dropdown mark on Table

[naldorea 0]

I'm using a table on evernote.

Some time ago, when I put a cursor on the table, something appeared like below picture.

The mark hides the text.

I feel uncomfortable while I am editing it.

How about your opinion?

 

Environment

Windows7 x64

version : 6.11.2.7027 (307027)

[shaddack 2]

I agree that it is very annoying. I think the table editing features should be put on a "standard" right click menu to avoid this.

[DTLow 5,736]

Evernote expanded the table feature, and the drop down arrow is their solution for the UI.
Personally, I don''t think it's an ideal soution, but I can work with it.

[CalS 5,280]

12 hours ago, naldorea said:

The mark hides the text.

I feel uncomfortable while I am editing it.

This issue was raised when the new table layout was first introduced.  EN has not responded as to whether they agree or if any UI changes are forthcoming.  The other oft voiced complaint has to do with all notes being indented in the note window to support the table UI.  Not the best of UI in my view, but as per @DTLow I've learned to work around it.  But would just as soon have something a bit less garish.

[jefito 5,589]

Hmm. I use a couple of table-based templates to track tasks and projects on a weekly and yearly basis, and I never gave this a second thought. But now I have two, for what it's worth:

1) it might be a more discoverable UI for the user

2) it might have been that packing table and normal editing options into the same context menu was deemed awkward (or maybe they weren't able to tack in the color selector for the cell background)

These are thoughts, and should not be mistaken for deep analysis, mind...

[CalS 5,280]

1 hour ago, jefito said:

Hmm. I use a couple of table-based templates to track tasks and projects on a weekly and yearly basis, and I never gave this a second thought. But now I have two, for what it's worth:

1) it might be a more discoverable UI for the user

2) it might have been that packing table and normal editing options into the same context menu was deemed awkward (or maybe they weren't able to tack in the color selector for the cell background)

These are thoughts, and should not be mistaken for deep analysis, mind...

Could be.  My perspective has been that indenting ALL note bodies in the UI to accommodate row handles/new row buttons and to have an icon that obscures the contents of a cell when one is typing are not the best of design decisions.  My visceral reaction to using it.  I work around it, but it seems a cleaner design is possible for tables.  FWIW.

[shaddack 2]

On 2018-04-24 at 1:57 AM, jefito said:

2) it might have been that packing table and normal editing options into the same context menu was deemed awkward (or maybe they weren't able to tack in the color selector for the cell background)

These are thoughts, and should not be mistaken for deep analysis, mind...

In the case of the tables there is dedicated context  menu (right click) that only handles table operations such as inserting and removing rows. So no confusion there with any other context menu.

And  then there is also this drop-down menu where you can do similar or additional table operations. Feels redundant and everything could be incorporated in the right-click menu as is standard on Windows-applications.

I guess the thinking from the designers with the drop down menu is that the user should get an indication right away that you can do someting with the table when you click in it. But to me it just obscures the view. And also make it at least ONE menu for everything.

[jefito 5,589]

7 hours ago, shaddack said:

In the case of the tables there is dedicated context  menu (right click) that only handles table operations such as inserting and removing rows. So no confusion there with any other context menu.

And  then there is also this drop-down menu where you can do similar or additional table operations. Feels redundant and everything could be incorporated in the right-click menu as is standard on Windows-applications.

I guess the thinking from the designers with the drop down menu is that the user should get an indication right away that you can do someting with the table when you click in it. But to me it just obscures the view. And also make it at least ONE menu for everything.

Sure, those are fair points. The standard editing context menu (Cut/Copy/Paste, styles, formatting, etc.) kicks in only if you have a selection in a table cell, or multiple cells selected. The row/column insertion/deletion applies only to a single cell. And the button dropdown appears for the current cell or selection, and gives you options to format or color those cells, plus a few more.

You could maybe push them all into a right-click menus, I suppose, but the cell background is a custom control of some sort (actually I'd guess that the whole thing is, since the text styles in that menu don't match the standard Windows menu styles), so maybe, like I said before, integrating them would be difficult (doing that might even be on the list as a future dev task, hard to say).

I can see where someone might think that the design is a little mish-moshy, but it's never bothered me. I use tables in a fairly small number of templates that get duplicated frequently (weekly calendar/notes/todos/etc.); once I make a table, its layout tends to stay pretty static, and the the dropdown button isn't ever in my way while I'm adding content to particular cells. Obviously, your mileage may vary...

[CalS 5,280]

2 hours ago, jefito said:

and the the dropdown button isn't ever in my way while I'm adding content to particular cells. Obviously, your mileage may vary...

So what date is it I'm editing?  No fair looking at the note title.    All kidding aside, I don't think a UI design is appropriate if it covers whatever you might be editing.  It is a true literal fringe case, only the right end of the first line in the cell, but still....  It's just lacks professionalism, no matter the cost/benefit trade offs.  IMO.  Twer me I would have sent the design team back to the drawing boards.

[DTLow 5,736]

22 hours ago, shaddack said:

In the case of the tables there is dedicated context  menu (right click) that only handles table operations such as inserting and removing rows.

The right-click context menu works well for me, and was all I needed in the previous versions.

However, there were probably user requests for alternate menus; different strokes....
Also, Evernote is working towards a common editor and this may be a step towards table functions on our tablets.

[jefito 5,589]

3 hours ago, CalS said:

Twer me I would have sent the design team back to the drawing boards.

The problem is, designs don't always come from the design team; they can come down from above, and the design team and devs need to make the best of it. Ditto for features. I'm not saying that that's what happened in this case, but things are not always so simple as they ought to be. And design is often a balancing act between what is desired and what can be achieved in a timely / costly manner. Beyond that, today's design is not always a final thing, and that's why feedback such as being given here can be important, to find out what works and what doesn't. The flip side of that is that if you have something that works adequately, that can often lead to inertia for not making something work great. Like I say, a balancing act.

[CalS 5,280]

13 minutes ago, jefito said:

The problem is, designs don't always come from the design team; they can come down from above, and the design team and devs need to make the best of it. Ditto for features. I'm not saying that that's what happened in this case, but things are not always so simple as they ought to be. And design is often a balancing act between what is desired and what can be achieved in a timely / costly manner. Beyond that, today's design is not always a final thing, and that's why feedback such as being given here can be important, to find out what works and what doesn't. The flip side of that is that if you have something that works adequately, that can often lead to inertia for not making something work great. Like I say, a balancing act.

Get all that, got the t-shirt.  For me there are some inviolate rules, don't hide something being edited for one, per the above screen shot.  Can't think of a trade off that justifies that, in my world anyway.  

Could be semantics here, but any place I've been where the actual design is imposed from elsewhere has been a cluster.  Features and product direction come from wherever, design should always come from the design team.  You need the natural friction between the two to prevent this kind of stuff, IMO.  I hope someone didn't ask for a big down arrow to block text. 

Anyway, perhaps we be straying a bit....