allow user to collapse and dock the UI

[RossThorn]

The boxes that show the style details and allow for switching styles obscure the map a fair amount. It'd be helpful to be able to minimize/collapse and dock them so that the name is still available but they take up minimal space to maximize the actual space for the map.

Right now, the green space in the image below is the only space where you can effectively compare the map in mirror view. The red space is ineffective at comparing due to the ui elements. The yellow space allows you to see the map, but not actually compare because it's obscured by the ui element in the other map panel.

The area is a bit more difficult to view when you have 3 or 4 panes.

User Story

One of Maperture's main functions is to compare the same location between different map styles. The efficacy of this comparison is hindered by the space the ui elements occupy on the screen. Some of this is unavoidable, but it would be helpful to have options to minimize the space the elements take up with a toggle option or something like that.

Acceptance Criteria

The user is able to seamlessly collapse the ui elements to get a better view of the underlying map. The user must also be able to easily invoke the ui elements to take up more space when wanting to interact with them to change styles.

Client Impact

This issue is a workflow enhancement. It's not a blocker but is a nice-to-have to reduce the amount of panning and clicking needed to compare map styles.

[ebrelsford]

@RossThorn Have you tried the current functionality we have for hiding the UI?

[RossThorn]

actually I hadn't! That is really nice! maybe this is moot then 😅

[aparlato]

@RossThorn also, just a heads up that the key command for this is: ctrl + shift + f. We should open an issue about documenting key commands better.

Are we ok to close this issue out then?

[RossThorn]

We could. My ideal interface for this would be able to have those elements minimized and docked to the edge of the screen and still be able to see the style name and such, sort of a hybrid between the two. Not a hill I'm going to die on or something that demands immediate attention, but just some ui polish that could be implemented down the road if other folks agree it might be worthy. We could also just toss this issue in the icebox for down the road.

here's a little mockup of what I'm talking about.

the main differences are just nudging the ui elements to the edge of the screen and allowing them to be collapsed/minimized. For mirror view, I think it would also be helpful to have the bottom panels on the same side to see the same parts of the map. A potential implementation of this might be to automatically dock them on pan/zoom (cuz that assumes that the user is actually viewing the map then, and then once an element is interacted with, popping everything back to be changed.

default view and hidden ui view for context: