Mirror outline name as object name?

I created a large diagram using the Outline pane. It has become unwieldy to format, so I’d like to shift it into multiple layers. The easy way to do that seems to be using the Layers pane and the Object Names. But the object names are not named as ‘Text’ or the outline name by default, instead I have a list of ~100 “Rectangle”. Is there a way to mirror the Outline Name/Text over to Object Names?

I would do it the following way: Select the objects you want to be on a different layer and choose the context menu “New Layer with Selection”. You can make the selection on the canvas or in the outline pane. Then there is no need to use the layers pane where by default the names of the shapes are shown. I don’t know if this default can be changed.

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Thanks. The above was useful. There are still some irritations. One reason for using layers was to toggle visibility—so you need to switch between panes, as outlined items on hidden layers don’t show up at all in the outline pane.

I wonder whether the Omni needs to rethink the Outline/Layer interaction. For example, is anyone likely to want unnamed “Rectangles” in a different order than as manually ordered in the Outline? Won’t most users want a selection of “dependents” to grab the connecting line objects? Shouldn’t selected Outline items still be selected toggling to the Layers pane?

Definitely yes.

I use OG every single day, it has replaced Pages as the program that I use most. But I am on OG V5.4.4. I cannot use the newer versions for two reasons (despite the fact that they have yet other new functions):

  1. that the User Interface is schizophrenic
    This is first due to Apple’s imposition of UI and document handling requirements upon the developers, which is anti-intuitive and schizophrenic, it is not initiated by OG, but followed by OG.

    • AFAIC, the OG V4 UI was the best, the V6 UI is horrible, so I stay with V5.
  2. that functionality is lost;
    The one item that is relevant to this thread is, the facility of Shared Layers, and how it operates. It is anti-intuitive (eg. forces duplication upon the user), and thus laborious to use.

    • The OG V4 facility was much better, it had MasterLayers, which one shared as necessary, without duplication.
    • Sure, it could be improved, but the SharedLayers provided is an abomination, not an improvement.

    When I last renewed my MacBook Pro, I discovered to my horror, that I couldn’t use the newer Apple apps for the same two reasons. After proving this to Apple Support (eg. control is split; fragmented, on two panes on either side of the document; Bookmarks are lost; etc), they shipped me IWork '09 (2009, 13 years obsolete) from Californication. On a CD. I had to buy an external CD/DVD drive just to receive it.
    Of course, young people buying a new Apple thingee do not know what they are missing, and the UI looks pretty, they don’t understand what intuitive means in the implementation sense, they don’t know that it is anti-intuitive.

The Outline/Layer interaction has to be improved as well.

  • But note that it is complicated by the incorrect SharedLayers implementation, so that has to be corrected first.

  • Yes, we need better naming of objects (“Rectangle” is not unique), and visibility of hidden objects in the Outline pane (because it is control not rendition).

  • See what I mean about schizophrenic, they (from Tim Cook down) do not distinguish between Control, and that which is controlled. It is the typical OO/ORM mindset and insanity

Cheers