Upgrade StorageFeature request: more flexible resizing columns
At least with Zotero 6 (I didn't test with 7), trying to resize (expand) a column in the middle pane produces the resizing of that column and the one next to it. But many times I would prefer another more distant column was resized (narrowed down).
To do that I imagine two options.
-One would be through a pane with all (current/active) columns widths, so one could specify the desired width in a column and also mark columns to be fixed (with the obvious limits that at least two columns must be unmarked and the widths sum cannot be higher than ...)
-The other, which I thought first, would be to select all the columns (through, for example, Ctrl + click in the different columns) in the middle of the two columns to be resized, and then making the resizing action in one of the lateral limits of the selected columns.
Maybe all this process should be done by having pressed a suitable key (again, for example, Ctrl) in order to:
1) not reordering by any of the selected columns when starting to select the columns; and
2) not deselecting the columns when making the resize action.
Would it be something like this possible?
To do that I imagine two options.
-One would be through a pane with all (current/active) columns widths, so one could specify the desired width in a column and also mark columns to be fixed (with the obvious limits that at least two columns must be unmarked and the widths sum cannot be higher than ...)
-The other, which I thought first, would be to select all the columns (through, for example, Ctrl + click in the different columns) in the middle of the two columns to be resized, and then making the resizing action in one of the lateral limits of the selected columns.
Maybe all this process should be done by having pressed a suitable key (again, for example, Ctrl) in order to:
1) not reordering by any of the selected columns when starting to select the columns; and
2) not deselecting the columns when making the resize action.
Would it be something like this possible?
In my opinion, the way the columns resize in Zotero is atypical: In Zotero, changing the width of one column is done by inversely changing the width of the next column to the right so that subsequent columns don't have to move.
In my experience, the more common behavior is that changing the width of a column doesn't affect the widths of the other columns. Instead, they are shifted left or right. This is for example how resizing a column in an MS Excel spreadsheet works. In my humble opinion, this "resize by shifting rightward columns"-behavior is a bit less cumbersome and more intuitive. I think it would be good to add a config switch for that. But in general and as always: Thanks for Zotero! Loving it every day.
To repeat @neutral_vacancy for emphasis:
Zotero treats the column width adjuster as being shared by the left and right columns on each side of it. The total size and location of these two columns will remain static, and the real estate is adjusted between only these two columns without affecting any others. I think this is because the list has a fixed width and cannot expand beyond the limits of the Window (i.e. with a horizontal scrollbar)
What other systems do is to allow the list to scroll past the right-hand confines of the window and use the horizontal bar. They then treat the column size adjuster as an adjustment for the column to the left of the handle only. The size of anything to the right is unaffected and the overall width of the list is expanded.
This change would be incredibly useful considering how much metadata we work with these days. I'm often watching multiple citation counts, date, journals etc. and it gets very cramped on the static view.
Thanks also though, this is by far the best tool for the job. I wish I could help with the coding but I have to finish my PhD first (and my coding isn't that good, although I'd love to have a go on a plugin one day) :-)