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

edited April 27, 2024
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

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