Global 'Delete item' command (and misc.)

Bike Outliner
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:wave: Might it be possible to introduce a ‘Delete item’ command which works in both Outline and Text Edit mode? I suppose what I’m after is an implementation of TaskPaper’s ‘Delete Items’ (Ctrl-Shift-K). As it stands (Bike 40), the ‘Delete’ command in Text Edit mode feels, to me, a little redundant — it simply deletes a single character…

Also, I was surprised to see the Outline > Home command removed. This was something I often made use of, as quick way to, well, go home and get back to an overview. Having it and the Focus Out command felt like a winning combination.

Also (sorry), it feels odd to me that one can focus beyond the selected item. I find this a little disorientating — I’d expect Focus In to stop when the ultimate present item in the hierarchy is reached, rather than keep going and, essentially, create a new item (or at least the space for one).

All that aside, I’m delighted with Bike! I’ve used it steadily for the past few days, and it feels great. I look forward to seeing how it evolves.

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Eventually there will be a way, but for 1.0 I would like to use outline mode for deleting items. I like the model of having one mode where text is acted upon and another mode where items are acted upon. This design won’t be faster then remembering a dedicated shortcut to delete a full item no mater the mode, but it is still pretty fast and I think easier to remember.

I “think” one of the first things I’ll add after version 1.0 is scripting support and a way to easily put script commands in a Commands menu along with keyboard shortcuts. With that in place then you will be able to get the delete behavior you want.

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Sorry about that, but again I’m trying to make all the 1.0 menu commands as necessary and simple as possible. I feel like for most cases Focus Out multiple times is effective. I guess I would ask you to try that for a while, and come back if it really isn’t the same.

And, again, once I add scripting and command menu this will be possible to add back via script if you decide you really want it, but I’m still to stubborn to change my mind :).

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I think Focusing in general needs some UI work. It should indicate when you are in focused state. And maybe this focusing beyond is a bad design. At the same time I like and use it myself, because sometimes I want a “blank page” in my outline. The think I like about focusing all the way into an item is that I can then start typing with zero indentation. Anyway will keep an ear out for other opinions on this and revisit when I figure out how to improve general focusing UI.

Good to hear and thanks for trying it. Sorry that I’m not immediately accepting suggestions, I just want to avoid situation where I add stuff that over time I feel I shouldn’t have added.

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Thanks for your very thoughtful replies, @jessegrosjean. Your thinking on ‘Focus In’ ultimately offering a usefully blank, unindented page is interesting — I hadn’t really thought of it that way, which shows, I suppose, how mental models are influencing how I’m seeing certain behaviours. I’ve already subscribed to Bike, so I’m here for the long haul… and entirely agree that a cautious approach re. feature creep is probably best at this stage!

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When we need to know whether we are focused, the Focus Out key shows us very simply and immediately, skipping the burden of an additional ‘look for the signage’ step.

(When we don’t need to know, because we are focusing on writing, any visual indicator is noise and distraction).

One of the modes in which I use Bike is as something like WriteRoom – for completely undistracted drafting. If there were any more signage (“look! you are now focused” etc etc) I would personally want to switch it off   :slight_smile: