Focus mode

clint · January 23, 2018, 5:00pm

It would be great if I could “zoom” in on just one note in a project and enter a focused writing mode where all the UI fades away as I type.

drewmccormack · January 23, 2018, 5:30pm

Got it. Thanks!
Drew

cleverdevil · January 24, 2018, 6:34pm

A big +1 from me on this.

So far, I’m loving Agenda, but I think the biggest shortcomings are in the editor itself. Its a little slow and fiddly, and needs a focus mode, along with potentially a Markdown mode, where you can edit directly in Markdown, or even support for external editors.

mekentosj · January 25, 2018, 1:36am

but I think the biggest shortcomings are in the editor itself. Its a little slow and fiddly,

You’ll be happy to hear the next update will significantly improve things and we’re determined to keep on hammering on the details.

fraticiudan · January 25, 2018, 9:55am

+1 from me too

A simple hide the sidebar and the related panel shortcut would be acceptable.

Also an open note in separate window would be nice.

mekentosj · January 25, 2018, 10:34am

A simple hide the sidebar and the related panel shortcut would be acceptable.

I guess you mean with one shortcut? The individual ones are there already (command-option-S and command-option-i, respectively).

clint · January 25, 2018, 4:25pm

A key for me is to be able to focus on just one note at a time and have all the UI fade away. Hiding the sidebars is great - and I still think you should use trackpad swiping to quickly hide the side bars - but the idea here is more than just hiding the side bars. For a focus mode, when I’m writing a note, I don’t want to see all the text from other notes in a list below it or any other UI elements. I just want to see and concentrate on the one note I’m working on.

clint · January 25, 2018, 4:35pm

Another key part of a focus mode is centering the content block on the screen and setting a max width instead of having the text stretch from edge-to-edge in the window.

mekentosj · January 25, 2018, 9:39pm

This has indeed been mentioned a few times, we’ll do our best to come up with something.

zsbenke · January 25, 2018, 10:31pm

Please, don’t make Agenda into another distraction free writing app.

tbaucells · January 26, 2018, 11:58pm

It could always be an option to set distraction-free mode

drewmccormack · January 27, 2018, 9:27am

Yeah, I think it is something that could be supported without a negative impact on people who don’t want to use it. But I also agree, Agenda is not really intended to be in the same category as the distraction free writer’s tools.

Awilu · March 6, 2018, 1:32pm

+1 on focus mode.

I don’t believe that the market is segment between distraction free app and note taking app. The segmentation is more about the intensivity of writing needs.
Heavy writers will continue to use Ulysses or equivalent.

But for low or intermediate writers, like me, Agenda could be an interesting tool, but it has to continue to integrate valuable features like Focus node, night mode, to increase the confort of usage.

drewmccormack · March 6, 2018, 1:59pm

Note that you can reduce a lot of ‘clutter’ by closing the two side panels. You can fully navigate the app using only the center panel.

themanchicken · May 9, 2018, 7:39pm

I’d like to throw out there that this wouldn’t just be nice for editing, but it would also be very useful for using Agenda within my meeting. A lot of the time I like to run my meetings with the agenda displayed on the screen so folks can see notes I type. This feature would make it nicer for that flow, they wouldn’t have to see all of the other visual elements of the application.

This is even more important for those of us who would like to screen-share with Agenda, but have notes from multiple competing vendors or customers in our agenda for the day.

mekentosj · May 9, 2018, 8:50pm

Yes, this is definitely one of the items we have in mind as the reason to add this in the hopefully not so distant future. First the iOS version and inline images though.

lexvo · May 24, 2018, 5:42pm

I too would like to focus on just one note.

when writing a note I don’t want to be distracted by the notes above and below in the list, or unintentionally scroll after the end of the note, etc…
when I am scrolling in the note list of a project, it isn’t always obvious where a certain note ends.

drewmccormack · May 25, 2018, 7:55am

We have some ideas about focusing. Stay tuned.

kemer.thomson · May 25, 2018, 1:59pm

I was initially a skeptic on the topic “focus more,” but with more Agenda use, I now agree that the screen can get overly busy…

drewmccormack · May 25, 2018, 5:01pm

One way I control this is to have just a few notes “On the Agenda”, and to use the “On the Agenda” overview as like a focus area. You see only the notes that are immediately relevant to you.