How to show scrollbar initially? (when there's scrollable results)

[babramczyk]

The Problem: If I enter a query that has scrollable results, I can't tell if there are more results than what's visible. That's because it seems like the scrollbar only seems to show once you scroll past the initially viewable results

 

Solutions Tried:

 

- Tried looking to see if this is a theme-specific problem, but couldn't find anything (the default Alfred themes have this behavior as well)

- Tried changing macOS settings for when to show scroll bar, but none of the options worked (System Preferences > General > Show scroll bars)

[Andrew]

@babramczyk A tweak in 4.3 removed the initial display of the scroll indicator as part of the theming update, which better matched the default macOS behaviour.

 

I intended to monitor the feedback on this to see if indication was still needed, and it's likely that there will be some new options available in a near future build  

[babramczyk]

Cool. Totally makes sense about matching macOS default behavior, but I agree that optionality would be nice 🙂

[Mr Pennyworth]

14 hours ago, Andrew said:

I intended to monitor the feedback on this to see if indication was still needed

I found the old scrollbar behavior very helpful. It immediately told me that there are more results and not just the 9. From a UX perspective, I think the macOS behavior to "show scrollbar only while scrolling" isn't exactly the same Alfred's latest choice. In most places (like a browser for example), there are plenty other visual affordances to let you know that "there is more content". For example, looking at a webpage, or an article, it becomes apparent most of the times that there's more stuff below the fold. In contrast, the scrollbar was the sole indicator of it in Alfred.

 

So, here's another strong vote in favor of "I really really wish Alfred gave me a choice to restore old behavior"

[deanishe]

59 minutes ago, Mr Pennyworth said:

In contrast, the scrollbar was the sole indicator of it in Alfred.

 

This. I also find I'm much more likely to have my hand on the touchpad in other apps, which makes having a quick peek below easier.

[Andrew]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll be sure to allow for the old (or better) behaviour back.

 

It's worth adding, one other reason I changed the default behaviour was because you had this awkward look with rounded corners:

 

 

But you're right, vanity should definitely not take precedence over function.