Could *Save* Workspace Automatically *Add* Workspace?

[Abram K-J]

Right now to Save a Workspace does not also include Add Workspace, so that a saved Workspace is available from the File menu (Open... / Accordance Files) but not from the "Open Workspace" File menu or Workspaces toolbar icon.

 

The obvious workaround is to both Save and Add a Workspace at the same time, by using the toolbar icon in the first place.

But could the behavior be adjusted so that Save also Adds a Workspace? Or is there a reason/scenario for saving a workspace but not also adding it?

[EricC]

I also would be interested to hear what the Accordance programmers think of this suggestion.

[Mark Allison]

A couple of days ago I had a friend ask me how to create a search that would list of all the words that occur more than 30 times in Isaiah in the LXX, but not more than 30 times in the NA28. I saved it as a workspace and emailed it to him. I had no desire to save it, so having the current save option was useful in that particular scenario.

[JohnABarnett]

+1

 

I have been confused about this as well. I can understand that situation, Mark, but I would imagine that for most users most of the time Save Workspace ought to both Save and Add. For this particular feature things work differently than most users are "trained" to expect by their previous use of other software.

[Solly]

This reminds me of discussions related to the advantages and disadvantages of automatic vs. manual transmissions. My preference—I like both, but the one I want at the moment will vary from task to task. ;-) Perhaps the save/add workspace behavior could be controlled by a choice in the workspace section of the preferences settings.  Oh, gotta run and do some cat herding before things get out of control in the house. :-o

[Timothy Jenney]

Actually, the reverse is already available.

 

Adding a Workspace via the Toolbar icon automatically opens the Save dialog box.

[Abram K-J]

Yep. That's what I usually do, so it ends up being fine--mostly this comes up when I'm showing other users how to save workspaces. I tell them learning just one way to do it is sufficient (via the Toolbar icon, as you mention), but I still notice from time to time that having both Save and Add as two separate things creates confusion. Maybe the way to think of it is that "Save" saves the workspace as a file and "Add" is more akin to a browser bookmark feature, that makes the file more easily accessible? I, for one, would vote for doing away with the difference and streamlining the two.

[Solly]

Thanks Dr. J! That is the second nifty Accordance feature I picked up in the last few days! 

 

Shalom,

Joseph

[Joel Brown]

So, looking into this some, we already implemented this back in v12 or late v11.  However, it doesn't seem to apply to an unsaved workspace once its been recalled as part of Accordance startup.  Is it possible this is the test case you were using Abram?

[Abram K-J]

Hi, Joel--thanks for the reply. In my instance it was a newly created workspace, so not pulled up from a previous session. Not sure if that helps in diagnosis?

 

Mark's use case is interesting, but are there programming or design reasons why "add" and "save" aren't streamlined into a single name and operation?

[Joel Brown]

Abram, so right now, if you make a new workspace and save it, it is not added to your My Workspaces?  Mine is.

 

In general, the design reason is that Saving a workspace to your drive is a different concept from wanting it as a favorite.  Perhaps I'm saving it to send to a user, or just for a reference point, and I don't want my favorites spammed.  Regardless, as I said, we actually do try to add newly saved workspaces now.

[Abram K-J]

Thanks, Joel--okay, so I guess I had it right with the analogy above that "save" has more to do with the workspace as file and "add" is like a Web browser bookmark or favorite, making that saved file more accessible. That helps with the distinction, I think.

 

And, yes, I did just try from scratch with a new workspace... I saved it and it also added it to My Workspaces without my having to also add it. So it sounds like my initial request is already the way it works (a recent change). I appreciate this... not sure why this didn't work the last time or two I tried it. If I can reproduce, I'll let you know. Thank you!

[Solly]

Joel, I am always amazed by the thought that goes into the UI to satisfy the great variety of user preferences. Abram, your file vs. bookmark logic is how I understood working with the workspace, so the two step process did not bother me since I did not want all of my workspaces to populate the toolbar dropdown list. Now I know how to do the two steps as one if I wish to do so. Little things like this are an absolute delight to me! 

 

Shalom,

Joseph