I love the composer in nodeBB. However, it's rare to find anything in life that can not be pushed toward greater perfection and since composer is pushing toward perfection already - let's push a little bit more to make the difference! 🙂
On community.nodebb.org - I noticed a few extra buttons that seemed to related to the same function or kind of, then I noticed even more - why have 3 image related buttons when you can have one?
Why?
composer-tools-before.png
Ok, first lets strip the overlapping icons and rearrange into more logical groups:
Post Edit Tools | Link Tools | Image Tools | Custom Tool | Zen Mode
Space
composer-tools-after.png
Super and look at all the new found space, minimal overload is not far off, time to look at the sequential order.
Less is More in the New Order
omposer-tools-after-final.png
If there ever was a more graceful flow from left to right in perfect order I have yet to see it, with less buttons in a more logical, sequential and grouped order we are pitching for less visual cognitive load.
Summary:
Minimal without losing functionality
Clear left to right flow and back again
Grouping of icons by contextual function
Establishes a logical sequence to icon groups
Creates more space for other icons
Sets logical order and positioning for future icon inclusion
Naturally it flows that the 3 image button functions need to be folded into a pop-up menu.
Why this is probably a better outcome is that it creates a clear focus and display of the image options to the user using one click, all on a single menu.
Currently there are 3 buttons one of which is visually ambiguous as it presents as cloud up arrow icon, which could be construed as being actionable with any file for upload.
If you wanted to push the logic of this approach further, then even the smilies icon could considered a valid target (hypothetically!) to also fold into the single image button - creating a hybrid single image button, a hybrid pop-up menu with all the visual/image elements in one place.
Please note, I am not proposing it for now but I present it to tease out the natural evolution of where this route might go and is perhaps one reduction too far for broader nodeBB deployments.
Please upvote 👍 - If you woudl like to see this in standard nodeBB.
