UX: Surprising "Delete" for NodeArray inside NodeArrays

[johannesmutter]

When you nest a NodeArray inside another NodeArray and backspace delete, the deletion may come a bit as a surprise:

• Users may expect pressing backspace will only delete the last child of the nested Node Array

For me personally the delete "feels too fast". One keystroke and e.g. 4 nodes are gone.
Here's why it feels like this: In the footer example the individual Link nodes are not perceived as forming a strong Column group, they are more perceived as slots in a grid.

A couple ideas to prevent or ease this feeling of accidental surprise:

• Subtly add an outline around NodeArrays when the NodeCursor is placed after (& before?) them.
• Cursor Affinity: Change the appearance of the NodeCursor depending on the type of the previous Node: e.g. if it's a NodeArray render it differently.
• Make NodeArray backspace deletion a two step process: first backspace selects the full NodeArray, second backspace as normal: delete the node. Either always or only if the previous node is or has a nested NodeArray.

CleanShot.2026-03-11.at.09.39.13.mp4

[michael]

Thanks for noting this down. I'll keep an eye on this with more users in a test group.

I'd personally tend to keep the existing behavior to have it consistent. E.g. when you are at the node boundary of a list in the Svedit demo, backspace will delete the whole list, and i think that makes sense there. But you could also argument deleting the whole list is surprising. Let's see I will watch closely if a large group of first-time users have problems with that.

But this reminds me that there's another UX issue related to nesting that might be more pressing, maybe you have thoughts on that. It's being discussed here: michael/editable-website#71