[Bf-funboard] default file

[Benjamin Tolputt]

Early Ehlinger wrote:
> This is the most surprising and disorienting feature for new users. 
> Most people I've talked to do not proceed to online tutorials for help
> - they simply get confused, give up, and return to familiar territory
> (LightWave, 3dsmax, Maya).  I think it would be better to have the
> mouse buttons swapped and let the tutorials be for an out-of-date
> version.  The standard on every system I'm very familiar with is that
> left button selects and drags, and right button brings up a menu of
> some sort - being different without a compelling reason is something
> that many users simply find offensive.
>
> -- Early Ehlinger

Whilst I agree with you on the fact it is the most disorienting feature,
swapping the left/right mouse buttons won't fix it completely. Firstly,
dragging with the left mouse down would not select (I believe it would
kick off mouse gestures, a feature maybe 1% of blender users know about
& use frequently). The right mouse button would not bring up a "context
menu", this is a "space-bar" driven feature, a difference I'm not so
worried about (coming from Maya many years back), but definitely not
what you are going for.

Given the lack of clear concise "tutorial-like" documentation delivered
with the Blender installation, any user that wants to get more than a
basic feel for the application NEEDS to go online to figure out how to
do more than the absolute basics (and even for some of the basics!). As
such, prior to there being a decent tutorial delivered WITH Blender (as
opposed to the wiki's that serve as the "official" documentation now) -
making changes such as you request would not only not give you what you
want but make the application even less accessible to the "newbies".

Any major changes in the way Blender is interfaced with the user (such
as my desired left mouse click select/drag-select and/or making the 3D
tool position operation a "press key X then click" operation) would need
to be accompanied by an in-depth, free tutorial.reference documentation
that is easily accessible to newcomers to the application.

I butted heads long ago with Ton on the above "mis-features" as I call
them. We never agreed, of course, but I have come to realise that while
Ton never argued it, the current features are married to the online
documentation until someone (or several "someones") comes up with a
clearer & more concise replacement. I personally will be making changes
to the default left/right click operations when 2.50 allows me to, but I
would not recommend that they become "defaults" without corresponding docs.

-- 
Regards,

Benjamin Tolputt
Analyst Programmer
Email: btolputt at bigpond.net.au

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