Formatting toolbar position creates speedbump in workflow

First, LOVE Bear. Returned recently with massive PIM export from Evernote. So clean, so beautiful. I know every feature is carefully considered and clutter is rigorously avoided.

I’m a UX designer so I notice flow issues. On desktop one tiny thing has been driving me NUTS.

Clicking the BIU icon in top right window opens formatting toolbar on the bottom. I have to then traverse the distance. As a UX designer I cannot help but viscerally feel the unnecessary and constant extra time (bump in the road) to traverse back and forth between the top and bottom of the screen.

Perhaps this is intentional friction to induce users to learn shortcuts. I will attempt to commit shift+cmd+Y to memory. But WHY? Some ways to polish this:

  • Move affordance to the bottom where the toolbar will actually appear.
  • Otoh the formatting bar could be positioned on the top.
  • If you want to be fancy, allow user to drag formatting bar to desired posisiton.
  • At the very least, tooltip on format bar affordance BIU with the keyboard shortcut to aid in learning.

Many thanks for your time and this beautiful product!

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