With the release of 3.0, the clean up feature was changed to organize everything in a line rather than in columns like it did in 2.0. This was likely done to make it more like real code. While that makes sense, it also makes organizing projects more difficult.

In real code, I usually separate sections of code with extra lines and comments. That can't be done in Scratch since the clean up button evenly spaces everything and comments don't act like blocks. With blocks moveable on the x axis, it often seems more intuitive to form columns rather than rows for different sections.

With real code, I also collapse larger sections to make it easier to scroll from place to place. That isn't possible in Scratch and the blocks are usually bigger than text as well. There's no way to quickly and easily jump down to a certain section. I find it easier to scroll slightly to the right than a long ways downward.

What if an “add column” button was added to the clean up menu? It would create a separating line on the code workspace. Blocks to the right of it would snap to it when cleaning up. Ideally it would automatically expand if a block grew too wide and would be positionable by the user.

That could hopefully make a nice compromise between organization and reflection of real world code. Users usually work with the code in vertical lines, but if it grows too large or confusing, they can add columns to organize neatly into sections.

This would probably also appeal to some users who don't currently use the clean up feature. I have noticed that on some larger projects, creators didn't use clean up even in 2.0. Instead, they ordered code in columns with more space than clean up would create. Allowing the user to adjust the spacing of the columns would make this process automatic.

Especially with the new scrolling features, I think this feature would make navigation easier than ever.

tl;dr A new button in the right click menu which adds a moveable column when cleaning up.

Although I do prefer the top down way of arranging scripts, I would be happy if they decided to arrange themselves into 2 columns, so yes I support this.

Bump

I've added a tl;dr now.

It looks like they reverted to the behavior of Scratch 1.4 where they would distribute scripts in 1 dimension. Scratch 2.0 distributed scripts evenly in 2 dimensions.

Bump

ihgfedcba wrote:

It looks like they reverted to the behavior of Scratch 1.4 where they would distribute scripts in 1 dimension. Scratch 2.0 distributed scripts evenly in 2 dimensions.

Yes and this was intentional too as at one point in the beta it distributed blocks like in 2.0. As I said in my original post, this was probably done to make it more like real code. An add column button could make a nice compromise though between real code and organization.

Support

Bump.

Bump.

In Scratch 2, the clean up button would organize scripts into columns. I like how the clean up button in Scratch 2 works, so I support.

I prefer the scratch 2.0 clean up button because it is easier to see your code ut scratch 3.0 just aligns everything to the left.

Hello!!!

What are you saying?

TechKid22 wrote:

What are you saying?

Me or @Glitchtnt?

Hi I cant figure out where the clean up blocks button is on scratch because I have so much code

77sg2 wrote:

Hi I cant figure out where the clean up blocks button is on scratch because I have so much code

Right click the code area and select the clean up option. Also, instead of posting unrelated questions or suggestions on topics (thread hijacking), it is recommended to create your own one to prevent the cluttering of other threads with unrelated discussion.