For some 25 years, an easily recognized Mira feature has been its Image Toolbar that heads the Image Window. As shown above, this large toolbar contains a live magnified view and thumbnail view plus coordinate and pixel readouts. While placing such tools close to the image has obvious value keeping the user’s focus near the image data, its cost is screen space otherwise usable for image display. A fixed also toolbar becomes the full-width top of the Image Window, blocking right-side panes and toolbars from using the full height of the Window. Although the Image Toolbar could be opened and closed with a menu command, we wondered if there was a better way.
In Fall, 2018, we set out to improve upon the Image Toolbar by moving its features into a docking pane. The new Image Bar provides the pane configurations of open, closed, “tabified”, or stacked on other docking panes, all of which allow better use of screen space. The new Image Bar is also resizeable. This feature will be available in Mira Pro x64 version 8.033, scheduled for mid December, 2018.
The first 3 screenshots below show Mira Pro x64 with the new Image Bar in its three pane states. The final screenshot shows the Image Bar making space on the right for a full height Palette pane.
Figure 1. Image Bar closed, revealing the full Image area.
Figure 2. Image Bar opened using a menu command or button on the main toolbar.
Figure 3. Image Bar shrunk to a tab using the stick-pin on the pane. Hovering over the tab temporarily opens the Image Bar.
Figure 4. Full-height Palette Pane docking to the right of the new Image Bar.
