As I mentioned in the OP, if you don’t want to use it you don’t even need to know that it is there. The change has no effect unless you explicitly move stuff to the secondary panel.
@Thad_E_Ginathom I agree that generally one would not want it to be there to save H space. But for when you need it, you can toggle it on. Just how you may occasionally toggle on the filmstrip to navigate through images, or the left panel to check some image metadata. When you are done, you close it again.
By the way, you can toggle it on/off with one keypress, moving back all the modules to the main panel. it is stateful and it remembers the modules that you moved there, so if you toggle it on it moves those modules back to the secondary panel. When you move through images it only opens the secondary panel if they have the same modules with the same instance names. State also persists between runs:
This really makes a difference. I have a 24-inch, not-wide (I forget what the ratio is but the now-rare one that looks more photo than movie) screen.
Further thinking… Almost all of my needed modules are in my favourites tab. If, say, I am in CB-RGB and I want to tweak exposure, I have only to touch the ‘e’ key and I have setting available without even leaving/closing CB-RGB. I have considered extending this to other regular sliders. Yes, they are popups, but they appear where the cursor is, so easily managed.
I have given up on and removed the ‘basic settings’ tab. It started out (as I was a beginner) of a basic aid to remembering what was available and being able to find it. Favourites does that for me now. But I am thinking of repurposing it with my dozen most-often-used sliders.
My point is that we can adopt our workflow and utilise existing darktable functionality to achieve much of this without yet another panel. I’m trying to think *do it! The darktake way!"
I think a secondary module panel that (advanced) users can activate, is an idea with merit for certain use cases like those @Masterpiga demonstrated.
This is basically true for most of us, However, you may overlook that certain functions in dt is best used with a small image, like considering over-all exposure, global contrast adjustments, overall hue adjustments etc. It’s not only for having frames around the image that Color Assessment mode presents us with a smaller image. AP even suggested that thumbnail size images may be better for some evaluations.
This goes well in hand with the kind of work @Masterpiga demonstrated with his excellent mock-up.
For my own part I often use the “small” zoom setting in the Navigator menu for performing such work on a even smaller image.
Thad, if buying vertical real estate is of any interest, and you may already know this, Ctrl+h will hide the very top banner/bar area (the darktable logo and the Lightroom | Darkroom | Other).
My desktop is crowded already. I have just two tabs, my regular favourites and a secondary list of some I might use. The lists are fluid and I often move modules around because I feel I’m still learning DT and my workflow changes. Sometimes a post on playraw or elsewhere on Pixls will tempt me to try something else, colourise and colour mapping are two new modules I’ve introduced to my tabs.
This system works for me.
I spent some time doing an edit only in dt (as opposed to dt–>gimp) last night. Even then, I could only really say an extra workspace would have been useful when I needed to adjust an instance of exposure and then change a tone eq and filmic rgb settings to compensate.
But, I am not sure it would have been all that impactful. If I consider the time it would take to add the modules to a new tab, then make the changes, and then migrate everything out of that tab, the time saving would have been negligible.
Its cool that you created something to address your pain-points, but it just would not see much/any use in my workflow.
@Masterpiga I love the fresh ideas you are bringing to DT. The fact that you have sorted the code and it can be used or not used negates most negative comments about its addition so I give a big yes and I might or might not find it useful.
I like this idea, and I have already 2-3 candidates for the second panel. If implemented, I’ll use it for sure. I like also the the floating panel. @Masterpiga
For me this all is an answer to a problem that i didnt know to be existing. No interest.
Also i would not want anything in module ui that might make pipe order less obvious.
There is no change wrt that. All the modules (including the ones that have been moved to the secondary panel) are still listed in the main panel in the right order, where they can be rearranged to change the order of execution.
I’m not fan of this, my main concern is that the center area resize when the secondary panel is opened or closed. This also adds complexity to a UI that don’t need it
This is an implementation detail which can be fixed.
I agree that darktable UI is already sufficiently complex. However, this is not something that would be in the face of everyone. It is completely optional and it has no effect on established workflows.
OTOH, it removes a lot of friction from certain type of workflows involving jumping back and forth between modules. I find it surprising that there are not more people that need to do that.
For example, I almost always use color balance RGB and color equalizer in coordination, often with a couple of instances each. I move something here and then I need to adjust something there. Having the two modules side by side is a huge usability win.
(And I am not saying that what I propose here is the best possible way to achieve this result, but it is one way, it is completely non obtrusive and the code footprint is very small.)
I’m shocked! You’re so good at programming. I’ve never seen anything like it. I have an idea that could be implemented into the current version of DT and combined with your ideas. I’ll let you know how it works, but I’ll flesh it out a bit more to introduce you to the principles.
Habits should serve goals.
