Collapse and Expand your diagrams in Lucid!

I guess I picked the correct time to search of Lucid had some form of collapsible object (the original post of this feature is only 2 hours old).

Short version:

Not a bad attempt for a BASIC feature, but does not work for complex diagrams.

Long Version:

Collapse direction:

The collapse action ALWAYS collapses to the CENTER of the original container.  This works great for simple diagrams.  For complex diagrams (my diagrams expanded both vertically and horizontally), having the option to collapse to a specified corner would be better (IE: The top left corner).

Connector routing:

Connecter routing to NOT collided with exiting objects has always been a shortcoming of Lucid.  And the collapsed object now makes this even worse.  If you have an object that has connectors using non-straight connectors, the connectors (almost always) have to be manually routed to not collide with other objects.  Now with the collapsed object, the non-straight connectors change between the collapsed / expanded versions.  If you fix the routing for one setting, you mess it up on the other setting.

Nudging:

This appeared to be an answer to the collapse direction and connector routing issues mentioned above.  However, in practice, if you collapse the object, move it to a new location, and then expand it, the nudging has a tendency to rearrange the drawing in a way that renders complex diagrams useless.  The only recommendation I can provide here is that the ‘location’ of object could be linked to relative positions of other objects.  IE: the top of container 2 is always 10 points below the bottom of container 1.  That way, when container 1 collapses / expands, container 2 keeps its relative position.

Applicability to object types:

The original post indicates that this feature only works on a select number of object types.  This limit is understandable for a new feature.  But since it does not work on objects in the ‘FlowChart’ menu, and since about 90% of my diagrams are process flowcharts showing overall process and sub processes, it means I would need to re-draw them to even use this feature.

Thank you so much for the feedback, ​@Clifford.Dickinson !  I love how thorough this is and appreciate you taking the time to write it all up.  This is a very important feature for us and we have every intent to make it as good as can be.  Your suggestions (and you, dear reader, please post!) are essential to deliver something people love using :) 

Collapse direction...

We were just talking about this earlier in solutioning.  We are working to implement dynamic collapse and expand directions based on what other things are around or connected to the target container.  No delivery estimate yet but this is definitely top of mind for us.

Connector routing:

Connecter routing to NOT collided with exiting objects has always been a shortcoming of Lucid.  And the collapsed object now makes this even worse.  If you have an object that has connectors using non-straight connectors, the connectors (almost always) have to be manually routed to not collide with other objects.  Now with the collapsed object, the non-straight connectors change between the collapsed / expanded versions.  If you fix the routing for one setting, you mess it up on the other setting.

This was the other thing we discussed in solutioning.  I’d love if you could share an example.  If it’s what I’m thinking of, though, we have a ticket filed to fix how lines behave with collapse & expand.  sorry you hit that bug 😬

Nudging:

This appeared to be an answer to the collapse direction and connector routing issues mentioned above.  However, in practice, if you collapse the object, move it to a new location, and then expand it, the nudging has a tendency to rearrange the drawing in a way that renders complex diagrams useless.  The only recommendation I can provide here is that the ‘location’ of object could be linked to relative positions of other objects.  IE: the top of container 2 is always 10 points below the bottom of container 1.  That way, when container 1 collapses / expands, container 2 keeps its relative position.

100% - this is another area we’re aware of and actively working to improve.  

Applicability to object types:

The original post indicates that this feature only works on a select number of object types.  This limit is understandable for a new feature.  But since it does not work on objects in the ‘FlowChart’ menu, and since about 90% of my diagrams are process flowcharts showing overall process and sub processes, it means I would need to re-draw them to even use this feature.

I’d love to know more about the shape types you’re working with to diagnose the issue.  Today, many of our canvas layout features (nudging, assisted layout, and now collapse & expand) work only with container shapes. I wonder whether the problem you’re experiencing is due to some of your layout regions being enclosed in ‘block’ shapes.  these shape types don’t offer true containment, just overlap:

Compare this to our ‘container’ shapes, which provide containment, and access to these new features.  You’ll see objects move (nudge) when I expand the container, and then I can add them and collapse the contents:

I’d love to chat more about this if you had time.  Mind if I send you a DM to discuss?