Obsidian Interface: Sidebar Toggle Controls

Feature requests
1

Problem

This is the current sidebar layout:

2024_01_21 11_14 AM Office Lens~3
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  • The sidebar toggle controls are disconnected from the intuitive rectangle space of the sidebar.
  • The sidebar icon itself does not give any indication of movement.
  • On the right sidebar, the icon is visually cut off by a separator. Many plugins using the right sidebar must include a disclaimer about where to find their interface - users don’t know the right sidebar exists.

Solution

Move the sidebar toggle control and change the icon:

2024_01_21 11_14 AM Office Lens~4
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A - The sidebar toggle control is no longer hidden among tools.
B - The ribbon is now a distinct entity from the sidebar.
C - The sidebar toggle control makes use of whitespace in the editor.
D - The arrow icon indicates movement.
E - A thin vertical line shows the area of movement.
F - The icon and thin line remain visible when the sidebar is collapsed, indicating the presence of the sidebar.

2

Thanks for taking the time to share this.

This is not always true. If the tab size is small, you get no space of little space.

I am not sure you if are aware there’s different window frame style that is symmetrical
settings → appearance → window style frame → obsidian or native frame.

3

Then the toggles can become little nubs on window resize. :slight_smile: Edit: Or disappear on resize and reappear on hover: the important part is that users can see that the right sidebar exists at some point.

The native frame has its own set of issues - it’s slightly different, but still unintuitive with roughly the same problems.

4

2024_01_21 2_59 PM Office Lens
2024_01_21 2_59 PM Office Lens1785×2980 430 KB

Something like this.