P: Ability to search for layers in the layer panel

Great topic Marc!

Great improvement would be to add filter textbox on top of the layers palete that would filter out every unmatched layer. One could than name his layers with some prefixes and quickly switch between different sets to focus on current task. Filtered out layers should be automatically locked to prevent unwanted changes.

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And I'm sure that it's natural to understand that dragging a group while showing filtered results will actually move all the group and its contents.

A simple solution for reordering the layers while filtered:

Let's say you have these layers and groups, after the filter is applied:

Buttons (group)

     Home Button

     Next Button

     Previous Button

Refresh Button

Reordering the refresh button is tricky especially if it is placed between Home and Next, because you can't be sure if the user wanted it right below Home or right above Next (because other layers might exist between them when the filter is off).

A simple solution would be to show an arrow that indicates where exactly the Refresh Button will go.
For example, dragging the "Refresh Button" layer right above "Next Button" would show something like this

Home Button
-----------------------------
Next B^^^utton

(the ^^^) is the arrow I was talking about.

Dragging it right below the "Home Button" would show something like this

Home vvv Button
-----------------------------
Next Button

This way it clearly indicates where the layer goes.

There's also a problem with the "Buttons" group that needs to be addressed.

Dragging the "Refresh Button" layer below "Previous Button" should place the "Refresh Button" in the "Buttons" group.

Another nice thing would be to have a small [x] button inside the search text input, because the user might want to do more actions while the filter is enabled.

Pressing the [x] button would disable the filter.
The search would look something like this

[Search [x]]

Another nice feature would be to be able to choose if you want the filter to temporarily hide the non-results. This way, the user will be able to see his filtered layers similar to the "Layer Comps" palette.

And another nice thing to have is to be able to display
- Only the layers
- The group hierarchy of the filtered layers
- Only the parent groups for the filtered layers (this one needs attention to groups that have "children" and "nephew" results)

I'm sure that this feature has other implications, but it would really help out a lot of power users.

No chops were busted 🙂

I really enjoy thinking about these things. And yep, modal features like this can be a royal pain to build and test.

By the way, I like the idea, too. 🙂

Hey Marc, Thanks. I didn't mean to bust your chops. I just wanted an example to show to users that illustrates that what seems like a simple request can bring up complicated questions. You're right, they can be overcome - but need care consideration.

Oh yeah, there's significant issues to be addressed. I realise this opens up many, very complex situations that would be hard to cater for.

The best solution I can think of is that the search state is very temporary. So if you searched for something, then clicked on the layer in the Layers palette, the layer would be selected and the search would be closed. Doing other layer-related things (like hitting the keyboard shortcut for changing layer order) might have to close the search as return to the normal Layer palette state, too.

Or maybe there's a smarter solution.

What we're talking about is more filtering than searching (similar to iTunes). So it's more "hide the non-results" rather than "show the results".

--- Here's your example ---

The full list of layers:
- Button's text
- Icon
- Button
- Background

If you searched for "Butt", then you'd be left with:
- Button's text
- Button

And if you dragged "Button's text" below "Button", the layers could be moved so that "Button's text" is just below "Button", which is what the user asked for. The new full list of layers:
- Icon
- Button
- Button's text
- Background

This works if they're in groups, too. Full list:
- Group
- - Button's text
- - Icon
- Button
- Background

Search for "Butt" (search results wouldn't ever show groups):
- Button's text
- Button

Drag "Button's text" below "Button", then cancel search.
- Group
- - Button's text
- - Button
- - Icon
- Background

I've considered reordering to be "place under the layer above", but it could also be defined as "place on top of layer below".

Or... certain features could just be disabled when in the search state. No reordering, but allow for opening the Layer Styles or showing/hiding.

I realise it's not an easy request! This isn't a new problem though. iTunes does it, as do other apps. You can have a static playlist in iTunes, filter it, reorder while filtering, then remove the filter.

What happens when you have a hundred layers filtered down to 3 layers using a search and you change the z-order of one of the current layers?

Searching layers is a definite step in the right direction. I'm surprised it wasn't implemented years ago.