Why is Webflow switching me to different panels

@thesergie — Recently, when making changes to the navigator, it switches the tool pane to the Add Panel – Feedback: Keep me in the pane that I choose, when I choose – right now it feels like the experience is trying to think for me and its annoying.

Hey @rvela thanks for the feedback. I’ve been getting annoyed sometimes that it takes me to the settings panel when I want to go to the style panel. For some things we make you go to Settings panel because there are broader settings that you will want to set when you first start using that element. Right now here’s how we make the decision for you:

  • Selecting an image without a class = Settings Panel (there are image html settings there)
  • Selecting a column = Settings Panel (because most of the time you want to set column widths)
  • Selecting a navbar = Settings Panel (a lot of settings for navbar)
  • Selecting a slider = Settings Panel (a lot of settings for slider)
  • Selecting everything else = Style Panel.

Let us know how we can improve this so it makes sense to new users and experiences users. I don’t know why it switches you to the Add panel. That’s really odd.

@thesergie I would add:

• dragging a div (or anything else, really) = navigator panel

Not sure how viable that is as a feature, but I often find it hard to move things around - especially nested things. Sometimes it’s easier in the navigator, sometimes it’s easier in the main window so I go back and forth through the tabs a bunch.

Hey @Todd this has been a feature from day 1! When you drag anything on the canvas, the navigator panel will be on the right. That’s so that you can drag it somewhere specific.

@thesergie I thought I remembered that - hmmm, sometimes it doesn’t switch for me.

@thesergie – yes I’m aware that the tools panels are context sensitive, I’m referring to making changes within the Nav bar itself. Take a block in your structure and move it somewhere, or better yet re-arrange the order of a few links in a column using the NavBar, every time you drag items around, it kicks you out of the Nav bar and into the Widget panels. This means that I have to switch back to the Nav bar to continue working with my structure.

Oh you were referring to the Navbar widget? You said in your previous post “when making changes to the navigator” which is the third panel in the top right.

But I’m still not understanding what’s going on. What do you mean by the widgets panel? We only have 5 panels - Add Panel, Style Panel, Settings Panel, Navigator Panel, and Style Manager. Are you trying to go to the Style panel, but it’s taking you to the Settings panel?

It will take you to the Settings panel if you don’t have a class on that element. Once you have a class on an navbar element, then it will automatically take you to the Style panel.

Oh, yes that’s what I meant: The Navigator! Yes, take some nested elements and change the order, you will see that with every action, the Navigator goes away, and goes back to the Add Panel. Each and every time – grrr.

@rvela We just pushed a fix for this. Thanks for letting us know!

-Dan