I think it would be useful if there was an option to mark any non-floating buffer as ‘hot’. A buffer being ‘hot’ would mean that as soon as you try to open a second buffer of the same type, the new buffer replaces the original one.
For example, if I had a CONT buffer open, and docked into the active screen, and marked as ‘hot’, then if I were to click ‘view’ on one of the contracts in the sidebar, it would open directly in the hot buffer rather than a new floating buffer.
This wouldn’t apply when creating buffers manually, only when clicking something which results in a new buffer.
This should allow more flexibility when creating screen workflows. Re-using the above example, I could create a screen which shows:
- A list of contracts (CONTS buffer)
- A CONT hot-buffer, which is always re-used whenever I open a contract from the contracts list
- A list of my ships (FLT)
- A hot-buffer for SFC, which is always reused when I click any of the flight control buttons from my FLT buffer.
- Could further add a ship inventory hot buffer if I wanted to
The above screen would then allow me to flick between contracts without opening (and then closing) a million buffers. I think there are quite a few buffer types which could benefit from this feature, and adding this in shouldn’t break any existing workflows (as people can choose not to mark their buffers as hot)
Of course, I have no idea how PU is built under the hood so this suggestion may not be incredibly feasible.
Does this suggestion make sense? Any improvements? Would you like this feature? Comment below!