumpjng them in one place, I'm all for it. Just means shuffling some language strings to different groups and a dedicated prefs Save step on the panel in question.
bloatware commentedon May 19, 2024
It looks like all (?) prefs text strings in
txp_langhaveprefsevent, so the search and matching them to their prefs is easy (unlike pophelp).phiw13 commentedon May 21, 2024
That was a long time ago, and mercifully search in the MacOS preferences/settings has improved a lot.
The Preferences panel in Textpattern is more similar to what macOS 13+ and iPadOS do for the settings / preferences: a side column listing the various main categories/groups, the actual options in the larger column. iOS is basically identical, with the main side appearing one selecting one of the main categories. The search field sits at the top of the side bar. Search results appear in a popover that completely covers the side bar. Tapping/clicking on a search result opens the relevant options panel without dismissing the search string.
BBEdit also has similar Preference window as the Textpattern panel. Here, search hides all main items in the sidebar, except those that contain a match. The best match is highlighted. Same behaviour as the macOS Settings window.
screenshot [1, macOS] shows the various choices for “acce” with “Full keyboard access” (manually) selected
screenshot [2, BBEdit], search string “fon“ shows 3 groups that (eventually) match
And BTW, that highlighting or dimming as you see on macOS < 13 would not work very well on smaller screens or smaller browser windows (and if memory serves, the “dimming” would disappear as soon as the search field lost focus).
I am of course not sure what is actually possible within the Textpattern context. The BBEdit solution might be more easy to implement.
Bloke commentedon May 21, 2024
My apologies for the outdated information. I'm still using Catalina unfortunately. The behaviors you describe of hiding all the entries that don't match and keeping the search in play is more akin to what I'm thinking.