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I love Browse Everywhere in v10! But I miss my regular Browse in Configuration Panel...

Its definately not a good UX that the full browse is now in the output window.  I usually have my Output on autohide and its a few extra clicks to see the browses now... Can we have both the Browse Everywhere tab in Output and Configuration Panel?

28 Comments
david_jarvis
6 - Meteoroid

Hello,

 

I wondered where to put this, then looked in Ideas and was relieved to see I wasn't the only one.

 

Just had V10 installed and I don't think I like the Results Window.

 

Now I have to have 2 Windows open, one to configure tools and one just to see what is in a Browse tool. Incidentally while looking at Results, there is a large white space doing nothing but tell me to look at the Results window.

 

Wouldn't it be an idea to utilise this white space and show the contents of the browse, removing the need for a permanent results window?

 

With earlier versions I have the Designer window and the Configuration window next to it. Lots of data visible. Now I have to wrestle with 2 windows, taking up workspace and giving reduced visibility.

AndrewF_dup_30
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

 

For now, you can stack the two panels and use Ctrl-Alt-R to show/hide the Results panel. This placement takes up the same monitor space as the single Browse panel did in Alteryx 9.x.

 

I have been lobbying for a keyboard shortcut that would allow you to quickly tab between tool Configuration and Results panels too.

 

 

 

Stacked.png  Results Tab.png

 

 

 

simon
11 - Bolide

It looks like a lot of us are dealing with layout/browse issues and the fact that we are posting about it says enough. I have been working with the new way for quite some time now (on 2 monitors) and to be honest - I can't get used to it. What is where? IMHO, it's less intuitive now than before and intuitive seems to at the top of the list of clever minds at Alteryx. I wonder what brand-new Alteryx users say about v10 layout/browse?

Adding to the list:

  1. Why does the map still show up in config window? So annoying because rendering a lot of zip polys takes time so loss of productivity. Auto hide sure, but slow too. I liked it before - one tab for table and one tab for map so you can avoid seeing the map all together. Don't get me wrong I like my Geo but don't push it.
  2. I tend to open results in new floating window on another monitor so I can always refer to this static data when I need to - no matter what's going on with my module. So I have yet another window open. Another reason I do new window thing is becasue when you click on blank area of canvas you see these output messages again rather than more important table data.
  3. I miss maximize window toggle with foating results window
  4. Because it's floating - I tend to accidentally close the results window and have to go to top or use shortcut ctrl-alt-r to re-enable.
  5. It's confusing when you run a module -  you see output messages and then when you click browse tool you see table data. Sometimes it takes a while to switch/refresh. Generally, I quickly glance to see if I have errors/warning messages after I run a module but 98% I care more about seeing the data itself.

So that being said, I think output should go back to it's own 'output' window - nice and small in the corner, and table/map should go together in 'data results' which I should be able to span across my other monitor.

AndrewF_dup_30
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

I appreciate all the feedback on this topic. The discussion is getting our attention. Sometimes we don't foresee how we're going to affect use cases that customers rely on.

 

I think the main reasons we developed the Browse Everywhere feature:

  • It was frustrating to run a workflow that took a while to complete, only to realize that you need to add some Browse tools to gain visbility into some unforseen output and run it again. For example, workflows that connect to cloud data sources or use Iterative Macros. Browse Everywhere data is available even after you realize there is a problem with the workflow. Since you can still use the full Browse tool, it seemed to us that we were giving customers more options and flexibility.
  • We thought it would be useful to quickly get a glimpse into the data flowing into and out of each tool, especially tools like Join and Union that used to require a few Browse tools to fully understand.
  • Workflows that read large datasets and have a lot of Browse tools can eat up lots of Temp filespace (although you could turn that off).
  • Adding and removing Browse tools caused some minor workflow layout grief - I'm a little bit OCD about clean workflows, so it bothered me to add a Browse tool that displaced other closely groups tools.

The map window still shows up in the config window because we didn't want to take up Results Window space to display tabs, and we thought it would be nice to be able to select table rows and see the associated data points highlight on the map. Granted, it's a little awkward.

 

Normally, when you select a tool and run it should refresh data in the Results window. The output messages won't remain visible unless there are warnings or errors, or you clicked the messages icon. If you see the output messages remain visible and you don't have any warnings or errors, click one of the tool input/output connection icons to switch from "messages mode" to "data mode".

mbarone
16 - Nebula
16 - Nebula

I prefer the old way to browse personally.  Although the tabbed approach works well for me.  Thanks for the tip Andrew.

DataVizionary
7 - Meteor

I just want to reiterate that Im not saying that the new "browse everywhere" is bad or the new tabs on the resuts pane.  BUT - on the config pane - its EMPTY.  Why not just show the browse data in both panes?

AndrewF_dup_30
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

Point taken.  We felt some apprehension that customers using the Designer for the first time might be confused by seeing some data here and some data there.  I don't know of any reason we couldn't show the Browse data in the Configuration panel.  I'm not a UX designer, but maybe a User Setting to enable Browse data in the Configuration window would satisfy everyone?

mbarone
16 - Nebula
16 - Nebula

I'd like that.

MarcSourour
5 - Atom

I agree, especially since the configuration window is blank, no point to leave that space unused. Either give us the option as to where we want to see the browse output or show it in both places since by definition you can't configure browse tools (yet - would love to have quick filters in there to check on the data).

PS: My team of 40 power users all agree.

collin_pace
9 - Comet

Andrew,

 

I would agree with this:

 

"maybe a User Setting to enable Browse data in the Configuration window would satisfy everyone?"

 

I've been working with browse anywhere for some time now and I find myself re-adjusting windows way more often than I ever did.  Please add this as a user setting.