[suggestion] Place assigned color tags in their own column in Z7 (and adjust tag color selector)

waynerroper

I suggest that in Zotero 7, colored tag labels be placed in their own column in the main pane instead of within the title column.

I recently updated my Zotero beta [7.0.0-beta.75+f7dc68c7f (64-bit)] and noticed that colored tag labels are now located to the left (front) of item titles instead of the right. I appreciate the developers changing this back, but it also brings to mind a suggestion that could accommodate both positions.

Placing tag labels in their own column makes it so that users can arrange tags anywhere on the item line instead of only having it with the title. This accomplishes multiple things:
- Flexibility that accommodates many user preferences for assigned color tag placement.
- All titles would be left aligned along the same margin instead of seeing some titles with different alignment because of tags (a minor annoyance, but I think a nice change).
- If people don't want to see colored tags in the main pane but still want to be able to assign them (for efficiency using 1-9), they could disable the tag column.
- Clicking in the tag column could become a quick button view the tag pane for that library item.

Downsides:
- Creates empty space in the UI where there are no tags (though this is not much different from attachment and note columns).
- Some people may still prefer tags within the title column. I'm not sure if it would be worth accommodating people that still prefer this.
- Would this be compatible across new and old versions of Zotero? May break some features.

I also noticed that the "assign tag color" window displays all the tags as empty blocks with an outline of the color instead of a filled block that shows the whole color. I suggest changing these to filled blocks to make the colors easier to view. Also, would it be possible to add more tag colors or custom colors? The current selection feels very limited.

I have added images to help visualize my suggestions:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u9633166/80pt7npuxuaicpaikws3.jpg

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u9633166/8tv86sj7knun73iygac5.jpg

waynerroper

I encountered this plugin called special tags column after making my post. It could be useful to others who also want a tags column.

https://github.com/whacked/zotero-special-tags-column

There were also old forum posts that I didnt initially find but may still apply to discussion for this feature in Zotero 7

https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/35810/tag-and-tag-count-columns-in-the-list/

dstillman

We could consider offering a Tags column as an option that, when enabled, would remove the tags from the Title column.

But yes, it would waste space when there are no/fewer tags (and could take up much more space than the narrow Attachments/Notes columns, because emoji tags will be shown in the list — currently that's limited to just emoji "colored" tags, but it's going to be extended to any emoji tags).

I also noticed that the "assign tag color" window displays all the tags as empty blocks with an outline of the color instead of a filled block that shows the whole color.

That's not intentional, and I'm not seeing that:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u6/yv81izuzu4gmyb6uni38.png

What OS is this?

waynerroper

@dstillman

I am using windows 10 home (version 22H2). The build number is 19045.4291.

Zotero 6 showed the assign tag color boxes as filled in. I didn't encounter this issue until Zotero 7 beta (both the dark and light interfaces). It also persists in troubleshooting mode.

mjthoraval

I observe the same:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u265723/clqs6ofue6k66ecqv23v.png
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u265723/tbaitl7d2ddxgntw1bsr.png

Zotero 7.0.0-beta.76+91054acfe (64-bit) in Troubleshooting Mode
Windows 10

dstillman

We've fixed the outline issue on Windows in beta 77.

mjthoraval

Thank you.
Just small things:
- There should probably be vertical separation between colors
- The color squares seem to go out of the box
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u265723/tpcx24j6vbobtzwtxtw7.png

waynerroper

Thank you for the fix.

I don't mind the way that the colors overlap. It seems like a unique design choice that adds some spice to the user interface.

dstillman

No, that's of course not intentional, as you can see in my screenshot above. We'll fix.

waynerroper

I still kinda like it, but I can understand the change to make the consistent with other OS.

It's very interesting that the overlap is there though. Makes me wonder what the underlying difference in programming between builds.