Zavala - An open source outliner for Macs, iPads, and iPhones

Posted by MadaboutDana
Jan 12, 2021 at 05:49 PM

Mm, good question.

For simplicity’s sake, I think automatic expansion would be best.

But there is another model, whereby the parent row would be highlighted (or “flashed”, or whatever one calls it in programming terms), so the user can drill down to the highlighted search term under the parent row.

Or there’s a third model, which is the filtering model, whereby all rows with the search term(s) in them would be isolated (i.e. all other rows would disappear), so you could click the one you’re looking for, whereupon the whole outline would reappear centred on the row you’ve focused on. Outlinely uses this model rather well, leaving the parent rows above the “hit” row in place, so you can see it in context.

Of these three options, I think option 3 is probably the best one, although it may be the trickiest to program (or not; IANAP!).

Highlighting is also, IMHO, a sine qua non: ideally, multiple search terms should each have a different highlight colour (assuming Boolean search is possible).

Them’s my views, anyway!

Very interesting project – keep up the good work.