[Bf-funboard] Suggestions for 2.29 panels

[Luke Wenke]

>.....By the way, I prefer that
> drag options work on Titlebar only, not background space, as it would
> be too easy to miss your button and accidentally drag your panel if
> background dragging was used.
It could be that drags of less than (e.g.) 5 pixels were ignored. And/or
maybe you have to start your drag at least (e.g.) 5 pixels away from the
nearest button. It would also eliminate the need to make distinct
titlebars - which would make the interface seem less cluttered. And you
wouldn't have to use that little circle if you wanted to drag a combined
panel which removes two problems. (The circle is hard to click on, and it
isn't obvious at first what it is used for)

> Not sure that the auto-optimizing will be really useful, and it will
> consume processor time
It only needs to be done whenever the buttons window is resized or panels
are minimized... if panels are merely moved then there wouldn't be any need
to redo the "home" thing. (Assuming my auto-arrange idea is used)

> and make for an interface that is changing a
> little too much for my tastes.
Basically it would be similar to how in some versions of Windows you can see
the window contents dynamically optimize themselves while you're resizing
the window. (internet browsers or file icons, etc)

> Just my 2p. Also, home button is useful  for those folks that don't
> know the hotkeys yet, so I'd leave it.
If "home" is done automatically then there wouldn't be any need to have a
hotkey or an icon since pressing them would never have any effect.

> May I suggest something Adobe-esque?
> * All panel dragging to take place in a subtly identified panel title
> bar.
Do you mean the panel contents disappear and you're basically dragging the
titlebar - with maybe a panel outline as well?

> * Combined panels' title bars become "title tabs."
This happens in Blender 2.29... though it is a bit less obvious...

> * Dragging a panel's title bar anywhere inside another panel causes it
> to become combined.
....while you still haven't released the mouse button yet.... (I guess)

> * Dragging a title tab outside the panel causes the panel to become
> separated
But what if you want to stick it in between two other panels? Unless you
have the dragged panel right in between both of them, you'd be currently in
one of those two other panels...

So maybe if your dragged panel's centre is within the middle 1/3 of a
panel's centre, then they combine, otherwise it goes to the left or right
(or above or below) the other panel.
e.g. say the second panel is divided in 9 regions with equal area:
123
456
789

If the centre of the dragged panel is within the central region of the
second panel ("5") then it is shown to combine with the second panel.
Otherwise it can be drawn in its current location (like it normally it when
you drag panels in 2.29).

> > - Auto-arranging of panels
> Agreed... though your explanations on how this would be done are very
> complex (at least to me on casual read). For my money (um...) the best
> way to do this is simply:
> * Snap panel positions to other boundaries when dragging within (for
> example) 3 pixels of that boundary. So a panel dragged near the top of
> the window snaps to be on the window border, a panel dragged within 3
> pixels of another panel's edge snaps to be right next to that panel,
> etc.
What I mean by "auto-arranging of panels" is similar to how file icons are
treated in OS's such as Windows. When you have "auto arranged" enabled,
windows will arrange the icons with varying numbers of rows and columns
depending on the dimensions of the window. But since the sizes of the icons
never enlarge or reduce, there is a lot of blank space. If my auto-arranging
idea is combined with the auto-buttonsize-optimizing (home) idea then the
amount of blank space would be minimized. In my long previous email I
explained how blender could constantly auto-arrange panels while the buttons
window is being resized without messing up the order of the panels. So then
the user's confusion would be minimized. The last part of my email talked
about panels with different sizes which means that the space gained from
minimizing panels could lead to the panels being enlarged.

- Luke