[Bf-committers] Bf-committers Digest, Vol 40, Issue 29

[Shaul Kedem]

Guys,
 I think we should take this step by step. for now, a nice abstraction
with automatic layout will be nice, later we can talk about gadgets,
goodies, gizmos and whachamacallit,

Shaul

On Nov 28, 2007 4:25 PM, Kyle Mallory <kyle.mallory at utah.edu> wrote:
>
> On Wed, 2007-11-28 at 04:55 +0100, bf-committers-request at blender.org
> wrote:
> > Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:16:20 +1100
> > From: "Matt Ebb" <matt at mke3.net>
> > Subject: Re: [Bf-committers] UI layout engine
> > To: "bf-blender developers" <bf-committers at blender.org>
> > Message-ID:
> >         <a4fa14820711271916j33a2facarf084247a038eaf4a at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> >
> > On Nov 28, 2007 1:52 PM, Ben Batt <benbatt at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > If the system had smart widget resizing behaviours, it would be even
> > > nicer. For example, the "Show" column of buttons in the camera edit
> > > panel could be made using a column layout container which tries to
> > be
> > > as narrow as possible, while each button calculates a minimum size
> > > based on its text width and all buttons stretch to fill the layout
> > > container (taking margins and padding into account). This would give
> > a
> > > column of buttons all the same width, and just wide enough to show
> > the
> > > widest button text nicely.
> >
> > Well perhaps when you're talking about layout within a predefined
> > column area, but that's not a good way to go to make the columns
> > themselves. You don't want to get too 'smart' unless that smartness
> > knows about how to make good layouts :) It's not just about cramming
> > buttons in - it's also having a good grid system that enables easy
> > reading and wayfinding. Right now, in many of the button areas in
> > Blender, the sizing is very haphazard, and not only does it give a
> > cluttered messy appearance with differing widths and margines, but it
> > also hinders skim-reading a bit, since it loses that sense of rhythm.
> >
> > It helps reading to have consistent distances for the eye to jump from
> > one item to the next - that is why a left-aligned vertical column of
> > items is much easier to read quickly than a horizontal list (like a
> > sentence). Reading down a list, the eye can track the left edge and
> > just jump down a consistent amount each time to find the next item.
> > Going horizontally, when words are all different widths, you have to
> > do more work looking at the shape of each word and jumping across the
> > variable width to the next one. This is the sort of thing you learn in
> > 1st year typography ;)
> >
> > cheers
> >
> > Matt
>
>
> This is exactly the functionality that the JGoodies Forms Layout
> provides.  Seriously, check out what it does, and then consider the
> design principles in building something similar for Blender.
>
> ... I won't say any more, I promise.
>
> Kyle
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