asterics
Option to deactivate the global grid on specific pages
Depending on the layout, the global grid will have unnecessary buttons for certain pages, keyboard pages in particular. Therefore this request.
Additionally, but that would only be a top-of-the-cake thing :) : Option to have more than one global grid. So there'd be one global grid for the pictogram pages and one global grid for the keyboard pages, for example.
I've implemented it in the new grid settings dialog, which replaced the "set grid dimensions" dialog:
So it's now possible to define a custom global grid for each grid. You can define every other grid as global grid, so a grid could be used both as normal grid and as global grid. So there is still one special grid, the default global grid and all other grids can be both normal and global grids.
I've also adapted the PDF export to reflect these changes and render the correct global grid. @arasaac-dga @ms-mialingvo please test at http://grid.beta.asterics-foundation.org/
For clarity: Is http://grid.beta.asterics-foundation.org/ and http://gridbeta.asterics-foundation.org the same or not?
It's working! Awesome! :) (Tested on desktop only so far.)
The setup is not quite intuitive, it took me a while to understand it and then it made sense. I'm pondering about different labels or information sentences that could make it clearer to the user what's happening. Maybe starting with changing edit global grid in the three-dots-dropdown to edit current global grid as it took me a moment to understand that the global grid that appears changes depending on the global grid that is set for that very specific page?
The default global grid is activated under manage grids currently (although I have the suggestion of moving that to the tab general in the main settings). So it needs to be clear that to the user that they are overwriting the default settings by changing anything here. (That also applies to the dimensions). So put everything under an overwrite default settings arrow, like for advanced settings. And then instead of show global grid, activate global grid to have the same wording?
(And of course, change all mentions of global grid here to default global grid. Maybe an (info) sentence there, "The global grid for specific grids can be changed under xxx")
It could get overall clearer anyway, though, after applying #463, too. Like if the boards used as global grids would appear in the global grid tab there and be editable through there, that could help too, I think. Or that only boards that are created in the global grid tab are able to be selected as global grids in the drop-down at all.
Also, as you already are creating new dialoges anyway, can you already apply the tabs general/translation as suggested here ?
First of all, we appreciate that you have thought about offering the possibility of using a different global grids than the one predefined in some boards, although we see that it is a fairly important change and that it must be implemented with caution so as not to generate confusion in users.
We also see it necessary that before implementing this possibility of selecting a customized global grids according to the board, the solution to the problem that the global board currently presents should be undertaken, as described in this issue #228
That is, we consider it more of a priority and beneficial for the vast majority of users that #228 be resolved before introducing improvements related to it, such as the one proposed here.
Today only a few configurations of the global grid work and that greatly limits the design of the communicators. Therefore, it would be vital to solve this initially.
Once this is up and running, we do agree with @ms-mialingvo that by taking advantage of the Manage Grids redesign by introducing tabs, the global grids will be clearly differentiated from the normal/standard grids. In this way, within the Global Grid tab you could create additional global grids (there would always be one created by default as until now) and, of course, these global grids would already work properly with the pending improvements in #228.
Within the global grids there would be one that would be predefined by default (so that it would be the one applied by default as until now) and the rest of the grids would appear in the list of possible global grids within Grid Settings.
It would also be interesting if within the Global Boards tab the global boards could be cloned so that you could easily make a variant of a global grid in which, for example, you want to introduce only a new button.
In any case we see the need of manage global grids from setting page. Its place is the actual Mange Grid page (with the new design with tabs).
So, we believe that, for now, we would only include the option to show or not the global grid and that we would postpone the custom global grid selector until global board perfomance is solved and the tabs have been created on the Manage Grids page to be able to create the global grids in a way that is clearly differentiated from the standard boards.
I understand all your points and agree that the global grids should also be clearer differentiated in the settings somewhere. However, I don't have time now to impement all of this and also the improvements for the global grid in general, so I thought of implementing it in the most simple way, which is what I've done now.
All what I'm doing now with the cell text format, redesign settings and this issue I'm doing within the working package which is actually only for "replacing the grid library" - but somehow everything is connected. At some point I have to finish this working package and release the current state.
So I can either remove the possibility to set custom global grids for now or hide it in some advanced options accordion. I've also implemented it now, because @ms-mialingvo needs it for her work.
In the background it will be the same also with all the other things coming, so if we release the possibility of the custom global grid as it is, I can somewhen later improve the other things you've suggested.
So, as my primary request was the option to deactivate global grids and the option to set various global grids is a top-of-the-cake option :), I'd suggest to only publish the deactivate option for the moment and to publish the other options later then in combination with #228 so that the users don't have to relearn the setup again. Thanks so much for for implementing the option for different global grids!
So, as my primary request was the option to deactivate global grids and the option to set various global grids is a top-of-the-cake option :), I'd suggest to only publish the
deactivateoption for the moment and to publish the other options later then in combination with #228 so that the users don't have to relearn the setup again. Thanks so much for for implementing the option for different global grids!
We agree. Better to launch it when #228 and #463 are made in order to be clearer for final users how to manage global grids. So, perfect to add only the option to Activate / Deactivate Global Grid.
released with https://github.com/asterics/AsTeRICS-Grid/releases/tag/release-2025-01-27-08.34%2F%2B0100 - possibility to specify custom global grid remains hidden for now.