Make submap boundaries more apparent in the DITA Maps Manager
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 1:50 pm
I like the ability to edit submaps from a parent map (Preferences > DITA > Maps > Allow referenced submaps to be edited)! We use submaps for things like book-specific key files, shared key files, shared preface sections, and shared chapters between books.
One consequence of inlining submaps in the DITA Maps Manager is that it becomes harder to visually distinguish where the submap boundaries are:
This makes it harder to know which file(s) will be modified when performing an action, such as modifying a variable, adding new topics, or moving a topic from one place to another. This is particularly important when submaps are shared by multiple publications.
Perhaps an improvement would be to draw a perimeter around submap boundaries:
Although I used gray lines because they were easy to draw, I think a lighter dotted line would be better. (I don't think shading would work, because that is already used for profiling conditions.)
Maybe a perimeter line could also communicate other information, like whether a submap has changes to be saved or not. I didn't think that far ahead.
I am attaching the testcase I used for the example.
One consequence of inlining submaps in the DITA Maps Manager is that it becomes harder to visually distinguish where the submap boundaries are:
This makes it harder to know which file(s) will be modified when performing an action, such as modifying a variable, adding new topics, or moving a topic from one place to another. This is particularly important when submaps are shared by multiple publications.
Perhaps an improvement would be to draw a perimeter around submap boundaries:
Although I used gray lines because they were easy to draw, I think a lighter dotted line would be better. (I don't think shading would work, because that is already used for profiling conditions.)
Maybe a perimeter line could also communicate other information, like whether a submap has changes to be saved or not. I didn't think that far ahead.
I am attaching the testcase I used for the example.