Revise detail panel visibility rule
User studies proved the DM5 auto-closing detail panel is not optimal. It is too cumbersome to explicitly open it again after clearing the selection. These users actually like the persistent DM4 detail panel very much.
At the other hand the DM5 interface design regards an empty detail panel as it appears in DM4 (the "blue elephant") as a waste of valuable screen real estate which must be avoided.
Both positions can be satisfied at the same time by redesigning the existing detail panel toggle switch according to this rule:
- ON -- The detail panel appears automatically as soon as there is a (single) topic/assoc selection. If there is no selection it goes away. Furthermore: details do not appear in-map (no animations!), unless pinned.
- OFF -- The detail panel does not appear automatically. Instead the detail panel can be opened explicitly by context menu ("View", "Edit", "What's related?"). Details are displayed in-map.
So, the toggle acts not anymore as a vehicle to open/close the detail panel explicitly, but to state what type of user you are:
ON: DM4 detail panel lover (no animations)
OFF: in-map details lover (fullscreen topicmap, no split screen)
Of course the user can change that setting every time.
If the toggle switch would have a label it would be "Auto-open detail panel" as the user effectively switches the auto-open feature ON or OFF.
This proposal changes the current auto-close behavior to an opt-in auto-open behavior.